Page 20 of Crimson Bond

“Really? Because at times tonight you’ve seemed so much like that guy, I almost searched the sky for a crimson moon.”

“Believe me, Abbi... I’ve changed.”

10

Not an Issue

Reece

If Abbi knew about the real purpose of my mission, she would never have compared me to the nice small-town guy she’d met that long-ago night.

And if she knew all this wit and charm I’d been trotting out was for the sole purpose of making her fall for me again so I could dump her, she’d probably jump out of the moving car and run down the highway in the opposite direction.

I hoped she wouldn’t though—figure me out, I mean. Not yet. There was an unexpected side effect to all this flirting—I was actually having a good time for the first time in about, oh, a year.

Talking to Abbi was fun, interesting in a way talking with my Bloodbound brothers was not. Not that they weren’t interesting, but this was... different. Abbi was so unpredictable. Her brain worked in a completely different way from mine, and she was just soreal, so unafraid to admit what she thought and felt, to show her true self. I liked her—maybe even more than before.

Which wasnotgoing to be a problem because I wasn’t going to let it be. I was going to stay in control of this thing and master my own feelings, making sure no inconvenient ones slipped through.

Only once had my control failed me, when she’d hinted that something had happened between her and Shane during their trip to the Bastion. I already knew they’d kissed, thanks to his big mouth.

What I kept wondering—what would drive me crazy if I didn’tstopwondering—was what else might have happened.

Instead of focusing on that or listening to any more of Abbi’s glowing accolades of the woman I’d been sent to assassinate, I changed the subject.

“So... where’d you get that outfit?”

For the sake of anonymity, she wore heavy eye makeup and lipstick and someveryun-Abbi-like clothes. A pair of jeans that rode dangerously low on her hips and a charcoal gray knit top that had a metallic sheen to it.

If you just looked at the upper half of it, you’d call the top modest—the long sleeves went to her wrists, and the crew-neckline didn’t reveal so much as a collarbone.

But Iwasn’tlooking at the top half. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the lower half, which was... not there.

The shirt, sweater, whatever the hell it was, was cropped just under her breasts with a shiny silver elastic band of fabric holding it tight around her upper rib cage.

Below that was bare skin all the way down to the dropped waistband of her jeans. That expanse of uncovered skin drew my eye like a magnet anytime I dared to glance her direction, though until now, she’d seemed completely unaware of its effect on me.

In response to my question, Abbi wrapped both arms around her midsection, giving me at least a moment of blessed relief from temptation.

“Oh, this?” She laughed in an embarrassed way. “These were in that suitcase Heather dropped off for me.”

Her friend had stopped by and left the bag while Abbi was sleeping. Obviously, she’d been concerned about her friend and wanted to help. Or she’d wanted to help drive meinsane.

“The jeans are hers, but the top belongs to my friend Larkin. We had to borrow some of her clothes after we escaped from the Safety Center so we could get out of San Francisco without being recognized. Actually, most of the things Heather put in my bag were Larkin’s.”

She paused and added in a near-whisper, “Unfortunately.”

“Your friend Larkin has... interesting taste,” I remarked dryly.

“Well, she works at Fangers—it’s a theme restaurant—lots of scantily clad vampire girls serving burgers ‘with bite.’”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I know what it is.”

“Okay, yeah. So she has a bunch of, you know, sexy clothes for work. She pulls it off a whole lot better than I do,” Abbi said, blushing a pretty pink.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I drawled. “It looksgoodon you. A little too good.”

More blood rushed to her cheeks, which sent my blood rushing in a completely opposite direction.

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