Page 43 of Scarlet Mark
The subtle shift in the air alerted me to Amara’s presence a second before she stepped through the threshold wearing last night’s clothes. She appeared deliciously rumpled, her red hair a mess, her eyes warm with sleep, her cheeks a pretty flush.
If only she were naked.
Alas, we’d have to work up to that.
She possessed a sexual confidence I admired, but her background colored it in shades of black. I needed to tread carefully with this one. Even if all I wanted to do was carry her off into the bedroom and fuck her into oblivion.
“Good morning, kitten.” I glanced at the clock. “Or rather, afternoon. Care for some coffee?”
“What is all this shit?” she asked, scanning the abundance of bags in the living area.
“I ordered a few things while you were catnapping.”Clothes. My tablet. A few other essential items for traveling. Some knives.“Your bag is on the chair.”
I’d noted her pant size after removing her jeans yesterday and guessed on everything else. Whatever didn’t fit, she could discard.
“The carry-on you’ll need for Egypt is there.” I pointed to the small black suitcase on the floor. “Pack whatever you can in that. We’re not checking luggage. And I’ll preorder some things for arrival.”
“Egypt?” she repeated.
“Mm-hmm,” I murmured, pulling up a photo on the tablet. “Do you recognize him?” I showed her an image of Raoul and waited.
Her brow furrowed. “No. Who is he?”
“Assad’s number one minion,” I replied, sifting through more details.
“No, Taviv is his associate he uses for everything.”
I blinked up at her. “Taviv?” That name didn’t ring a bell.
“Yeah.” She visibly shivered, her eyes clouding over in some dark memory. “That’s who he takes with him everywhere.”
“You’ve met him.”
“Yes.” She swallowed and sat beside me on the couch, her thigh touching mine as she focused on my tablet. “What is this? Wait… Is that…?” She caught the emblem in the top right, causing me to smirk.
“I have backdoor access into intelligence agencies throughout the globe. Makes my job easier.” Arthur had contacts in high places. So did I.
“And they don’t know?”
“Pretty sure they’d be knocking down the door right now if they did.” Well, and Raven would send a cryptic text of warning if anyone accessed her program. She was one of the best hackers in the world, if notthebest. And also one of the few people who knew my true profession. Considering she worked for a notorious crime syndicate in New York City, she didn’t judge. Just helped me out when needed, and I returned the favor in kind.
“How?” Amara asked, her fingers enlarging Raoul’s face.
“I was hired for a job in New York City once. The mark was swindling money from his superiors, and also an asshole who liked to take advantage of his employees. One of those employees was a woman with a knack for computers. She granted me access to her systems as a thank-you.” I shrugged. “You’d like her.”
“Is she one of your girlfriends?” Amara wondered, her tone deceptively casual. She busied herself by flipping to another screen on my tablet—the profile on Assad.
“I don’t have any girlfriends,” I replied, watching her. “And Raven is just a friend. I wouldn’t jeopardize that by fucking her.” I wasn’t a saint, but I also didn’t sleep around much. Just the occasional fling whenever the opportunity was right.
Amara nodded, tugging her lip between her teeth as she started scrolling through images on my tablet with her finger. She shifted to tuck her legs beneath her, angling her body toward mine. I stretched my arm out across the top of the couch behind her while holding the device for her in my opposite hand.
“What’s wrong with your tattoos?” I asked, noting the discoloration along her left arm.
“Hmm?” She glanced at her shoulder. “Oh. Yeah. I guess they’re fading now. Too bad. I kind of liked them.”
“They’re fake?” I never would have guessed that, but probably should have considering all the photos I had of her from the job revealed porcelain skin with no tattoos. Of course, it’d been her face I memorized more than her body. Mmm, I would fix that soon. Very soon.
“Part of Scarlet Rosalind’s persona,” she replied, her brow furrowing as she enlarged another photo. “There. That’s Taviv.”
