Page 49 of Baby One Last Time
“I can do that, I guess.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. Breathed. Smiled. Hoped I sounded reassuring. “No guessing. Just do it. I’ll take care of everything else.”
“What’s my timeline?” he asked, and I knew he was really hearing me.
“Pack a bag right now. Essentials only. I want you off the radar in the next fifteen minutes.”
“Done.” He gave me two addresses in the Wynwood district.
I breathed out relief. “Good. I’ll be in touch.”
“Hey, Cynthia, thanks. For a Fed, you’re good people.”
I hung up and shook my head. I was neither of those things. I hadn’t worked for the government for over a year, I was lying through my teeth about having it in my power to keep Frankie safe, and I was about to go off half-cocked, on my own, in a move that would either save our mission or destroy it.
Unless... What I needed to do was find a good reason for us to sit on the warehouse, and that meant getting eyes on the weapons there. It was a simple recon mission. As I turned it over in my mind, Derek’s words echoed in my head.Remember your team is there for you.
My chest tightened. Being able to depend on the team would be good right now. Helpful. But impossible. Bringing in TJ was out of the question. He would be obligated to follow protocol and notify X, and my promise to Frankie would be broken immediately, possibly with disastrous consequences, and maybe for no good reason.
But that didn’t mean I had to go solo.
Ten minutes later,dressed in shorts, a tee shirt and sneakers for cover, carrying a backpack full of black clothes and small weapons that would be hard to explain, I stepped out of my bungalow. I was less than ten steps into my trek when Derek appeared from the shadows in the low light of the courtyard. It was as if me remembering his words had conjured him from sort of black magic forged from sex and blood and longing.
“Cynth,” Derek said as he drew closer, looking me up and down, “I thought you went to bed hours ago.”
I threw back my shoulders and pushed defiance into my voice. “I thought you weren’t keeping tabs on me.”
He leaned against the trunk of a palm tree and crossed his legs at the ankles. I realized he was a little bit drunk. Not much, just enough to make his laconic smile a little too broad. “I’m not. But I couldn’t help noticing you were gone. And when I left the lounge, I heard Alder telling Mai they should wake you up.”
“They did,” I lied. “I’m on my way to join a private party. Girls only.”
“Sounds intriguing.” He flashed me a wicked grin that had to break at least half a dozen HEAT rules, written and unwritten. “Tell me more.”
His voice was firm, steady. Commanding. Too late, I realized I’d misjudged his state. He wasn’t drunk. Maybe not even tipsy. I mimicked Derek and leaned against a palm tree three feet away from him, pretending I had all the time in the world for this inconvenient conversation. “I think you know plenty with all the noticing you’ve been doing.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Hazard of the profession.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “I noticed you have a backpack with you. Care to share its contents?”
Using every lesson I’d learned from years of studying others trying to lie, I relaxed, made my expression neutral, and bluffed, hoping to hell he didn’t call me on it. “I do plan to share the contents. Wine, cheese, chocolate popcorn. My contribution to the bacchanalia.”
“Bacchanalia! I’m more intrigued by the minute.”
Great. Instead of throwing him off the scent, now I had him sniffing closer. I didn’t have time for this. I let out a bored sigh, then, keeping my voice calm, I tried one last, desperate measure. “You know what, fine. If you don’t trust me, if this trust thing you keep harping on doesn’t work both ways, why don’t you join us? We can explain to my new teammates that I’m not trustworthy enough to walk about the grounds without a handler.”
He waited a beat, maybe to seriously weigh the offer or maybe to make me sweat. Then he pushed away from the tree. “If you tell me I should trust you, I trust you. That is what you’re telling me, isn’t it, Kessler?”
The moment of truth. In nearly a year of knowing each other, I couldn’t remember ever intentionally lying to him. But we were in uncharted territory, drawing new maps for our relationship, whatever that meant now.
“I’m telling you to trust me, Wilder.”
“Consider it done.” He walked past me, coming within inches of touching me. “Have a good night,” he whispered, then disappeared back into the shadows. A minute later, the light from his bungalow illuminated the courtyard, then his door clicked closed.
While sucking in calming breaths, I ambled toward Mai’s place like I had nothing more planned than wine and girl talk. I knocked. She coughed on the other side of the door, but didn’t open it.
I grinned like a loon and spoke without moving my lips. “I know you’re there.”
“No.”
“Well now you’ve just given me proof, so...”
