Page 9 of Cruel Pawn
I covered Arden’s hands with mine and held on tight, not entirely missing the way his shoulders dropped as a soft breath parted his lips. Arden liked to be touched. Was starved for it, in any way he could get it, apparently from anyone. Even a woman he’d known for a sum total of two hours. Two and a half if you counted the car ride over.
“I bet this wasn’t how you thought you’d spend the night,” I murmured, glancing at him through my lashes. Trying to read him, to see beneath the thoughtful romantic to whatever madesomeone pay an exorbitant sum to have him killed. I gasped like someone had just occurred to me. “Did you have plans for after our date? You don’t have to stay; I’ll be fine on my—”
“Carmen,” he interrupted, that gentle warmth in his voice again. “I’m not going anywhere, and the only plans I had were to spend time with you.”
I ducked my head like I was pleased, thinking of the time a year ago when my mark punched me in the tit and escaped, the embarrassment making my face heat. I hunted him down and made his death slow and painful in retaliation, but still. He beat me, however temporarily, and I hated it.
But I wasn’t Priya, thwarted contract killer. I was Carmen, sweet, stressed cat mommy.
“Don’t you have important meetings?” I asked, peering up at him. Even sitting in a green leatherette chair, he was a head taller than me. Beside him, I was diminutive, feminine, and fragile. He’d have no clue I was asking if anyone expected him tonight, or if I could lure him back to mine.
“Nothing more important than this.” He squeezed my hand. “I’d never abandon a lady in distress.”
He met my eyes, his irises a rich brown like dark chocolate, with so much feeling and emotion that I didn’t know how it hadn’t already killed him. How could a person feel allthat?“What makes you think I’m a lady?” I quipped, distracted by his pretty eyes. A split second was all it took, and that remark slipped out. Another real moment. Another fuck up.
Arden laughed. The back of my neck crawled with warning. He really shouldn’t be laughing becauseIspoke. He’d done it earlier too, in the library when I slipped and lost control. I’d been real with him, and he’d smiled. As if helikedthe glimpses I let through my usually ironclad mask.
This was all his fault for having a face I liked to look at and a voice that sounded like rich velvet. If he wasn’t kind andgenuine while having an incongruous hit on him, I wouldn’t be interested. Why couldn’t he be boring like all my other marks? I needed to talk to Silvio. Now.
I began to speak, to make excuses about needing to phone my mum or my brother or whoever the fuck else I thought of in the moment, just to put some space between us—i.e. the whole point of faking a vet emergency call in the first place—but the door at the end of the room opened and Jill came out with a tense look on her face.
“Mango made it out of surgery,” she said, and she sounded so honestly serious about it that I never would have guessed she was lying if I hadn’tpaid herto lie. “He’s stable now, and the surgery was a success, but we’d like to keep him in overnight to keep an eye on him. Go home, get some rest, and I’ll call you if there are any changes at all.”
I was a little bit in love with Jill. There wasn’t a flicker in her eyes, not a waver in her voice. I might have hoarded my money like a miser, but Jill deserved double what I’d paid her. I rose to my feet and clutched her hands, letting relief saturate my voice with emotion. “Thank you. So much.”
I swore as she smiled at me that it was an honest smile. I matched it with one of my own.Game recognise game.“I’ll be back in the morning,” I lied.
“We open at eight. I’ll see you then.”
I nodded, pretending to swallow a knot of emotion as I stepped back and grabbed my bag where I’d left the red velvet clutch on the seat. Testing Arden, to see if he’d try to pry deeper into my life—I’d left a prescription pill bottle there to hint at a hidden health struggle. He didn’t even peek inside, which was a shame. He was completely gone for Carmen, so knowing she was sweet and shy andsickwould have been catnip for him.
And yes, I was using cat references because of our current situation. I’d spent hours researching all things feline, and I wasn’t about to let this shit go to waste.
I jumped when a warm, dry hand slid into mine and squeezed. Did my heartbeat have to jump like that? Was itreallynecessary?
“I’ll drive you home, Carmen,” Arden offered, his gaze fixed on my face, the distress in my expression hooking him in. “I told Smith to take the night off. I thought you might want to cry in private. Well, I’ll be there,” he added a little ruefully, “but you’re always welcome to cry in front of me. Not that Iwantyou to cry, of course, I was just thinking if you needed to—”
I cut him off by rolling onto my tiptoes and feathering a kiss across his cheek. Ugh, even that was pleasant. “I appreciate you being so thoughtful. And you’re right, I’m probably going to cry.”
I willed tears into my eyes but smiled at the same time. I wanted to bring up the fact he’d added himself to my phone as future husband, but I hadn’t found the right moment yet.
“Anyway,” Arden said as he handed me my bag and guided me to the door when we’d both said goodbye to Jill, “if we’re both sitting up front, it’ll give you a chance to show me all your Mango photos. I know you must have a million; my entire camera roll is full of photos of my Aegi.”
Ughhh.Stop being so nice, I’m planning to kill you.I shoved the words back. But hehadpresented a slight dilemma—I forgot cat people were obsessed with their pets, meanwhile my work phone had just enough photos of me to seem like a legit phone, and the very few contacts I carried with me everywhere. How would I explain the dearth of cat photos?
I sniffled, tipping my head forward to buy myself time, my heels crunching across tarmac as he led me towards the Range Rover.
“I don’t have them on my phone,” I said, wiping a tear off my cheek and smiling through the pain of worrying about my imaginary cat. Silvio wasn’t going to be very impressed with me when he realised I’d adopted a cat from a shelter. Mostly because I was a contract killer and always on the move, a wholly unsuitable cat owner. Him, however… “All my Mango photos are shot on film using a traditional camera. Only the best for my baby.” I made my voice break on the last word, then pretended to sob.
The sucker swept me into his arms and held me close. It felt nice. That pissed me off. Usually, physical contact made my skin crawl and my blood buzz under my veins, every point of contact burning for bad reasons. Now my skin was heating and tingling for good reasons.
He’s a dead man walking,I tried to reason with my body.
He’s alive right now,it tried to reason back. And honestly, I couldn’t fault it for that logic. Besides, people were made vulnerable by sex. Trust built a bridge between two souls. I could use that trust against him.
I peered up at him through the tears clinging to my lashes and said, “You could come home with me. I could show you all my photos…”
Judging by the way light flared in his brown eyes, he read between the lines and caught the rest of my suggestion. I expected innuendo, or even a smirk. Instead, he murmured, “I’d be honoured, Carmen.”
