Page 169 of Wilde and Deadly

“That’s not how that works,” he said immediately.

“Sure it is.” She took a sip of her energy drink and looked smug as hell. “I’ll be your adorable, charming, favorite sister-in-law. So all those naughty thoughts you’ve been having about me are a big, taboo no-no.”

This woman.

Elliot closed his eyes. “Rue…”

But even with his eyes closed, he could hear the grin in her voice.

“Hey, I saw your face when I made that beg comment. You were considering it. All the ways you could make me beg.” She clucked her tongue. “Such naughty thoughts for agood boylike you.”

“I don’t have—” He cut himself off, jaw tightening. No way in hell he was finishing that sentence.

A beat.

“Oh, come on, El.” Her voice dripped with mock innocence. “That pause was incriminating.”

“I did not pause.”

“You totally did.”

“I was choosing my words.”

She let out a low, delighted laugh. “Mmm. And yet, somehow, that only makes it worse.”

“Jesus Christ.” He exhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t dare open his eyes and look at her. Not when he felt heat crawling up the back of his neck. Not when he knew she was watching him, waiting, thriving off the reaction she’d just pried out of him.

“Relax.” The warm, throaty sound of her laughter slid under his skin and burned like a slow fuse. “I’m flattered, really. I’d be concerned if youweren’tthinking about me like that. I’m gorgeous, and, as we’ve already established, I’m a delight.”

He couldn’t avoid looking at her forever, so he steeled himself and opened his eyes. “I’mnotthinking about you like that.”

Her golden-brown eyes sparkled. “But now you’re thinking aboutnotthinking about me like that.”

He rested his head back against the chair and stared up at the ceiling.

This was hell.

This was actual hell.

And if he gave in and went to Antarctica, there was a very real chance he wouldn’t survive three weeks alone with her.

He could fight this. Pretend he had a choice. But that was a joke, because the second she called, he was already going.

The silence stretched for several beats, and the laughter faded from her expression. “Listen, if you really don’t want to do it, just say so,” she said breezily, like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t already know her well enough to hear the weight under it.

He dropped his gaze back to his desk. Scowled at the untouched scotch, at the files laying out Brody’s betrayal, the puzzle pieces of Pratorian’s game.

A game in which Rue was an unwitting player. Frost had all but confirmed it.

And if she was in danger, there was no goddamn way Elliot was letting her go to the most isolated place on Earth alone.

He sighed. “Text me the details. I’ll be there.”

There was a pause, then?—

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

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