Page 91 of Hate Mates

THREE

Kinslee

Now we were seated here, I regretted going in blind. I should’ve pushed Thomas, or whatever his real name was, for more information back in the suite. Still, it was too late now. I was supposed to be pretending to date the man next to me, even though he obviously thought I wasn’t capable of doing this job, and his clear dislike made me want to either leave him to deal with this shit alone, or preferably punch him in the balls. He should be pleased I’d taken the initiative, if anything. I’d been the one to spot the opportunity, and if I’d hesitated, this seat would’ve been snatched up straight away.

I was thankful I had an immunity to gorgeous men. Yes, his looks had stopped me in my tracks to begin with, but I’d spent the past few years surrounded by beautiful people, and after a while, I’d stopped noticing. Mostly. And playing the girlfriend of one…well, it wasn’t exactly a hardship.

“To us, darling,” I said, lightly clinking my glass against Thomas’. His gaze shot to mine, his eyes narrowing in warning, and so I smiled, taking a delicate sip of my gin and tonic before placing the glass back down. Channelling my inner Portia Thompson, a girl I’d gone to uni with, who was the self-proclaimed queen bee on campus, I lay my palm on his bicep and fluttered my lashes in his direction. “Have you been working out?”

Something dark and dangerous flashed in his gaze, and I shivered.

“I have. So glad you noticed, sugarplum.”

I choked, quickly clapping my hand over my mouth and disguising it as a cough.Sugarplum? He sat back in his seat, satisfied, a smug smile playing over his lips.

“Oh my goodness! Is that the new Valentino bag?”

Both Thomas and I sat upright, our attention immediately going to the woman across the table. She was eyeing my handbag with a covetous gaze, her hand on the table and her fingers outstretched as if she wanted to reach out and touch it. Thomas squeezed my side, and I got the message. Unfortunately for him, I knew nothing about bags. I was going to have to wing it, and hope for the best.

“Um.” Hesitating for a moment, I licked my lips, and then nodded briskly. “Yes, it is. My boyfriend bought it for me. Isn’t he the best?” I glanced over at Thomas quickly, not daring to hold his gaze, before giving the woman a warm smile. “I love your bag, too.”

“Also a gift from my partner. It appears we lucked out with the men in our life.”

“Mmm. We did. Hi. I’m Lindsey.”

I knew my delivery couldn’t match the smooth sophistication that the woman opposite was most likely used to, but I was hoping it fitted my temporary persona as a postgrad student with a rich boyfriend. To my relief, the woman reached across the table to take my outstretched hand.

“Vanessa. Lovely to meet you. This is my partner, Federico.”

“And this is my partner, Thomas.”

“Another drink?” Federico said in heavily accented English. Without waiting for a reply, he lifted his hand in the air, and after a moment, a bartender discreetly appeared, taking orders for the table. My partner leaned forward and opened his mouth, presumably to thank him, but Federico frowned, lowering his hand beneath the table. He lifted his phone to his ear, speaking softly in Italian for a moment, before turning to us. “Excuse me for a moment. Business.”

As he stepped away from the table, Vanessa lowered herself to the floor. “Excuse me, too. Please could you save our seats? I’m popping to the bathroom while Rico takes the call.” She took her handbag with her, leaving me alone with Thomas.

As soon as she was out of earshot, I turned to him, keeping a smile on my face. “Quick. Tell me exactly what we’re supposed to be doing here. I might be able to help if I know what the goal is.”

His eyes flashed with fire. “Not this, that’s for fucking sure. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We weren’t supposed tospeakto them.”

I drew back. “What? But you said you needed to make contact with the mark. I thought you meant?—”

He exhaled harshly. “Fuck. No. That wasn’t what I meant.” Placing his mouth to my ear, he spoke low and quickly. “I need to connect to his phone and then clone the data using a device I have in my pocket. To do that, I need to get hold of his phone so I can connect it to my device via Bluetooth. Once it’s connected, I can do the rest from a distance, but connecting it in the first place is going to be the issue now we’re on his radar.”

Shit. I had managed to mess it up. “I didn’t realise. What would you have done if—if we hadn’t come over? If I wasn’t here?”

His mouth moved even closer. I shivered when his lips brushed over the shell of my ear as he spoke even more softly.“Pickpocketing skills. Not so easy when he’s seated over there, and we’ve already made introductions.”

Pickpocketing. It was something I’d heard about once or twice during my training over the past few months…not much, but my trainer had wanted me to be aware of various different techniques so I could recognise the signs, as per Creed’s instructions. While I’d never put it into action, I knew the basics, and the number one rule I remembered was this: distraction. Based on the way Federico had practically undressed me with his eyes, I might be able to help Thomas with that…if Vanessa was on board.

“Are they married?”

Thomas’ head rose, his gaze darting around us to make sure we were still alone. “No. She’s his mistress.”

“Okay. I might have an idea. Let me get a feel for the situation with her.” Not giving him any time to argue, I dropped to the floor and headed in the direction of the toilets, smiling as I heard him swearing behind me.

When I entered the bathroom, it was empty other than a closed stall door. Closed, but unlocked.

“Vanessa?” I called, taking a chance.

---