10
D anny didn’t say much on the way back up to our room, staying in character as Michelle for the sake of security cameras. On the off chance that Edward Gates suspected something was amiss, we couldn’t break cover anywhere that hotel security could see us.
So her shoulders curled in and she kept her eyes downcast, seeming fragile and delicate like a woman expecting to feel the wrath of an abusive husband. Unable to help myself, I’d wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and she’d cuddled into my side.
Damn, I liked that.
I saw her back to our room, then continued up two floors to cover my tracks before Edward returned to his room. A quick check of the hotel cameras on my phone told me he’d returned to the bar to nurse his pride with more scotch. I was quick about it nonetheless, entering his room with my cloned keycard and heading straight for the window overlooking the courtyard where he’d laid hands on Danny.
My jaw clenched tight as I reeled in the line I’d used to rappel down the side of the hotel. It had been a foolish risk to take; someone could have seen me. But I hadn’t been thinking clearly. It’d taken all of thirty seconds to duplicate Edward Gates’s hard drive, but then I’d heard Danny scream and… well, the next thing I knew, I was in the courtyard about to rip that fucker’s head straight off with my bare hands.
In my defense, the elevators were slow.
I clipped the retracted length of woven metal cable back onto my belt, then gave the room a once over to ensure there was no sign of me ever having been there. When I was satisfied, I returned to my room with a strange feeling coiling inside me.
Danny was in the shower when I let myself back in, and it took far more willpower than I was willing to admit just to stop myself busting in there to join her. It was official: she was the first mercenary who’d gotten my dick hard in nearly four years.
I was spiraling something wicked. The sooner we finished this mission, the better. I was an idiot to take this job with her. My obsession was worse than I’d even realized, and it would end up in her getting killed. Just like Layla.
With that sobering thought, I returned to my computers. All the data I’d retrieved from Edward’s laptop had been heavily encrypted, and part of our assignment was to deliver it un encrypted. That was the main reason a data analyst had been assigned this mission. If it was simply retrieval, Danny would have done it alone. She’d probably have had to sleep with the creep, then break into his computer another way, but those sort of missions were fairly standard for the honey mercs.
The Guild wanted this data unencrypted on the spot so it could be verified while we still had Mr. Gates under surveillance. He was a man known to drop off the radar, and if he needed to be hauled in for more hands-on questioning, then now was the best chance for that to happen.
Whoever Edward worked for, they’d done a decent enough job with their encryptions. No way in hell had that idiot done it himself. It was nothing I couldn’t crack, but it would probably take me a couple of hours.
Danny emerged from the shower a couple of minutes later, her long hair wet and smelling of hotel shampoo despite the fact she’d just washed it earlier in the evening. Fair call, though. She probably wanted to wash away any hint of Edward Gates.
“Find anything good?” she asked casually while grabbing fresh clothes from her bag.
I adjusted my glasses and gave her a sidelong look. “No thanks for saving your ass downstairs?”
Her laugh was low and throaty. Total sex. Pure fucking honey. “Trust me on this one, Leon. I didn’t need saving. But I definitely enjoyed the drama of it. How’d you get down there so fast?”
I bit back a smug smile. “Teleportation, obviously.”
She grinned. “Of course. Apparently, I need to talk to the right people to upgrade my tech, because that would come in handy.”
She dropped her towel to get dressed, and my breath escaped in a pained sigh from behind my teeth. I needed to not look. The taste of her kiss was still on my lips, and the soft press of her body imprinted into my mind. If I looked, I would really lose control. More than I already had.
So I forced my eyes back to my screen and worked on coding a program to unravel Mr. Gates’s computer contents. As soon as I cracked it, I could upload the data into our job portal and get the contract paid out in full. Then I could walk the fuck away and erase Danny DeLuna from my mind.
From the corner of my eye, I watched her dress in a soft black T-shirt that hugged her slender curves way too well, and a pair of black silk shorts. Then she peered in the mirror to inspect the red mark on her otherwise flawless cheek. Fucking Ted had hit her, and she’d let him.
I said nothing, continuing with my work and trying to ignore her as she rummaged in the minibar for something cold. She pulled out a can of Coke and pressed it to her cheek for a moment, then gave a frustrated sigh.
“I’m going to get some ice,” she announced. “Back in a sec.”
A panicked jolt ran through me as she turned toward the door.
“Wait,” I snapped before I could catch my tongue. “You don’t need ice.”
She spun to face me on bare feet, arching a perfect brow. “My face disagrees with you, Dr. Leon.”
That sass again. It made me want to do bad things to her.
“Sit down,” I ordered her, getting up out of my chair and crossing over to my suitcase. Most of my luggage had been tech equipment, but I also had some spare clothes, a shit load of weapons, and a few toiletries. I found the little purple pot I was looking for and crossed over to where Danny had perched on the end of the bed… surprisingly obedient, I might add.
She frowned suspiciously at the medicine in my hand. “What’s that?”
“Poison,” I replied sarcastically, opening the lid and dabbing some of the white cream on my finger. Just to shut her up, I handed her the whole thing to read while I smoothed the strongly peppermint-scented cream over her bruised cheek.
Her breath caught as my fingertip caressed her cheekbone, but I’d probably just pressed a bit too hard on a fresh bruise.
“Arnica, St. John’s Wort, calendula, peppermint, cloves, and eucalyptus,” she read aloud from the ingredients list. “How very homeopathic of you, Dr. Leon.”
I smiled, making sure the cream was all rubbed into her skin before stepping back. “You can save the mockery, DeLuna. It already feels better, doesn’t it?”
She wrinkled her nose, handing the pot of cream back to me. “Yeah, I guess.”
“I think what you mean to say is thank you, Leon .” I gave her a pointed look. She just leaned back on her hands, looking up at me with total confidence and… an edge of flirtation?
“Thank you, Leon,” she purred in the most sinfully sexy voice I’d ever fucking heard.
It was the kind of tone that made my pulse race and my palms sweat.
Hardening my features, I jerked a nod and returned to my computer. I had a shit load of encrypted data to decode, and there was no time like the present.
An awkward silence fell between us, and I couldn’t help missing the easy almost-friendship we’d shared on the jobs we’d done together a couple of years ago. I’d been attracted to her then, too, but I’d also still been hurting from Layla’s death. It was enough to let me firmly put Danny into an untouchable category. It was enough that I’d been able to enjoy her company without constantly thinking about kissing her, and touching her, and slamming my—