“Where are you going?”
“Rio.”
“I’ve been to Rio a few dozen times. That won’t be a problem.”
She looks at me for a long moment, and I can see her trying to figure out if I’m serious. “You’d really follow me to another country?”
“I told you. I know what I want.”
Her mouth curves into a sad, almost amused expression. “You’re very confident.”
“I have reason to be.”
She stands, and the robe shifts, revealing a glimpse of thigh that makes me want to pull her back into bed and forget abouteverything else. But I don’t, because Declan’s messages are sitting on my phone like ticking bombs, and the Petrov situation isn’t going to resolve itself.
She disappears into the bathroom to change, and when she comes out, she’s back to the version of herself she showed me on the plane. Black hair, blue contacts, mask pulled up. The disguise that keeps her invisible.
I walk her to the elevator doors, and she pauses with her hand on the button.
“Thank you,” she says quietly. “For last night. For making me forget for a while.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“I know. But I am anyway.”
She starts to turn away, but I catch her wrist and pull her back. She looks up at me, startled, and I reach up with my other hand to pull the mask down just enough that I can see her mouth properly.
Then I kiss her.
My hand slides to the back of her neck, fingers threading through her hair, and I pull her in. Her lips part immediately, and this kiss is different from anything that happened last night.
She makes a sound in the back of her throat, soft and desperate, and her hands fist in my shirt like she’s trying to anchor herself. I taste the coffee she had at breakfast, feel the tremble in her breath when I deepen the kiss. Her body presses against mine, and for a moment we’re not two strangers keeping secrets—we’re just this. Just her mouth on mine and the certainty that I’m not ready to let her go.
When I finally pull back, her eyes are still closed, her breathing ragged. My thumb brushes across her bottom lip, swollen from my mouth, and she leans into the touch before catching herself.
“Eight o’clock,” I say, my voice rough. “Don’t make me come looking for you.”
“I’ll be there.”
She pulls the mask back up, and then she’s gone, slipping into the waiting elevator before I can find another reason to keep her here. I stand still for a long moment, watching the elevator doors close, and I know with absolute certainty that I’m going to see her again.
Even if I have to burn down half the world to find her.
Declan calls at nine.
“We’ve got a problem,” he says without preamble.
“The Petrovs.”
“Dmitri’s getting bold. He was at O’Malley’s last night, drinking with our guys, talking about how Russian territory is expanding and maybe it’s time for the Irish to step aside.”
I feel the anger start to simmer. “Where is he now?”
“Unknown. But he’s making noise, Cass. This isn’t going away.”
“I know.”
“So what do you want to do?”
