Page 12 of Exposing Adonis

We all needed therapy after that particular cross-cultural exchange. We learned a lot about ourselves, which was why I had an expedient version created for Caledonia Security.

Without a doubt, if I was to go through that school now, it would beherface going through my mind. Even if she refused to look at me.

“Alright lads,” I said, standing over the map table in the hangar, “and lady.” I belatedly added, throwing a glance at my woman.

The boys gathered round, Leo hanging back beside his sister who had her arms crossed, looking out the hangar doors, toward the setting sun. The pink and purple of the sky colored her golden skin and platinum hair. I took a breath to admire her beauty.

Leo nudged her in the ribs and said something, and she elbowed him back. He grunted, rubbing the place she had hit then walking to join us at the map table.

“We’re glad to have you, Leo,” I said with a nod. “Sorry for our … precautions. We’ve never worked with you, and Dr Chloe Laurent is quite … special to two of us.”

His eyes narrowed the slightest bit, then looked at each one of my colleagues, likely wondering which two cared about our hostage.

“She’s like a little sister to me and Geordie,” I said, by way of explanation. “We’ve known her since she had baby teeth.”

Chloe had been in year one when her sister shipped her to the junior boarding school at St. Michael’s in Montreux. She was the tiniest, and youngest, boarder the school had ever had. Without anyone else her age to cling to at night, she had imprinted on Pippa, who was in our class. We were six or seven years older, which was a lifetime of difference when you’re that young. But Pippa had insisted she be included in everything we did, so little Chloe with the unruly black curls trailed along with us wherever we went.

“So we’ve known her for at least a couple years …” Geordie said with a wink and a chuckle.

Leo shot him an annoyed look. So the little fellow felt defensive of our Chloe, did he? I filed that information away for later.

“I’m joking, man!” Geordie chuckled. “But we were the sorry bastards who taught her about the tooth fairy.” His remark struck a memory of me and Pippa sneaking into Chloe’s room to steal her tooth, and replace it with a two swiss franc coin.

The drug must have still been doing things to Geordie’s head, because he attempted to clap Leo on the back, missed and almost stumbled onto the map table.

“Right, I’m sitting down,” Geordie said, taking a seat and dropping into it like a careful drunk.

I cleared my throat to regain their attention. Her melted chocolate eyes turned to me. Her momentary glance shot a hot arrow right into my gut. I ran my tongue over my lips, remembering her taste, her scent. When her gaze focused on my mouth, I smiled. She averted her eyes.

“Since time isn’t on our side, we go in tonight.” I knocked my index finger onto the map table in front of me, trying not to think of the similar table in Scotland, where I had done glorious things to her just a few hours earlier.

“It’s a rush, but Chloe’s been out of our hands too long. The longer we wait, the more volatile they will get.” This fact had been implied, but saying it out loud gave it weight. “So we better get cozy working as a team, as we don’t have much time to get on the same page.”

Lea had silently moved behind her brother, peering past his shoulder at the map. Her face was neutral, but I knew she’d listen to every word.

I wasn’t foolish enough to think that she was paying attention for my sake. Her need to know wasn’t because she was concerned about me. She had made it clear that her brother, her family, was the only thing she cared about.

I didn’t blame her.

When her eyes flicked up to me, I wanted to reach across the table and cup her face in my hands. To kiss her, like a lover going to war. But I refrained.

“Leo,” I said, crossing my arms. “You and I are about to become best mates.”

Chapter 6

Lea

“Ishouldbetheone to go with him,” I interjected after Callum laid out their plan. My hand played on the metal handle of my closed butterfly knife as it poked out from my back pocket. I was twitchy. I wanted to slice it open, and closed, and hear the rhythmic metal scrape.

The feel of the cool metal on my finger soothed the rage and kept me rooted in the present, instead of wandering into the not-so-distant past when I had been naked in Callum’s arms. When the world had felt right, and distant, and we were in that library existing for one another.

His lips, their thickness accentuated by the thick, auburn beard parted as he looked at me, his tongue touching the edge of his top teeth.

“There’s nothing in your list of tasks that I can’t do in your stead.” I pried my eyes from Callum’s mouth to look at a spot just off his left ear. If I didn’t look right at him, I wouldn’t be distracted. “Leo and I are used to working together.”

“Sure,” Callum countered, as he walked around the table to stand near me. He put a finger under my chin, and tilted my chin up to look at him. He smelled like forest when the leaves were falling. “We’ve discussed this, and you know you have to stay here.” The low timber of his voice sent a shiver down my spine and started a warmth in my chest that I tried very hard to ignore. “My mission…”

The unspoken word hovered between us.My woman.That was what he had said afterwards.

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