“You get to have a little sleepover with us tonight.” Iwinked.
Her face lit up. “Forreals?”
Brisk rubbed her hair, dislodging one of her buns. “Yeehaw, we get to see lil Tate inaction.”
Ronnie raised an eyebrow. “Yeehaw?”
Brisk just gave her a smoldering look and blew her a kiss, to which she rolled hereyes.
We said goodbye to Annie and Diane, and then the double doors opened. Damien stood there in gray low-slung sweat pants and a black tank top. His hair was messed up and he looked tired. In six days, he’d only had four hours of sleep. That wasrough.
Everyone filed into the house but I lingered, tugging on Damien’s arm for him tostay.
How am I going to tell him about Tatum? What’s the worst he could do? Fire me? Ohwell.
“So…” I started, unsure how to say what I wantedto.
He put up a hand. “I heard everything over the security cameras. It’sfine.”
My mouth popped open. “Really? Tatum can join the team? Sleep over?” Had he really heard everything? Damnsnooper.
“Yes. She’s only twelve. I’m not some heartlessasshole.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Hmm, you sure? Let mecheck.”
I set my hand on his chest, intending to jokingly check for a heartbeat, but when my fingers landed on his chiseled pec, heat traveled from my navel to my groin. My body was betraying me. I yanked my hand back but he caught it midair, stepping closer to me. His body pressed against mine, and holy hell, I wanted him. I wanted him,bad.
Maxine was right, I needed to date. After tonight I was going to go out and date the first guy I saw, because I couldnotbe falling for myclient.
“You know, contracts are my thing. I pore over them for hours looking for loopholes, flaws, things of interest,” he toldme.
I swallowed hard and reminded myself to breathe, his hand lessened its pressure on mine and suddenly we were just holding hands, smooshed against each other, all alone. I’d barely known this guy two days and yet it felt like I remembered him somehow, like we’d spent lifetimestogether.
“I looked over our contract today and found something of interest,” hecontinued.
My heart was jackknifing in my chest. Why did it feel so good to be close tohim?
Because I’m lonely. The Dream Wars did that, made me desperate. It’llpass.
“What?” was all I could think tosay.
He leaned in, brushing his cheek against mine, and I nearly burst with pent-up energy. “There’s no clause saying you can’t go out on a date withme.”
Then he released my hand and stepped back, wearing a smug-assgrin.
Oh God, this man is going to be the death ofme.
I straightened my posture and met his gaze. “Good luck with that,” I told him, then blasted past him for thestaircase.
Mark my words, I wasnotdating DamienStriker.
* * *
When I gotup to the room, I saw that everyone was ready. The gear was out, Brisk and Nox were loaded with grenades and sticky bombs, and Tatum was being strapped with a gun holster and the new skull-and-bow shin guards I gother.
“Hey, Jeremy,” I said cautiously. He was sitting at the edge of the bed with Josephine. Now was probably my only time to talk to him before he went total mute on me in the dreamworld.
He stared at my feet. “I fixed it. The cuff, it’s going to work thistime.”
