He didn’t say anything back, but he also didn’t take his hand away. For a second, I pictured myself closing the gap between us and pressing my lips to his… kissing him intentionally rather than just to bolster our cover identity. Would he be into it? Or push me away?
Before I could make a fool of myself, though, he drew a sharp breath and rolled away from me.
“The payout already processed,” he told me, sitting up and giving me his back. His tattoos wrapped both arms and shoulders, but most of his chest and back was clear of ink. So there was no distraction away from the way his muscles bunched and shifted when he stretched.
Fuuuuuck .
“Hmm?” I just registered what he’d said. “Oh, we’re done already? Shit, Leon. I forgot how good you were at cracking codes.”
I took his cue and sat up myself. I’d fallen asleep in my T-shirt and satin shorts, so I was far from indecent. But something about the way Leon watched me as I crossed to my bag to find clothes made me feel totally naked. Weird. He had barely even flinched when I’d dropped my towel yesterday.
I grabbed a handful of clothes and ducked into the bathroom to freshen up and change.
“So I guess we’re done then, huh?” I called out to him after brushing my teeth.
“Uh, yeah. I guess so.” His reply was flat and unemotional. Distracted. He was probably already thinking about his next assignment. Someone with Leon’s skills would constantly be in demand.
I wove my hair into a loose braid and secured the tail with an elastic, then left the bathroom to pack up my own crap. Leon was busy disassembling his tech and carefully packing it into his padded suitcase, and I took my time strapping on my everyday concealed weapons.
“I’m kind of hungry,” I blurted out when I’d run out of things to stall for time on. “I might grab some breakfast before I head back home. I don’t suppose you want to join me?”
Leon looked up at me in surprise. He’d put his glasses back on, but his eyes were sharp as he stared at me. I thought for sure he was about to decline—Leon was even more professional than I was—but then he gave a sharp nod.
“Sure.”
I blinked at his unexpected acceptance. “Oh. Cool. Um…”
“Just give me two seconds to pack all this up,” he said, indicating his equipment, “then I could do with some coffee.”
That made me embarrassingly happy. Oh my god, I was being so ridiculous. Anyone would think Leon was my first crush with how girly I was getting over him. He’d barely even shown me a flicker of interest, and I may as well be doodling Mrs. Danny Marx on my notebooks.
Play it cool, Danny. Don’t scare the sexy nerd away.
Biting my cheek to keep from babbling nonsense, I grabbed my phone and checked that the electronic funds transfer for our completed contract had gone through. Not that the Guild had ever shortchanged me before, but I trusted no one. Least of all the world’s oldest mercenary guild.
After transferring the funds from my Guild account to one of my untraceable, highly secure accounts based in the Cayman Islands, I checked my messages.
I only had one, from Jude. It was a cute message teasing me about my failed hookup with beer-breath Thom the other night, and it made me smile.
“Ready?” Leon asked, jerking my attention away from my phone.
Fuck yes. “Uh huh,” I replied. Keep it casual, DeLuna. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t wait for him to open the door for me, because I was no lady waiting on a chivalrous man to sweep me away. Instead, I took the lead and left Leon following behind with his much larger suitcase in hand.
The elevator was busy, being a Sunday morning in a tourist city, so we didn’t speak on our way down to the lobby. Exiting the elevators, I zeroed my gaze in on the door to the courtyard, and I wrinkled my nose with distaste. Ted had been far from my worst mark, but I was still relieved as hell that Leon had intercepted when he had.
“Here’s hoping we don’t run into Ted at breakfast,” I muttered as we handed our luggage to the concierge to store while we ate.
Leon gave me a sideways glance, and his lips tipped up in a tiny smile. “I don’t think he will be a problem.”
That seemed awfully optimistic, but whatever. Our assignment was completed; there was nothing stopping me punching Ted in his sleazy face if we saw him this morning.
We took a table near the windows this time and ordered from the a la carte menu for our breakfasts. When I headed home, I’d be surviving on my own cooking again, so I may as well take advantage of restaurant fare while I was here. Not that I was a bad cook. After ten years of living alone with Stanley, I was passably good. But more often than not, I just couldn’t be bothered and ate peanut butter toast instead.
“Did you get a facial recognition hit on the guy Ted was meeting with last night?” I asked when the waitress had left with our orders.
Leon gave me an odd look, then gave a small headshake. “I forgot to run it,” he muttered, scowling as he looked out the window.
He forgot? That seemed… out of character for Leon. Our waitress appeared a moment later with coffee, and I waited until she was gone before replying.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter now that the job is complete, anyway.”
He gave a stiff nod, then took a sip of his coffee.
“What was the data?” I asked quietly when Leon made no further attempts at conversation. In fact, he seemed decidedly uncomfortable sitting opposite me. Like he’d rather be anywhere but here right now. It made me wonder why he’d even accepted my invitation in the first place.
He cleared his throat, setting his coffee cup down. “Schedules and travel plans for a bunch of fake names. Probably going to turn into a kill mission for whoever those fake names represent, if I were to guess.”
It made sense. We were never privy to finer details of our contracts, like who was paying and what their motivations were. Those details had no bearing on our job, anyway. So long as the money got paid upon completion, then it didn’t matter who it came from. And it always got paid, because the Guild held the funds in trust before even assigning a merc.
An awkward silence settled over us again, and I regretted suggesting breakfast. We should have simply gone our separate ways as soon as the mission was completed. Guild agents didn’t work in teams . We were lone soldiers who occasionally needed to work together.
“If you’ve got somewhere else to be…” I was irritated now and mentally kicking myself for getting carried away. Leon wasn’t some hot guy I’d met in a bar. He was a mercenary, same as me. We were all damaged. Broken. It was foolish to think there was actually something between us. That kiss was just for the mission, and he’d slept beside me because he was tired. Simple as that.
“I don’t,” he replied. But his tone was harsh and his jaw tight as he stared at me like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. “Do you?”
My brows shot up before I could control my reaction. “Not really. I have a private plane, so they work to my schedule.”
A small smile touched his lips. “High roller, huh?”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s not mine. I just… use it.” Well, if that didn’t sound cagey, I don’t know what did. But, fuck it. That was easier than explaining my complicated relationship with Carlos.