Page 23 of Resurrection

He stares at me for a moment and then sticks an earbud back in. “I’m starving.”

“We’ll grab dinner after the warehouse and meeting. I’ll even let you pick.”

“Anything I want?” His gaze roams over me in a hot, leisurely way, suggesting far more than I intend to consider.

His fingers twist and turn the other earbud, distracting me.

I long to press my cool hands against my face. Why is it so scorching on this plane? “Within reason.”

“Shame.” He looks away. “I can think of lots of unreasonable things.” With the other earbud in his ear, he settles deeper into his seat.

I make a beeline for my chair, my heart pounding. Jay grins when I flop beside him.

“Not so bad?” he says.

“You know when you’re out somewhere and there’s a fruit tray and a brownie tray? Why do we always want the brownie?”

Jay gives me a look of disbelief. “Because brownies are fucking delicious.”

“Yeah, but they’re bad for you.”

“When you bite into one and the chocolate goodness hits your tongue, do you care? You don’t. No one does. Sometimes the bigger sin is not digging in.”

“What if you’re allergic to brownies, and they could kill you?”

His smile fades. “He ever lay a hand on you?”

I frown. “Never. No. I—he’s a lot of things, but he’s notthat.”

“And this whole affair was when?”

“Seventeen years ago.”

“You’re not even the same people. Maybe you eat the brownie and you find out you don’t have a sweet tooth anymore.”

I give him a long look. He doesn’t need to realize I’ve sampled the brownie recently, and the sweet tooth might just eat me. “Your wife is lucky.”

He gives me a rueful smile. “Next time we get in a fight, I’m putting you on speakerphone. You’ll have to yell it really loud though, maybe several times. Sofia’s got a temper.”

I laugh. “That’s a deal.”

Over the speaker, the pilot tells us to prepare for landing. “As soon as we’re on the ground, I need you to find out where we can meet Valeriya,” I say.

“You got it,” Jay replies. “Car should be waiting on the tarmac when we touch down.”

“Customs? Passport control?”

“Valeriya took care of it.”

“Perfect.”

One less worry. People criticize countries where money can buy things, powerful things, such as entry into the country without passing through customs. The truth is—people don’tcare about right and wrong. They just wish they had enough money so they didn’t have to care either.

Volgograd isn’t a major city, which is also helpful.

“You worried about what we’re gonna find?” Jay says.

I seek the back of Finn’s head, almost on instinct. “Not anymore.”

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