He stared at me with big blue eyes, and I froze when he licked my palm. The others didn’t notice because they kept talking. My focus was caught on Fallon, though, and the way mischief danced in the depths of his irises as he stepped in closer, and it took all my effort not to kiss him hard on the mouth. He was as tempting as Vail.
“Aspen.” Cillian’s sharp voice broke me out of my thoughts, and I glanced at him.
“What?”
He raised his eyebrows, a smug smirk pulling at his lips, as though he knew what was happening between me and Fallon. “Ardan’s saying Franco’s going to give us an ear on the inside through Ilya’s phone. He can hack the microphone. We can listen in on what Ilya says, and we’ll know when we can crash the party.”
I yanked my hand away from Fallon, aware of the wetness on my palm, and nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”
“Am I missing something?” Franco asked through the phone.
“Just two men flirting. Badly,” Ardan answered in a bored tone, smirking at me. Mancini nudged his boyfriend.
I stared at Ardan, and he kissed the air in my direction.
Cillian rolled his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. We got a pretty arse to get home to, don’t we?”
“So, I go in there without anything to protect me and charm this guy into giving me a job as a whore?” Fallon asked, grinning cockily. Only he would think it was going to be fun. He had no idea who he was dealing with, and Ilya wasn’t the type to mess around.
“Think ye can do that, pretty boy?” Cillian shoved him, and Fallon pushed him back, which had Cillian jerking toward him like he was going to punch him. Fallon raised his fists, still grinning—and ready for a fight. Cillian grunted and ruffled his hair, and the gesture of endearment had Fallon’s mouth falling open for a few seconds. Even Rowen and I stared in surprise. I couldn’t remember a time when Cillian ever did something like that to Fallon.
“Let’s go,” Ardan said, his tone clipped. He wasn’t the type of guy who showed much emotion at the best of times.
“I hacked into Ilya’s phone, so I’m listening now,” Franco said, his voice echoing from Ardan’s phone. “Ardan has some earbuds for you to listen in on. I’ll keep you connected, but when you decide to go in there it’s all up to you. I’ve done my part.”
“I appreciate your help,” Ardan said.
Franco laughed. “I think this is the tenth favor you owe me.”
Ardan grunted and glared at the phone, taking it off speaker and placing it to his ear. He started talking in what I thought was Italian, and I had a feeling we weren’t meant to listen to the conversation. Mancini must’ve decided to teach Italian to Ardan because, as far as I knew, he didn’t know how to speak it. Mancini shrugged when I glanced at him in question and yanked little containers out of pockets in his leather jacket, passing one each to me, Cillian, and Rowen.
“They’re the earbuds.”
“What’s that about?” Fallon waved his hand at Ardan, but Mancini raised his eyebrows.
“Work. None of your concern.” Mancini’s game face slid on and all emotion left him.
Fallon grinned, and I knew he was going to keep pressing. He never knew when to quit, and it was going to get him into trouble. I clasped his arm, earning a surprised glance, and dragged him down the street away from the others. I was aware of Cillian’s gaze on us but didn’t care.
“You need to stop,” I grunted out, shaking my head and nearly dislodging my baseball cap. “I know this is all fun and games to you, but you’re playing with fire.” Anger spiked through me, along with the panic of sending Fallon in there unprepared. He was still too innocent for this life. Sometimes I wondered if he even belonged in the Company. “Those men in there will kill you, no questions asked, if they even get a whiff of you being a Killough man. This isn’t training anymore, Fallon, this is serious. I want you to go in there with your thinking head on your shoulders, got it?”
“Are you worried about me?” he teased, amusement dancing in his eyes. He reached up and adjusted the collar on my winter coat, and I shivered when the soft lining slid around against the back of my neck.
I grabbed his shoulders in a tight grip. “Of course I fucking am.”
His mouth dropped open and he stared in surprise. “Really?”
I heaved a sigh. “Vail loves you.”
Some of the light left his gaze and his mouth pressed together in a thin line.
“Icare about you, boy.” I gritted my teeth when he perked up again. “Just don’t make a mess and get hurt, all right? Listen to what we have to—”
Fallon went up on tiptoe and slammed his mouth against mine in a move that had me stumbling backward. He followed me, and I groaned in a mixture of surprise and hunger as he shook my hands off and grabbed my face, holding me there so he could kiss me deeper. It took me a few moments to give in to the touch of his lips and kiss him back, and when I finally pulled away, he stared at me with wide eyes.
“Wow.”
I laughed quietly. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
