“Trying to be the teacher’s pet?” she murmurs.
I flip her off without looking at her.
She smothers a giggle and flips me off right back. Brady scowls, but it’s the man introduced to me last week as Rhodes that speaks first. He leans back from the desk where he was using a laptop and calls out, “Is that what the kids call flirting these days? Because it’s super weird.”
Brady whirls on him. “Mind your fucking business.” He says at the same time Sera says, “Fuck off.”
Rhodes laughs and goes back to his computer.
Brady glares at both of us, his jaw ticking before he launches into last-minute instructions. It’s completely unnecessary, but I pretend to listen. Standing rigid next to me, I can feel Sera’s patience thinning.
When Brady emphasizes professionalism again, his gaze cuts sharply to me.
Sera exhales through her nose and reaches for her hair, gathering it up with quick, practiced movements. Her sweater lifts, revealing a stretch of golden skin and a holster nestled in her waistband.
It’s so fucking hot. Blood rushes to my cock, and I school my face instantly. The rest of my body is slower to fall in line.
Brady freezes, expression arrested in surprise.
For a second, I think he’s clocked my incrediblyunprofessionalreaction to a few inches of his sister’s bare skin, but I quickly realize that he’s staring nonplussed as she secures the ponytail with a rubber band.
Sera catches it. Her head turns, eyes locking with mine, her eyebrows meeting in confusion.
“What?”
For a heartbeat, the world narrows to her. All I can see is her sparkling eyes and pretty face.
“Nothing,” Brady says abruptly, rubbing his jaw.
The action gives him away. I realize it’s the first time in my presence Sera has pulled her hair up. Exposing all of her scars.
“We’re—just—let’s move.”
My heart swells. I understand what he doesn’t say.
A few times when I saw her last week when she was with people she’s close to, her hair was pulled up much like it is now. But the second a client came in, or an operative she wasn’t as familiar with approached, she would immediately pull it loose so that it hid her face. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious choice she makes or if it’s just an instinct to guard herself. But that she did it now—without thinking—has something clutching in my chest that I’ve never experienced before.
“If you’re done, we should go,” Sera says.
“I just refreshed the bags in the SUV, so you should be all set,” Brady tells us.
“Thanks.”
Brady hesitates, like he wants to say more—wants to demand that we not leave, that he’s canceling the job—but he just nods.
“Check in when you land.”
“We know the drill, Brady.”
I’m impressed at how even she keeps her voice because I can see the temper sparking in her eyes.
“Right.” His lips pinch. “Be careful. Stay alert.”
The advice is for both of us, but the look he’s giving communicates that the warning is meant for me. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. So dramatic.
Sera reaches for her roller bag, but I get to it first. Setting her duffel on top, I shoulder my duffel and grip the handle of my bag.
“I can do that,” she snaps.
