She wrinkled her nose. “I’ve been failing at stuff a lot lately. I’ve tried to stay hidden for the past couple years, and as it turns out, I probably got lucky that no one tracked me down before this. You found me. My ex found me. Couldn’t even get on a plane to get away from either of you.” She flexed her fingers, like she still had cards in them. “It’s nice to feel competent at something, is all.”
This was weird. He imagined that few people ever saw Sejal this raw and vulnerable, not cracking jokes or posturing.
But why two years?
Back in her apartment, she’d assumed her mother had sent him, so she clearly had some fear of Rushali. Why had she gone to groundafterher mother went to prison? Just because Avi had called her and tried to get her to come in to speak with him? She disliked talking to law enforcement that much?
None of your business.“You almost got away from me,” he found himself saying.
She snorted.
“No, you did,” he insisted, and took a step forward. “And you did get away from your ex’s guy, right? Imagine how long TSA probably detained him in a windowless room. He’s probably still there.”
“I mean, he’s white, so probably not.”
He couldn’t help but smile at that, and Sejal gave him a half smile in return. “Thanks for trying to make me feel better.” As she walked to the bed, her tone turned business-like. “Okay, enough whining. Let’s sleep.”
Krish tore his gaze away from the long, lean line of her back and the perfect muscles of her shoulders and went over to his duffel bag on the floor. Opening it, he took out a pair of sweatpants.Her cell phone, the one he’d stolen from her apartment, was right underneath them, and he quickly tucked it out of sight. “Here.”
She turned and caught the pants he unceremoniously threw at her. “Oh. Thanks.”
While she changed in the bathroom, he double-checked the locks and dragged the chair in front of the door. When she came back, he definitely didn’t notice the way his sweatpants bagged on her, or how gravity tugged them down to reveal her hip bones. Or the brown strip of skin revealed between her top and the waistband, a strip that got wider when she pushed the covers back and got into bed.
He busied himself adjusting the chair, which didn’t need to be adjusted, and then sat down in it. The hard back and spring poking into his butt didn’t bode well for the most restful night, but he’d slept in worse places. This time when he fell asleep, he’d will his body to wake up in case she decided to go knock over a bank at two a.m. or something.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sleeping,” he said.
“You—you don’t have to do that. I won’t leave again.” There was a hint of relief in her eyes.
He thought of how adamant she’d been that they not sleep together. He’d been too tired earlier to puzzle through that, but now he’d had some rest. Had her insomnia really been caused by the uncomfortable jeans she was wearing, or had she really been that nervous about being in the bed with him?
Nope, nope, nope.
You will not get intrigued by this woman. She is your golden ticket, your bargaining chip.If he started to think of her as havingvulnerabilities and fears, then she’d become far too real to him. Or worse, likeable.
And one couldn’t start liking bait. “I don’t mind. It’s safer this way; I’ll be more alert if anyone tries to break in. We won’t be able to get away from every nasty situation by pretending that we’re married. I’m going to run out of names for our kids eventually.”
She leaned over and turned off the lights. “Was that a joke, Agent Anand?”
It was good that she believed he was his brother, but he preferred it when she called him Krish. “I guess we’ll never know,” he said.
The dark was pierced by her laugh. It was low and warm, shockingly so, like a dose of sunshine on a cloudy day, and he found himself leaning into it. But then he mentally slapped himself. What was he doing? Slipping into a character unconsciously, the character he’d played when she’d rushed up to him in that bar looking for help? A charming, bordering on flirtatious character? There was a long silence, and he wondered if she’d gone to sleep. “Yes,” she said, into the dark.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I’ve been cheated on.” Sheets rustled in the dark, like she was turning. “And hewasa rich asshole.”
“Was it the guy who’s after us?”
“Yes. Now, good night, Agent Anand.”
He stared up at the ceiling in the dark, his follow-up questions swirling through his brain. Questions he had no right to ask. Questions he shouldn’t even want to ask of someone he despised.
She’s bait. And don’t you forget it.
Chapter Seven
