Page 46 of Baby One Last Time
Sparks smiled wider. “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
Even Mai agreed.
“Great.” He turned to me, his smile at full wattage. “Kessler, come with me to the bar, help me carry the drinks?”
Even if I hadn’t been rendered speechless by his full-on charm offensive, which—dammit!—I had to learn to resist, I couldn’t protest his simple request in front of the others without raising red flags.
“Sure.” I glanced at Mai as I stood.
She nodded, just barely, in a “you’ve got this” show of support.
Alder touched my arm as I passed her seat. “Hey, Kessler, find out if he’s into fractals, would you?”
The table burst into laughter behind me as I followed Derek into the crowd.
“Anything I should know?” he called over his shoulder.
“Nothing you don’t already,” I muttered.
A minute later, I caught up to him at the bar where the bartender, who was just as pretty as the cocktail waitress, was nodding in agreement to whatever Derek had said. He slipped her a bill—I couldn’t see the denomination—and she stepped away and reached up to high shelf behind her.
“She has to open a new bottle, so it will be a minute,” he told me.
“Leaving us alone for a while.” I arched an eyebrow. “Not very subtle.”
He smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. Eyes that were slightly ringed. He was tired. I indulged myself with the fantasy that he was losing sleep over me.
“About the mission,” he said quietly.
He couldn’t even let me have a good fantasy for a minute. “What about it?”
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Everything going okay?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “That’s more a question for TJ, don’t you think?”
“I mean with you. How are you doing? Anything going on I should know?”
The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up. “You’re spying on me, aren’t you? All your clandestine meetings with X, sneaking off to dinners with her... You’re keeping tabs on me for her.”
He widened his eyes and grinned. “Is that what you thought?” He lowered his voice and put that whiskey heat in it that made my body pull toward his, no matter how hard my mind railed against the instinct. “I do love it when you’re jealous over me. So much so that I almost hate to break this to you, but X and I haven’t discussed you in weeks.”
“Oh.”
“Cynth.” He leaned forward and propped his forearms on the bar. “I have three live missions going on right now, and X is my direct supervisor. We have a lot to discuss that has nothing to do with you. But if you must know—and you always seem to think you must know—yes, there’s a specific reason I’m asking.”
I scowled. “Penn. He acted weird when I asked for a little bit of information.” I glared at Derek.
“No, I didn’t ask him to keep tabs on you, either. He and I go way back, and he knows what a good strike team you and I were. He wanted a read on whether he needs to be concerned that you’re sniffing around outside your lane.”
The bartender returned, and we went silent. She set out five glasses, pouring tequila into each one. She winked at Derek. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
When he smiled at her, I wanted to punch him. It helped to remember his flirtations were no longer any of my business, and besides, I had an even better reason to be furious. She moved on to other customers, and I turned toward him.
“What did you tell him?” I asked as though there’d been no interruption in our conversation.
“That he didn’t need to worry about you.” He leaned close to me and dropped his voice again, but this time it was full of concern. “But now I’m asking whetherIneed to worry about you.”
“I’m none of your concern, either. Not anymore.”
