He put down his bowl. “Yes, I’d prefer not to do my banking on equipment owned by a known hacker.” He looked as tired as she felt.
She rolled her eyes. “We don’t know that he’ll track your information.”
“We don’t know that he won’t either.”
Valid. Dizzie chewed the soft cereal pieces and hard marshmallows and forced herself to swallow. “You can access it from your house, though, right?”
“If you don’t want me to leave, say so. We’ll figure out another way.” He studied her and she dropped her gaze to the bowl in her lap.
It wasn’t a matter of not wanting him to leave, more that the hacker space was…cozy with him here. “No! I’m making sure we’ve covered all the details.” There wasn’t much to their plan and now that it was time to implement it, Dizzie was worried.
“I’ll set up the reward with my banker and meet you at the Jack’s. We’ll find out how we can spread the word and we’ll settle in to wait for anyone with information.”
“At Razor Jack’s.” Going to the bar was the only way to make contact with the Jack.
“Yes.” Killian sounded pained. He’d fought to convince her to come back to his house while they waited.
She’d vetoed thatandstaying here. Her winning argument, though, had been that people with information would be more likely to go to the Jack’s rather than face the relentless newsies at Killian’s house.
“Are you sure you want to offer that much in reward?” Dizzie cleared their bowls and tidied up the kitchen.
When Killian had named the amount that he intended to offer as a reward, the sheer number of zeros had taken her breath away. If only she had information on the bombing—that much money would nearly pay off her contract.
“It’s only money, Dizzie.”
Only money.
Theoretically, she knew that much money existed. In practice, like right now, that level of wealth wasn’t a concept she could wrap her head around. She and Killian might both have ties to the Tremaine Corporation, but they came from opposite ends of the economic spectrum.
That he had more of this kind of money sent her pulse racing and not in the good way. The amount of power the man beside her wielded…it terrified her.
“It’ll work,” she whispered. It had to. She’d been in limbo for days and it was taking a toll. A future of running and hiding seemed unbearable.
Killian rubbed her arm and she leaned into the touch, needing the contact and the reassurance.
“I need to go,” he said.
“I know.” She pulled away even though a part of her—a deep part of her that she was trying to shush—wanted to beg him to stay.
A whisper of a kiss against her temple. A goodbye kiss.
Dizzie understood why he was leaving, but still struggled to believe he wasn’t bailing on her or setting her up. Her heart said to trust him; her head was a lot more wary.
“Stay here until it’s time to meet at Razor Jack’s.”
She nodded. Late afternoon couldn’t come soon enough. She wasn’t built for being cooped up like this. “I will. Probably.”
“I mean it,” he said. “If you run, you better hope I find you before Portia does.”
She followed him to the door. She tucked her hands in her pockets, unsure what to say. “Um, bye,” she murmured. Argh. She sounded lame.
A big smile crossed his face. “Um, bye,” he echoed.
While she struggled with a witty comeback, Killian tugged her into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers. While they’d plotted this morning, they’d shared a few more kisses. His lips had quickly become her drug of choice. The circumstances were horrible, but without them, she’d never have met him, never had kissed him.
She grabbed his biceps and pulled herself up on her tiptoes.
The height differential put her at an awkward angle. She looped her arms around his neck and jumped. He caught her around the waist and she wrapped her legs around his hips.
