Maybe she misinterpreted his intentions, or maybe there was someone in the crowd she thought needed to be convinced of their couple status, because instead of turning her head to the side, she met him halfway with a quick, soft kiss.
He gasped in surprise, his lips tingling, and immediately chased her for another, his fingers pressing into her soft buttocks as he brushed his mouth over hers again and again.
Her body tensed and pressed closer, and he licked—
Someone bumped him from behind, knocking him into Emma. Still holding her around the waist, he stepped to the side to avoid falling on her and looked over his shoulder, eyeballing the drunk whose eyes widened as he looked up, his gaze skimming up Jason’s torso and across his shoulders.
The young blond man put his hands up in apology and backed away, mouthing what Jason assumed was an apology.
Shit. Jason turned back to Emma and released her, shaking his head in a futile attempt to clear the lust from his veins. Just like back at the park, he’d gone from playing a role to wanting to devour her in the space of a few seconds.
She looked almost as dazed as he felt.
His lack of control was not okay. He might need to act like the besotted boyfriend while they were here, but he also needed to keep his wits about him. He wasn’t a fucking rookie. Why was keeping his head around her so damn hard?
“You okay?” she said, her actual words lost to the loud room, forcing him to watch her kiss-slicked lips.
Nodding, he took her by the hand and forged a path to the bar and waited for the blonde Amazon serving drinks to notice him. When she approached, he gave her a tipsy version of his famous smile. “Telefon?” He mimed calling with his hand.
She shook her head.
“How can I call my friend for a ride?” he yelled in English, leaning close. “Our cell phones don’t work in this country.”
He’d have used a pay phone if they still existed, but he hadn’t seen a single one on his trip so far, except the one that had been converted to a small library.
With an aggrieved sigh, she rolled her eyes and turned away. He was about to walk away when she faced him again, setting a black multi-line phone on the bar. She pressed the button for one of the lines and held out the handset. “One minute,” she mouthed, holding up a finger for emphasis.
He smiled again and gushed, “Thank yousomuch.”
She gave him an irritated head shake and stalked off to help another customer.
He dialed Todd’s temporary mobile phone and plugged his other ear.
“Brennan,” Todd said, his voice barely audible.
“Hey, it’s Jake,” he said, just in case anyone was listening in, confident his best friend would recognize his voice. “I met some girls at Bar Undine in the hotel next door. Come join us.”
Todd hesitated. He’d know something was up. Jason wasn’t big into the bar scene, and he’d never invite an engaged man out to hook up. “Give me five,” Todd said, ending the call.
Thank God. Jason replaced the handset and made a show of stuffing a few bills into the tip jar while the blonde watched. She gave him a tight nod.
Turning toward Emma, he placed his hand on her lower back and spoke into her ear. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. Tall redhead. Let’s blend for now.”
He followed her into the crowd, scanning the baby-faced twenty-somethings for anyone who didn’t belong. If anyone stood out in the crowd, it was them. She stopped halfway across the room, giving him the view of the door as they danced. This time, he didn’t touch her. He knew better.
Jason tracked everyone who entered or exited the club for several minutes, his anticipation ratcheting up steadily until a familiar face appeared in the doorway. The muscle in his jaw relaxed when he spotted Todd slowly working his way toward the wall at the side of the room, smiling politely at several women who approached him along the way, but not stopping to talk to anyone.
“He’s here,” Jason mouthed to Emma, holding out his hand, jolting at the feel of her fingers sliding across his palm. God, he was in so far over his head with this woman.
They’d covered about half the distance to the wall when Todd spotted him, eyes widening, probably at his altered appearance.
When they arrived, Todd grinned and hooked Jason around the neck to pull him close. “What the fuck is going on?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
SITTING IN THE booth of a vegan pizza parlor in West Hollywood, Dallas was trying like hell not to freak out. Emma had gone radio silent almost three hours ago, after cutting off the file upload midstream at his command and sending him a thumbs up emoji.
It hadn’t taken him long to determine there was a malicious piece of code embedded in the files that would send the user’s location as soon as they were connected to the Internet, either via IP address or WiFi triangulation. It was pretty slick, and scary as hell.
