Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group #1)(17)

He reached down, cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face up so that their eyes met. “Care to enlighten me?”

A loud knock on the door interrupted her response, not that she’d planned to give one.

Mad Dog’s voice followed the bang. “Tyana, come on. It’s late. Get your ass up.”

She scrambled up and searched frantically for her clothing. Eli also slid out of bed, but he calmly collected his clothes and then stood watching her as she hopped around on one foot. She finally got her other leg into her pants and yanked her shirt over her head.

When she glanced over at Eli again, he started to fade.

“Damn it, don’t go yet,” she protested.

His smile quivered and stretched as he became a transparent apparition and then disappeared altogether. A fine sheen of mist streaked for the air vent above the bed, and he was gone.

She swore and balled her fingers into a fist. She wanted to hit something. Hard.

Mad Dog knocked again, and she hurried for the door. She opened it a crack to see him standing impatiently in the hallway.

“Hey, give me a few minutes, okay? I slept in and I need a shower.”

He grinned. “Meet me down in the lobby café. We’ll have brunch then head over for some more action.”

She smiled back and nodded.

Closing the door, she leaned against it for a moment before trudging into the bathroom. She took a quick shower and lamented for a moment rinsing Eli’s touch and smell from her body.

Idiot.

Angrily, she dried off and wrapped a towel around her head and then walked out of the bathroom to get clean clothes from her suitcase. As she was dressing, the room phone rang.

She yanked her head up in surprise. No one would be calling on her hotel phone. Jonah would have used her cell phone or just not called at all. They didn’t share chatty phone conversations.

Unless there was something wrong with D and Jonah couldn’t reach her on the cell?

Even as she frantically looked around the room for her cell phone, she rushed to pick up the still ringing phone on the nightstand.

“Allo?”

“Miss Berezovsky, so glad I caught you.”

The accented English grated on her nerves. It was a voice she recognized and one that sent warning bells clanging.

“What do you want?” The more obvious question would be how he knew she was here, but f**k, Eli Chance hadn’t had a problem tracking her down. There was some serious cause for concern when FMG was so predictable.

“Meet me at Chez Didier’s. There are things we should talk about.”

She made a rude noise. “Jonah already told you we weren’t interested in the job.”

“I’m not asking Jonah,” he said. “I want to talk to you. Before you refuse, let me say this. I know how to help Damiano Ruiz.”

She was stunned into silence.

“I’m offering a trade. You meet me. I tell you how to help Ruiz.”

“I’ll be there,” she said shortly. “What time?”

“Just ditch your companion and come. I’ll be there.”

The phone went dead in her ear, and she dropped the receiver. Shit, shit, shit. She ran a trembling hand over the towel on her head and jerked it away. Mad Dog would shit a brick over what she’d just agreed to.

“He can’t know,” she muttered. He’d drag her kicking and screaming back to the island and never let her off again. Hell, he’d do that anyway if he knew that Eli had found her.

She hurried for the bathroom to dry her hair. A few minutes later, she slid the room key into her pocket, retrieved her cell phone and stuffed it into the small backpack with her passport, money and the knife Mad Dog had given her.

With a sigh, she went down to meet him.

He was sitting at one of the small tables drumming his fingers impatiently on his leg. When he looked up and saw her, he flashed her a grin.

“You’re buying breakfast, by the way. You won the most last night.”

She laughed and allowed some of the tension to escape her shoulders. “I always win the most.”

He shrugged. “I ordered you an omelet the way you like it.”

She took the seat across from him and shoved her bag underneath the table. “Thanks.”

“You feeling any better yet?”

If she hadn’t got the phone call a few minutes ago, she could honestly say yes. Apparently a night of great sex was a great way to unwind. But now her nerves were fried.

So she lied and nodded.

“I need to call D,” she murmured as she pulled out her cell phone.

Mad Dog reached across the table and put his hand on her arm. “Ty, he’s okay. I talked to Jonah a few minutes ago. D’s resting so you’ll just disturb him.”

Reluctantly she put the phone down. “Sorry. But I worry about him.”

“We all do, baby.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that…”

Mad Dog nodded. “I do know, Ty. I do. But chasing Eli Chance all over Asia isn’t going to help D, not to mention he’d be pissed as hell if he knew what you’d done. Best just to leave it alone.”

Her cheeks grew warm, and she struggled to keep the guilt from her expression. Yeah, Mad Dog would go ballistic if she knew who had been in her hotel room.

They ate and talked about last night’s poker game. Tyana could tell he was eager to get back over and play some more. She fiddled with her food then realized her sleeping in and reluctance to eat could be in her favor.