Page 161 of Darling Wildfire
Blue eyes flashed with amusement as she took in the room. Her gaze lingered on Knight before fastening on me. Dragging her eyes down my body and back up she stopped in front of me. We stared at each other. I took the cigarette from her lips, took a deep pull and exhaled the smoke into thespace between us before I dropped it and stubbed it out with my boot.
“Hello, Mads,” I said. “You look good.”
The smirk widened. “So do you, T,” she said.
We stared at each other for another moment before she winked at me and walked over to Knight, throwing her arms around his neck. He lifted her up and twirled her around, kissing her cheek lightly before setting her back down.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said. “Glad you could join us.”
“I’m sure not everyone is as excited,” she said dryly, flashing a look in my direction.
Knight chuckled. “Well, you know how convincing I can be.”
She barked out a laugh. “Nah, there’s just no denying I’m the best.”
She looked around at the others and I could see her hungrily assessing them.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” She asked no one in particular.
Nyx stepped up, holding out his hand and flashing her a charming grin.
“Nyxon—but you can call me Nyx,” he nodded across the room. “That brooding hottie is Atlas and this is West.”
Atlas didn’t move but nodded to her from where he was leaning back against a table, cleaning a sniper rifle. West waved a hand without turning around, concentrating on setting up his computer.
“Lively bunch you have here,” Mads said with a look back at me. “Is this all of us?”
As if in answer, the door slammed again and a tall man in a light blue t-shirt and jeans with combat boots strode into the room.
“Knight, you bastard,” he said with a grin. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.”
“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” Knight laughed as they embraced. He turned to the group and gestured to us again. “Everyone—this is Lachlan Frey—former Austrian special forces and the town drunk.”
“I seem to remember you matching me shot for shot,” Lachlan said, shaking hands with everyone. “North—good to see you again, man.”
“That must be why he doesn’t remember,” I said dryly. “Good to see you, Lachlan.”
I watched Lachlan’s eyes land on Mads and instantly his smirk turned feral. He took her hand and stepped closer.
“Ah, and who might this be?”
“Rebel Madigan,” she said, looking at him with equal curiosity. “I go by Mads.”
“A dangerous name—” he let his gaze sweep her lazily from head to toe. “For a dangerous woman.”
In all my years of knowing Mads, this was the first time I’d ever seen pink tint her cheeks.
“Wow,” Knight said, catching on to what I saw. “I think you’re the first person to ever make her blush.”
“Fuck off, Pyro,” Mads said, not looking away from Lachlan.
“Okay, well if you two are done eye fucking each other, we have work to do,” Knight snickered.
We gathered around one of the center tables where I’d spread a map. We’d already sent the other documents and historical information to them earlier so they could familiarize themselves with what we were going after.
“Besides environmental logistical problems,” I said. “There are the contractors to contend with. Lachlan.”
“Yeah, there’s a company that services that area. They’re hired by the government. Nothing much happens out there besides the occasional tourist so as you can imagine that’s a recipe for a trigger happy finger.”
