Page 32 of Exposing Adonis

Pippa pouted. “Oh, well then when you’re not on duty, you should come join me some time and enjoy the vista.” She gave Alex a sly wink, assessing if he’d be okay with that. Then she stage whispered, “We can keep it just between the two of us.”

I thought Geordie was going to get up and lunge at the man, his hand fisted tightly around his drink. He set it down with a thud. Pippa jumped at the sound and scowled at her old school friend.

Jason had a white earpiece in his ear, probably listening to the rest of the security team. The glint of the cable dangling by his neck seemed to highlight the color of his lightened scar. What was that from? A bullet wound? Shrapnel? It didn’t seem like it was from a blade, but it’s hard to tell, depending on the skill of his surgeon.

Pippa raised a brow at Geordie, then turned back to Alex.

“Well, I heard that it’s a lady gym teacher from …” Pippa’s voice cut off mid-sentence as I took a drink, looking at me with a predatory grin. “Oh? I suppose this whole conversation must be dreadfully dull for you.” She leaned forward, tilting her head with genuine concern. “I hope you don’t feel obliged to sit with us. I’m so glad you feel comfortable sitting at this table.”

Man, that was laced with a lot of insults, implications, and backhanded compliments. I wasn’t even sure how to deal with that. I might be good at thefluffy bunnyact, but she was a master class in how to cut someone with kindness. The woman was lethal.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Geordie said, his eyes bleary with drink. He had a whiskey glass in front of him, and his finger went up to request another. “She’s Callum’sgirlfriend. Things keep going well, she’s gonna outrank you.”

She glared at him, then back at me.

I recognized the server, Joe, who came over with a bottle of Macallan and refilled his drink. He gave me a brief nod, which I returned with a smile.

“Girlfriend, huh?” She quirked her perfectly manicured, darkened brow. “That seems quite new.”

She looked down at her ring. Flexing out her fingers, before those blue, icy eyes dragged their way back to my face. She wanted to see if I’d seen her ring. Of course, I had. I wasn’t blind.

“Not so new thatwedidn’t all know about it,” Geordie said, glaring at her hand with more intensity than I was.

“Regardless,” Pippa said, ignoring him. “I thought you probably found company elsewhere.”

Men in suits and white gloves served our appetizers. Each of us got a plate covered by a silver dome. They lifted each one to dramatically unveil the salad course. That wasn’t worth the fanfare, if you asked me, but rich people lived in their own little world.

Hugo dug in before any of us really had a chance to pick up our forks.

“Pippa …” Geordie said with a low, warning growl. “Don’t.”

It occurred to me that he was warning her because I was an assassin. Was he afraid that I’d take out my butterfly knife and slice her carotid? Right here? At the table?

I had considered it. But then it would be hard to cover my tracks and stage it as a suicide or accident. If I was going to kill Pippa, I’d probably go with some kind of accident. She was entirely too egotistical to kill herself. Maybe alcohol poisoning? She was really skinny, so it wouldn’t take much. Throw in some sleeping pills, because theyalltook sleeping pills, then bing-bam-boom. Dead socialite.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Pippa didn’t heed Geordie’s warning, and continued to speak.

She got no support from anyone. Hugo was bored. Alastair raised a finger at Joe and asked him for a tea.

“But make sure that woman doesn’t touch it.” Alastair gave me a wink. “Lord knows what could happen if she has her way with my drink again.”

I tried not to smile. The man didn’t hold a grudge. I didn’t know what that said about his character, but he was definitely becoming my favorite of all the guys. Other than Callum, of course.

“We come from different worlds,” Pippa shook her head, refusing to be turned from her original conversation. How much had Pippa had to drink? “It’s not because I’m elitist–”

“You’re not?” Geordie interrupted with a scoff. “Haud yer weesht, woman.”

I guessed that was Scottish for shut your trap.

“I’m simply stating facts.” She shook her head, staring down at her ring. “There’s more to this world than the money, and titles–”

“Not for you, obviously,” Geordie’s tongue was laced with acid.

“This is a complicated world.” Pippa’s eyes turned towards me, and instead of the superficial glint that I had seen before - the beautiful but bored expression - there was something deep there. A warning that I couldn’t piece together with only half the puzzles available to me. “All I’m saying is that you should be careful before you get too involved. It’s not something you can turn away from once you’ve made your choice.”

I crossed my arms on top of the table and studied her face. She had a sharp, defined jaw, and high cheekbones. Her lips were pouted and plump, but those eyes … were troubled. Hinting at some wound that I couldn’t see.

“The results may end up breaking your heart,” she said, never releasing my gaze for a moment.

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