“Lila,” he said softly. “I know you really aren’t sleeping.”
She sighed and opened her eyes. “I don’t like that I can’t seem to trick you.”
For some reason, he felt he needed to assuage her disappointment in herself. “You did get out of the bathroom window.”
Her gaze settled on the container he was holding. “What’s that?”
“It’s some bone broth. Chicken. If you aren’t hungry, I can put it in the fridge.”
“I could eat,” she said struggling to sit up.
Hurrying over, he set the container down on the bedside table. Then he helped her up.
Once she was settled, he opened the container. “Do you need help eating?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
He handed it over, along with the napkin he picked up. He settled in the chair.
“I can eat on my own. Pretty used to it these days, Mix.”
“I want to keep an eye on you. When I had my concussion, I got a little nauseous the first time I ate.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
He heard the sarcasm, but he also heard the tremor. He didn’t want her to be weak. He wanted her back in fighting form so he could yell at her. Why, he didn’t know, but he was angry that she had put herself at risk instead of letting his father help her.
“Go ahead. You can ask your questions.”
“What makes you think I have questions?”
She sipped the bone broth and hummed. Just that had his dick twitching. Seriously? Lila—he was still not used to that name—was sick in bed with a concussion and a stab wound, and he was getting hard because she hummed. He thought once he solved the mystery of who she was, he would be rid of this fascination. Now he was starting to wonder if he would ever get this woman out of his head.
“Your father probably told you my background. I know you have to have questions.”
“You think the people after you have something to do with your family’s deaths?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Why not you? Why couldn’t someone from your work be after you?”
“Because my focus was on the Middle East and the rise of crypto currency in the region. At the time it was new and untraceable—still is to an extent. But it was the new way for terrorist cells to be paid.”
“And you don’t think those people would be after you?”
“They could be, but they wouldn’t have had the connections to deal with someone at the CIA. Plus, no one I was investigating was connected to my parents. Their study had more to do with the rise of extremists in Southeast Asia.”
“What do I have to do with it?”
She took her time answering, sipping on her broth, probably trying to formulate some kind of lie to tell him.
“Lila.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I’m not sure. I haven’t been able to figure it out. And it might have nothing to do with me or why some asshole has a hard-on for me.”
“But?”
“There is some crossover between our work and my parents’ work. Well, my mother’s. She was the real genius between the two of them. Her last target was some jerk called the Andrei Sokolov.”
