“Fine, sweet cheeks. How about this one? Did you and your lover finally have that talk?” he asks, trying to sound playful, but coming off too harsh for her liking.
“We did,” she says, trying to figure out how she can hide what is between them without blatantly lying.
“And…” he urges.
Mikey must sense her unease growing because his hand silently slips into hers, giving her the strength to keep moving forward.
“And, he made it abundantly clear how he feels about me and what our relationship will be moving forward,” she says, intentionally being vague.
Mikey drops her hand, instead bringing his arm around her shoulder and gently rubbing it, ever the comforting friend.
“Well, it’s his loss, but I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting for this so you will finally give me a shot,” Matt says, grinning ear to ear like she had already agreed to go out with him.
“I’m still seeing someone. Besides, I don’t know if we will have time. Now that he is back, I’m sure we will be pretty busy hunting Dmitri down again,” Liz stammers.
“Is there a reason I have been left out of all this planning the team seems to be doing?” he snaps in Mikey’s direction.
“Yeah, because low level soldiers get briefed when we decide they do. You have no reason to be a part of the mission planning,” Mikey clips back, the sergeant in him once again breaking through his fun exterior.
They sit with that, silently walking to the apartment. Evenwith Mikey making it clear he is not welcome, Matt sticks with them, walking right to their apartment door with the pathetic excuse of needing to walk her home.
She peers over to her friend, picking up his hand when she sees the anger churning behind his eyes. She knows that with how close Matt is to the general, it won’t matter what Mikey says. If he wants to join them, he is going to, whether they like it or not. Luckily, the rest of the team realized that before she did.
Mikey pulls the door across the hall open and steers her in. Stepping into the room, Liz nearly freezes in shock.
Not only did they move across the hall, but the team managed to get the entire room set up to look as if they had been going over mission details in there for hours.
Alex and Tyler are gathered around a map that spans the entire table, papers and folders scattered around it. The moment her eyes land on Riley, her breath catches. Everything else fades away. All she can focus on is the man in front of her.
Now in sweatpants and a loose muscle shirt, Riley leans back in his chair, arms crossed, seeming indifferent to the small crowd of people in the room. It’s not the way his biceps bulge just right, or the expanse of tattoos and fresh scars fully on display, or even the way he twists his hips just right when he adjusts in his seat that has her heart rate quickening. No, it’s the deep black skull mask with the small, spiraling horns that threatens to turn her feral. Something about the way it hides just enough to obscure his face while keeping his strong, chiseled jaw and very bottom of his lips showing in the most sensual way sends a wave of heat coursing through her.
When they lock eyes, she thinks it’s all over. He looks at her with the passion and intensity that has her ready to drag him back across the hall and do everything she knows they are both thinking. That feeling is sucked away when Matt steps between them, tryingto play the part of loyal soldier, ready to introduce himself to his new leader.
She could kill him, right there in the room. The guys would help her to dispose of his body, and she wouldn’t have to watch the man she loves play nice with a man who is hiding his true intentions. Alex and Tyler can’t be bothered to so much as glance up while Mikey gets to work handing out food to everyone but Matt.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Matt says, standing at attention.
“Why are you here?” Riley snaps.
“I was just walking Liz back, to make sure she got here safely, sir.” he says smoothly, glancing over his shoulder to wink at Liz.
“Is she incapable of doing that on her own?” Riley retorts.
“She is, sir,” he responds, the slight shake in his voice has her holding back laughter, knowing Riley is really a big softy.
“Then I will ask again. Why are you here?”
“General Scott has made it clear he wants me included in any and all planning because of what I have learned in my time overseas. They made it seem like there was talk of an upcoming mission, so I took it upon myself to join.” He sounds like a child trying to sound confident with each word he says.
“Sit,” Riley orders.
Liz glances at the open seat next to him, taking a step in his direction before remembering what he had said. They need to make it seem like they aren’t together.
Heat works its way low into her abdomen when he winks at her, his devilish smile barely hidden behind his mask. The man knows exactly what he is doing. Mikey takes the empty seat next to him. Matt jumps at the chance to separate them, sliding into the old wooden chair before she gets the chance to move.
With an exasperated groan, Liz fills in the seatbetween Matt and Alex, the last one left. If she can’t sit next to Riley, directly across is the next best thing, even if their stolen glances aren’t as oblivious as they would like to believe. Lucky for them, Matt is far more interested in catching Liz looking at Riley than he is catching Riley looking at her.
“I knew you liked me. Out of all the seats you pick the one by my side,” he whispers, leaning in too close for her liking, Riley’s too if she had to guess by the way he is now tensed up.
