She crossed her legs. “I guess so.”
“Since she kidnapped you?”
Sejal didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to.
“That’s why you’ve been hard to find lately. You weren’t just hiding yourself. You were trying to keep Ken safe.”
She blew out a large breath. “Maybe.”
He didn’t know when he picked up her hand, but they both looked down, surprised. Instead of dropping her like a hot potato, he linked their fingers together. “That’s good of you.” Even... admirable.
Oh, God.
The truth was, he hadn’t managed to come up with a better plan in his mom’s safe house. He’d left there hoping he’d have a light bulb moment at some point on the way to Vegas, but that hadn’t happened, and wouldn’t happen.
He wasn’t going to be able to go through with this at all, washe? His foolish, wild plan to use her to lure her aunt out of hiding. It was dead, buried.
Fuck. Now what?
Gosh, but she really loved hand-holding.
Sejal’s first instinct was to leave her hand where it was, grasped by his, but that would be entirely foolish. It felt so good. Almost as good as his lips on hers, and somehow more intimate.
Argh. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about her surrogate dads. Why was talking to Krish so damn easy?
Krish’s thumb rubbed her skin again just as the GPS spoke. “In one hundred yards, your destination is on the left.”
Honey, you’rehoooome.She stiffened and removed her hand from his. He peered ahead at the sign that readhappy storage.
“A storage facility?”
She rubbed her leg. Her first feeling at the sight of that sign should have been elation that this whole Alexei thing was almost over. Not disappointment.
Because making it to Vegas meant that a betrayal was on the horizon. They’d be parting ways soon.
But it also meant she’d have Alexei off her back soon, too! She should be happy about that.
This place will never let you be happy.
They were on the seedier outskirts of the city, far from the tourist traps and the residential area she’d grown up in, but even on the nicer side of town, Las Vegas had always felt oppressive to her.
Though it hadn’t been all bad. Sejal had had Mira. She’d been the one to walk her little sister into her kindergarten class, the one who coached her throughout school on which teachers to avoid.That had been most of them, partly because Sejal hadn’t been the most studious of children, and she’d always had a smart mouth on her.
She’d also had Rhea, for however long her aunt would deign to sweep into town. And she’d had her dad’s friends, a weird and motley crew of con men she had called uncles.
Don’t go painting this place in a rosier hue than it deserves. Glass half full is not your way.“Yes. I need to go into a storage unit. You can wait in the car.”
He pulled into a spot, then immediately unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. She considered fighting him, but she was tired. Tired from traveling, and tired from thinking about kissing him again. Tired from knowing she wouldn’t get to kiss him again.
Don’t think about it.
That was right. She’d stuff the idea of touching him down to the depths of her soul, the same place that held other things she didn’t want to think about. That was the only way she’d been able to sleep this past night on the road to Vegas.
And now she had to finish her errand and get rid of this guy. It was for his own good, after all. She was doing him a favor. FBI agent or no, his harebrained scheme could actually get him hurt. If not by the Ivanovitches, then by her aunt and Cobra.
She fell into step next to him as they walked to the entrance of the building. “What’s here?” he asked.
“Something I’ve stored.”
