And last…
He brought out a sleep mask.
He lifted the lavender silk between two fingers like it might bite him. “I don’t know what to do with this. But chicks use them.” He gave it a dubious sniff. “Smells like lavender.”
She gaped at him. “They just…lent these things to you?”
“To you.” He set the mask down.
Her chest felt too full, and she didn’t like the sensation. It couldn’t be trusted, just like everything else.
“Aren’t they afraid they won’t get them back?”
Sinner’s eyes were deep brown, the color of coffee. But those eyes pierced straight through her armor as if he could see the part of her that learned to count every possession, every meal, every kindness. And then question what motives were behind the gifts.
“It’s just stuff, Opal. Kennedy wants to make sure you’re comfortable.”
He sank to the edge of the bed, avoiding the blouse she was steaming. He reached out to move the blouse a few inches to the side. At the same time, she reached for it too. Their hands collided, and it wasn’t only a brush this time. Her hand was open, and so was his, which meant their fingers touched.
She was all too aware of how impressive his body actually was. God, he washuge.
She quickly pulled back.
“How did a nice girl like you end up in a place like this?” he tried to cover the moment.
She snorted. “I did good work.”
He nodded once. “What do you call ‘good work?’”
She eyed him. “I had a few successful missions.”
“My guess is more than a few to end up in a high-level op.”
She didn’t grace that with a response. “I don’t love the FBI, but I take pride in my work.”
“Me too. You don’t end up where I am by screwing things up. It’s how I was recruited to Blackout.”
“I thought you got there because they had to erase more than your mistakes. They had to eraseyou.” She paused in her task, and the steamer shot little puffs of vapor between them.
He issued a low grunt that made her skin ripple.
She pushed on, wanting that rise from him she never seemed to truly get. “So you’re really dead.”
“I’m not surprised you know that much. But yes. On paper.”
In her head, she heard Con’s words again.Bring each other back.
And the way the team had looked at her before they left, like she was already part of them.
Sinner didn’t just have a team or a brotherhood. Everyone in that house created a family, built on a foundation of choice and loyalty. They didn’t share violence like her family had, shut up together in that dingy motel before her father took off for good.
Blackout Charlie shared meals. Doors swung open instead of slammed shut. And people gathered to send them off because it mattered if they came back.
Opal had never imagined having that—couldn’t. Not once. The parameters of her life had been drawn early and reinforced often. The walls of her life were cramped. And she could only grow to fit within that small world that didn’t include any of those things others took for granted.
She whipped the steamer up and attacked the dress pants next. She had to get out of that headspace, stop wanting things that weren’t for her.
Don’t want what you can’t have. Don’t reach for doors that were never meant for you.
