Page 30 of Kings Against the World

“How do I know that?” he repeats, his tone snappish. “’Cuz I know Boone better than you do, Strauss! He wouldn’t stop talking about you. He was testing me.”

My brows knit, trying to make sense of his conclusion. “Testing you how?”

“He kept… he was… he wanted to get a reaction out of me!”

“Examples, Gallagher!”

“He and Chmura were making comments about you—sexual shit they knew would get a rise out of me!” he yells in my face.“He was testing me, trying to see how I’d react. It’s disrespectful to talk about a guy’s girl like that!”

I let his anger linger in the air for a moment and then calmly say, “But I’m not your girl, Ozzie.”

“It doesn’t matter. They think you are!”

“Okay, so you left to show them you wouldn’t stand for the disrespect… right?” I raise my brows.

He’s started pacing again, stepping around me to make it to the balcony. His hand slips into the pocket of his Dickies and he pulls out a carton of Ember cigs.

“Oh no you don’t! No smoking in this room… or anywhere around me.”

“I need to take the edge off. If I can’t drink like I want or fuck like I want or get hi?—”

“What, high? That doesn’t surprise me. Give them to me.”

I approach him with my hand out like a parent about to confiscate something. He raises his brows at me, so incredulous that it almost makes a dent in his enraged armor—healmostsmirks in disbelief.

“It’s bad for you,” I add, surprised by how suddenly soft my tone sounds.

“I don’t give a fuck about cancer.”

“It makes your breath stink. And your clothes. And if I’m going to be kissing you, Gallagher, then I expect you to smell and taste good. Got it?”

Now his smirk does appear, twisting onto his lips and making my stomach flip. “When you put it that way, here. Take ’em. You owe me one just for me handing them over.”

I roll my eyes. “Will you ever stop bargaining for kisses, Gallagher?”

“I want a lot more than that. But a kiss or two’s good for now.”

He’s ribbing me, pushing my buttons, doing exactly what he’s pissed at Boone for doing—trying to get a rise out of me.

I know this, yet as I roll my eyes and shake my head, I’m halfway amused. If there’s one thing that’s begrudgingly true about Oswald Gallagher, it’s that he keeps things interesting. He manages to almost make me laugh and forget who I am for a second.

Special Agent Zoelle Strauss on a life or death undercover mission. The most important case of my entire career.

I take the pack of cigarettes and turn my back on him, deciding I’ll toss out the Ember’s later when he’s not around.

But I’ve successfully taken Gallagher’s mind off his tiff with Boone. I’m now the focus of his attention.

“You called me Ozzie earlier. Did you catch that?”

“Slip of the tongue, Gallagher. Don’t get used to it.”

“You should call me that. And I should call you by your first name. It’ll help us feel less forced, less formal with each other.”

He has a point. As it stands, I’m freezing up anytime he’s putting his hands on me. Earlier he’d called me babe from across the lounge and it didn’t register who he was speaking to. If we’re going to convince Asa Boone and the others, we’re going to have to be more natural.

“Alright,” I sigh. I slip out of my high heels and drop down onto the edge of the bed. “Then tell me what you had in mind for us getting to know each other better,Ozzie baby.”

He hangs his head and groans. “Only you could make that sound professional. Are we coworkers at a bank? You gonna shake my hand next?”

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