Burn (Virtues & Lies 1)

“No.” I grit, and the way in which his expression shifts from pacifying to irate has my hands balling around my coat.

Taking a deep breath, his eyes flit to Leo and then to Fleur, and with a sigh he says, “A job’s gone wrong, and right now, I need you to leave so I can put it right.”

I don’t understand, and he knows it, because his job is protecting important people. There’s nobody here to protect.

Craning my head to the side, I try to look past my dad, to the back of the church. It’s pointless, he moves to block my line of sight easily just like before. When I look to Leo with the hope that I’ll find a clearer answer there, all I find is muddy green eyes and lips that should be too plump for a man.

“Let’s go.” Leo says as he holds one of the double doors at the back of the nave open.

He waits for Fleur to go past him, his face impassive as she gives him a dirty look that screams all the obscenities she wants to spew at him. Then his hand is on my lower back, and even with all the time I’ve spent wishing to feel the weight of his touch, I can’t quite absorb it the way I want to.

“Cassie?” My father calls from behind us, when I look at him, he smiles, and says, “I love you.”

I want to smile back, because that’s the dad I know. Soft, gentle and nothing like the man I’ve just met. But I can’t because the man I’m looking at right now, is as good as a liar.

The hand on my lower back urges me farther into the dark corridor that’s lined with doors and various religious paintings and relics.

Leo’s hand flexes on my back as we stride down the hallway and with his fingertips pressing into the curve of my spine, I can’t control the heat that usurps me.

“Keep moving. Don’t stop.” He says calmly through the icy hardness of his voice. “We need to get you out of here, Buttercup.”

With my adrenaline buzzing inside me, I’m shaking, and my breathing is erratic. I think I’m scared, but I don’t feel it. Oddly, the only thing I feel is awareness.

I’m aware of Leo. Very much aware of how easily he distracts me, and also, I’m fully aware that this isn’t just a job gone wrong.

“Buttercup.” Looking up at him as I repeat the name he called me again, I find him smiling and for just a fraction of a second, I can breathe a little better.

“Leo?” I murmur in a haze. I have no control over what’s coming out of my mouth. No control over what my body is doing.

“That’s my name.” Singing through gritted teeth he shifts his eyes from me.

“Seriously, I’m shitting myself, now is not the time for a powwow. Get to know each other when I’m not fucking about to have a fucking aneurysm!”

My pace slows as I reach for his arm, my hand slips down it until it finds his bigger, stronger one. Even through the layers of his clothes, I can feel how hard and deceptively bulky his arm is.

Squeezing my hand as my fingers twine around his, he steps slows down to keep up with me, rather than dragging me along behind him, he’s holding me to his side. Eyes assessing me as he guides me to the back of the building. I have to force my wits so I don’t fall over my own feet with the wa

y his warmth is sucking me in and how he feels this close. For the first time it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to get away from me.

Turning the corner both Fleur and I jump as the door at the top of the corridor slams open. We’re hustling and I’m doing my best to keep up with Leo, but as I pull Fleur along behind us, her legs can barely keep up with mine.

Slamming the emergency exit open, Leo holds me steady as we stumble out to the empty car park at the back of the church. Leading us to a sleek, black car that looks like something Christopher would drool over, he makes quick work of getting Fleur in and throwing our things in the back with her before helping me into the front seat.

“I can do it!” I snap at him when he tries to help buckle me in too.

“Hurry up!” He snaps back and with rehearsed speed he rounds the front of the car. The bright red leather is buttery and warm as I reluctantly melt into it watching Leo slide in with far too much grace for someone that’s rushing.

When he looks at me all I can think is Holy, shit! His wild smile is dangerous, it fires up all the butterflies in my chest, making them flutter with a ferocious need that has me wanting to jump him right here and now. The adrenaline and excitement from this turn of events is ripping through me with heated vigour that burns my veins and turns up my thoughts to a deafening frequency.

I’m trying to rationalise everything in my head the whole fast drive to my house. The fact he doesn’t ask for directions or use a satnav, doesn’t escape me, but then I remember my father told him to take us to the house.

He’s been there already and knowing that infuriates me. I only just found out his name, and yet he’s on a first name basis with my father?

The gate opens the minute we pull up and before the engine turns off we’re being rushed by security and ushered inside the house.

I can barely see anything, but as I look around for Leo, I see him slipping inside my father’s office with a large satchel briefcase in his hand.

His eyes meet mine for one breath-taking moment and then he closes the door, and I am so tempted to let myself get herded into the kitchen with Fleur, but I can’t just let him disappear again, not when everything inside me tells me that I need to know what the hell is going on and how he fits into it.