Portia laughed. “So, you’re what, like a genius now?”
“Does that matter?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“Not at all. I don’t like you for your brain.” Her cheeks flamed as she realized how that sounded. “Or not just for your brain.”Ohmygod, Portia, could you sound more idiotic? “I like you, as you are. The whole package.” Dammit!
His smile was the first genuine one she’d seen since he admitted to his headache last night. “No, it didn’t make me smarter. I put things together faster, make connections easier. I don’t know any other way to describe it.”
Portia studied him. If the Tremaine Corporation had caused his implant problem, could they fix it?
“Deciding if I’m a freak?” There was an unpleasant undercurrent in his question. One she wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or at himself.
“No. Just admiring how strong and how resilient you are.” It wasn’t a lie. She reached out and ran a hand over his biceps. Then, using the element of surprise, she pushed him backward and crawled into his lap.
Her lips caught his surprised “oof” and his arms wrapped around her waist.
Chapter36
“You’re out earlythis morning, Ms. Tremaine,” the doorman said as Portia exited the building.
“Getting an early start today, Sam.” She and Aleks had gotten a couple of hours of sleep curled together on the couch, but then he’d needed to leave to get back to his hotel with no one being the wiser. After she’d ushered him down the back stairs and waited for his all-clear, she’d taken a long, leisurely shower.
“Do you need your car, Ms. Tremaine?”
She flashed him a bright smile. “No, it’s nice enough out that I think I’ll walk.”
“It’s a good day for it—no newsies,” he said with a nod and a smile.
Any day without newsies was a good one and lately they’d left her alone. She’d worried that would change with the drone photo, but thankfully it had been too blurry to gain much traction.
“They’re covering a running gun battle down by the docks,” he added.
“Oh,” she said. The docks existed as sort of a no man’s land between the corporations like the Tremaine Company and the gangs who had carved out their criminal empires on the edges of the city. “Thank you for the heads-up.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Tremaine. You have a nice day.”
“You too, Sam.”
The sun was up, but the morning still had a chill. It would likely burn off, so Portia had dressed in layers. She finished her outfit with her black leather jacket and chunky black leather boots. She looked good and shefeltgood. Confident. Like a bad ass.
Quite the difference from the last time she’d woken in Aleks’s arms.
Taking off at a brisk pace, she glanced up, checking for drones, just in case they weren’talltracking the shootout.
With the skies above her clear of spies, she pulled out her phone and selected a number from her contact list. When it rang several times and kicked her to voicemail, she dialed again.
“Someone better be fucking dead,” Ash growled on the other end after several more rings.
“Good morning to you too, Ash,” she said cheerily.
“Portia? What’s wrong? Why the fuck are you calling me at... whatever time it is?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I need you to look into something for me. Shouldn’t you be up and working by now anyway?”
“I live in a bar, Portia. We’ve just barely gone to bed.”
Oops. She should probably feel bad about waking him up, but nothing was going to bring down her mood today.
“I need your help. Just write this down and then you can go back to sleep.”
