The Espionage Effect(68)
I impacted my target, hitting the muscled part of my shin against bones, one, then another. A loud thud on the bamboo floor in front of me was followed by his deep grunt.
Not risking any counterattack, I scuttled backward. Then I quickly assumed a ready position, knees soft, thighs flexing, then relaxing, breath calming to a steady rhythm as I pulled my awareness inward for a brief stabilizing moment before I reached it outward, assessing for threats once more.
Deep laughter rumbled out, vibrating against my senses. “Enough for now,” he called out from the floor. “Take your blindfold off.”
I slid the black silk tie up, resting it at the crown of my forehead like a headband.
He remained sprawled on the floor where I’d toppled him down.
I grinned. “Well?”
“Not bad.”
“Not bad, as in, ‘she’ll do’?” I crossed the distance between us and stared down at him, propping my hands on my hips.
“Yeah. We’ve still got work to do. Don’t make plans for today or tomorrow. But, yeah. She’ll do just fine.” Fire sparked in his eyes as he extended a hand up toward me, silently asking for my assistance. I clasped my hand around his forearm, gripping the muscle while he clamped on to mine, mirroring my hold. I dug my bare heels against the smooth bamboo flooring, lunging my weight back in counterbalance.
Energy still sizzled in the air around us, and I drew strength from it, charged in ways I couldn’t put words to. No one on earth knew as much about me as Alec did. Not the whole of me. Not just the vulnerable girl, not only the trained weapon, nor merely the sensual creature. He certainly hadn’t reduced me to an exploitable genius, like so many others had.
No. He saw all of me. And accepted me exactly as I was, without expectation or design.
And that rare and unexpected quality made Alec Marquez the most attractive person I’d ever been lucky enough to meet.
Oblivious to my revelation, he crossed over to the refrigerator and grabbed a plastic bottle with clear liquid in it. He shook it before splashing about a half an ounce of it into two glasses. Then he held each glass under a slender chrome faucet on the corner of his sink, filling them halfway with water.
“What’s in the bottle?” I asked.
“Minerals: potassium, magnesium, sodium—electrolytes for replenishment.”
When he handed me my glass, I clinked it lightly against his. “To our health.”
He tilted his head in a slight nod. “To our health.”
The water had a mineral taste to it, all right. My best efforts to restrain my reaction failed as my nose scrunched. “Uck,” I voiced when he gave me a confused look. “Tastes like bitter ocean.”
“It’s good for you.”
Uh-huh. Said the parent to the kid while force-feeding leafy greens. Holding my breath, I chugged down my medicine all at once. Then I refilled the glass with fresh water, swished it in my mouth to cleanse my palate, then swallowed it down.
He watched the entire episode with thinly veiled amusement.
“Mind if I use your phone. Need to ping Anna, let her know I’m alive.”
“Sure.” He turned and nodded toward the hall before heading that direction. “In my office. She doesn’t suspect we’ve hooked up?”
He asked the question casually, like it meant nothing to him.
I followed him, speaking again when we entered the room. “She knows. I told her.”
His gaze slowly tracked to meet mine. “How much did you tell her?” The words were weighted with innuendo as he stared hard at me.
My pulsed kicked up a notch. “Only that it happened. No details.” No scorching, body-tremor inducing, lurid details. But my mind flashed there. My mouth went dry, remembering. Heat began to warm intimate places as I began to relive the erotic images.
I took a deep breath, then cleared my throat, suddenly uncomfortable under his unrelenting stare. “But she’d be wrong.”
“About?” He arched a brow.
“Us hooking up last night.” Not at his house, anyway. Yep. I went there.
He kept his gaze locked on mine. It was hard, penetrating. Almost assessing.
Feigning nonchalance about the entire subject, ignoring the fact my body was so on fire—so attuned to his and primed to go off that I’d probably explode with a single well-placed touch—I swiped the mobile phone off the corner of his desk and crossed the room to stop within inches of the glass wall, maximizing the distance between me and the temptation we continued to deny.
Through the sealed glass, the muted roar of the crashing waves soothed my agitated nerves. I dialed Anna’s number and listened to the phone ring as I shifted my attention to Alec’s faint reflection in the pane of glass, visible only where the darker ocean served as a backdrop. He was too far away for me to discern his expression, but after a moment, he sat at his desk.
“Anna. It’s me.”
“Dev! Dessert and breakfast?” she teased. “I was about to send out a SEAL team.”
If only she’d had a clue that I’d been embroiled in an even more covert endeavor. Not that it would’ve helped paint a picture. Hell, I knew; but the more I learned, the more questions popped into my head.
“No drastic measures needed.” I let out my typical rehearsed soft laugh.
After so many years of deceiving her about who I truly was beneath the normal college-student mask, one more casual deception helped maintain the cover I really needed. Alec hadn’t explicitly told me not to reveal anything about EtherSphere One, or his identity, or my involvement, but I got the overwhelming sense secrecy was a given. Inherent trust lay coded in what Alec hadn’t said, and I sensed a breach in that trust would be game-over on any notions I had for being brought on board.