Because we both know what flared brightunder that hot spray. And it doesn’t look like either of us wants to acknowledge it. Yet.
“Shit,” I mutter, extracting myself from the bed without waking her.
Coffee first. Then I need to figure out how to complete this mission without completely crushing the woman I'm starting to care about more than I should.
Twenty minutes later, I'm dressed and caffeinated, staring at my laptop screen like it holds the answers I need. My orders from Kingston haven’t changed. Get Declan to hand over the stolen intel and use whatever leverage I can.
I let out a sigh and rake a hand through my hair. Maybe there's another way. Maybe if I dig deeper into the Blake organization, I can find pressure points on Declan that don't involve fucking over his daughter.
I pull out my phone and call Reign.
“It's barely eight in the morning,” he grunts. “This better be good.”
“I need your help with something. Can you meet me at the office?”
“What kind of help?”
“The kind that requires your specialized hacking skills.”
There’s a pause. “This is about your wife, isn’t it?”
I grit my teeth. “This is about finding dirt on Declan Blake. So we know his full story.”
“I'll be there in an hour.”
I peek into the bedroom before I leave. The sheets are knotted around Tierney’s ankles, her head buried in the pillows and her hair fanned out around her.
My cock twitches when she shifts and the sheet lifts to reveal the curve of her ass cheek.
I give my head and shake and close the door before I allow myself to get completely derailed. Reign's already at our office building in Midtown when I arrive.
He sits behind a desk with three monitors and enough processing power to hack into the Pentagon.
“So,” he says, not looking up from his screens. “What's got you looking for alternatives? Thought the mission was going perfectly.”
I drop into a chair next to him. “It is. I mean, I’m working on it.”
“And?”
“And maybe I just want to see if there are other ways to pressure Declan for the intel.”
Reign leans back in his chair and turns to study me. “You're getting attached, aren’t you?”
I shrug. “I'm just exploring all options. I want to know how desperate he really is.”
“Yup. Like I said, you're getting attached,” he repeats, grinning. “This is gonna be interesting.”
“Fuck off,” I scoff. “Can you help me or not?”
“What exactly are we looking for?”
“Everything we can find on Declan Blake's organization. I want to know who his enemies are, what his business operations and financials look like, shit like that. There’s got to be something we can use as leverage that doesn't involve manipulating Tierney.”
Reign cracks his knuckles and turns to his keyboards. “Okay. Let's see how fucked daddy Blake really is.”
For the next two hours, we dive deep into Declan's world. Financial records, shipping manifests, communicationintercepts, surveillance reports from our Dublin contacts. And the picture ain’t a pretty one.
“Look at this,” Reign says, pulling up a series of bank transfers. He points at the screen. “Declan's been hemorrhaging money for months. Moving funds around like he's trying to stay ahead of something.”
