The Revenge (The Insiders Trilogy #3)(65)

Her lips parted again. “Is that a threat?”

One last skewering look before I straightened and started for Bailey. “It’s a promise.”

She gave me another warning look but sighed and headed for her partner. Wilson and Bright left, and then it was just Bailey and me.

Her eyes were wide and clear.

I flinched. They were so clear.

“I need my computer,” she said.

I was already nodding and going for my keys. “We’ll go to your father’s office for this. He has the best technology.”

She stood, but her hand touched my arm, pausing me. “You believe me?” Her gaze darted to the door. “They didn’t.”

“I believe you.”

My chest was tight. I wanted to pull her into my arms. I nstead, I just cupped the side of her face, my thumb tracing her lips. “Let’s go and find your mom.”

She blinked, startled, and then her mouth tugged up in a smile I hadn’t seen for months.

Right there. That was worth everything.





FORTY

Bailey


I felt awake.

It’s not something someone can explain, because it wasn’t waking up from a sleep or a nightmare. It’s not the drowsy state, clambering out of bed, stumbling into the bathroom, and hoping you can hit the snooze button for another hour, then crawl back into bed. It’s not that type. It’s not even the type where suddenly the world is clearer, brighter, and you feel magic in the air. I was riding next to Kash in his car, because he needed to drive, because he needed to feel in control, and I was awake. That’s all I could think about.

I felt the texture in his hand as he was holding mine. I felt the ridged grooves of his fingers. The roughness of his skin. The strength of his palm as it rested against mine.

I felt the texture of the seats.

I smelled the leather in the car. Heard the crispness from the cold in the air.

But I felt a nagging sensation. It was zooming down my spine. It was coursing through my body.

I was thirsty.

I was ravenous .

I wanted to dance.

I wanted to laugh.

But I wanted other things, too.

I wanted Kash, and my finger skimmed down the side of his hand.

He tightened his hold over mine, meeting my gaze through the side of his eyes, and I saw the answering desire there. He wanted me, too, but not yet.

My heart was pounding.

My legs were restless, starting to tap on the floor of his car.

I was soon a bundled ball of nerves, barely able to contain myself.

I was focused.

We didn’t talk once during the ride.

Not one time.

Our hands never moved from one another.

He pulled into the Chesapeake, and I hadn’t realized we were going to Peter’s personal office. I thought we’d be going to the Phoenix office. But Kash was right. This one held Peter’s best computers. This was the right place to be. But once we had parked and turned the engine off, once we should’ve gotten out and didn’t, I looked at him.

He was already watching me.

“This can’t come back on Peter.”

Kash’s eyes darkened before he leaned down. His lips just an inch over mine, he said, “It won’t. I won’t let it.” Then his lips grazed mine, a soft nip, and he pulled away. It was a promise for later, probably much later.

He got out on his side.

I got out on mine.

“What do you need?” he asked, as the door opened for us and one of the guards stepped outside.

I was striding through the hallways, Kash having to keep up with me. “I need my headphones.” I was listing everything off. “I’ll use mine if you can grab them, or any with a thirty-six-inch cord. Coffee. Energy drinks. Snacks. I’ll take chips. Anything with sugar. Lots of sugar.” And what else?

I felt electrocuted. I was so energized.

I glanced down at my outfit. I was wearing a dress. I couldn’t hack in a dress.

“Clothes,” I remarked.

“Clothes?”

I pushed open our bedroom door. “I’ll change, but can you grab my headphones and the rest?”

He nodded. “Your father’s office…”

I was already in the closet, tugging my shirt off. “I know where his office is.”

He came to the door, his voice closer. “No, you don’t.”

I paused, hearing a tone in his voice I’d never heard before. The shirt was off and I let it hang from my hand. “What?”

He was taking me in, his eyes almost black. “The office he uses for what you’re about to do is not in the office you’re thinking about.”

My lips parted.

My dad hacked?

I flushed. Of course my dad hacked, but … Peter hacked?

“He still hacks?”

Kash grinned at me, a slow tug from the corner of his mouth upward. “He hasn’t in a while, no, but you get it from someone, you know.”

Another flush. This one I felt on the back of my neck. I knew that, but hearing he still did—it got my stomach doing all sorts of somersaults.

“His office is downstairs. The wine wall in the bar.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s behind there.”

My eyes were like an owl’s and my mouth was hanging open. “Right.” I snapped it shut. My hands went to my pants. “I’ll finish. Let’s meet in the basement.”