It was, and he was going to keep it that way. “All right. I’ll skip the party. I’ll replace it with a wake. And I’ll find a way through my mourning. So tell me this plan of yours. And tell me about this.”
When she’d crossed her legs, her skirt had come up, exposing the beginnings of a tattoo on her left thigh. He reached out and traced the edges. Was that a K?
She shifted again. “That is the only thing I have left over from my former life. It’s a reminder of sorts to never trust my heart again. But my brain tells me we could have a perfect partnership, Nolan. So let me tell you how we’re going to solve all of your problems in one single night.”
He sat back and listened.
Chapter Twelve
Maddie had already had a tour of The Reef, but she hadn’t been in one of the privacy rooms. “Okay. I’ll bite. Is there a reason we’re not going home? I’m nervous, but I thought I would probably eat dinner before we meet Nolan.”
Deke had said very little beyond he wanted to stop by the club. She’d gotten the idea he’d planned something when he wouldn’t allow her to stay in the car, and then he’d walked past the offices and led her straight to a privacy room.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to play right now. Her gut was still in knots, and it all felt like it was about to crash down around her.
Of course, maybe that was Deke’s point. She was completely wound up, and in a few hours she was supposed to show Nolan’s girlfriend around the place. Deke had always been good at reading her moods. He was trying to get her loose and ready.
“I ordered a large sausage and mushroom pizza just for you. It’s in the kitchen, and when you’re ready, we’ll eat it and share a bottle of your favorite Pinot. But first we’re going to do what we should have done in the beginning.” His hands went to the back of his T-shirt and he pulled it over his head, revealing that muscular chest she loved so much.
He didn’t look like he wanted to talk, and she wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about. “We could have done that at home.”
“Where everyone is hanging out?” Deke stared at her, his shoulders squaring in that “I’m about to top you, baby” way of his. “You want me to tie you up with Drake in the next room? He’s an asshole and your walls are thin. I would be able to hear him complain about how loud you get.”
She rolled her eyes. “My walls are not that thin.”
He didn’t crack a smile. “I’m asking you for this, Madeline. I need this time with you. We’re going into something dangerous tomorrow, and I need to be with you like this.”
She sighed and started on the buttons of her shirt. “The pizza better be thin crust.”
He’d given her what she’d needed physically over the last week. He’d given her more than that, but she wasn’t willing to analyze what it would mean to not have him in her bed every night. It was easy to say she would miss the orgasms, harder to think about how well she slept when she was in his arms.
He could be gone by the end of next week if they found what they needed and figured out how to use it to stop her boss. He needed to know what she’d figured out today. “I think what he’s doing is very specific.”
“You’ve got until your clothes are off to talk business. Then it’s my time,” he vowed.
It wouldn’t take her long. She just wanted to put the idea out there and then Deke could decide what to share with the CIA guy and what to hold back. “I think I figured out why he used an early version of Clarke to try to take over the nuclear plants. I think CIA dude is right and it was a test to see how easily the AI can handle heavily guarded systems.”
“All right. Take off your pants.”
She kicked out of her flats and went to work on the fly of her slacks. “If what he’s putting in is a weapon using sound waves, he needs a receiver. He can’t simply broadcast into space and make everyone on earth sick. Sound doesn’t work like that. He needs to transmit and send it to someone for it to work. It’s best if it’s someone with specific receivers for satellites. Like airplanes.”
A brow rose over his eyes. “I’m listening, but talk quick. I want your bra off next.”
He was a hungry man. Seeing her with Nolan must have really unsettled him. Luckily her explanations were fairly straightforward. “Every commercial airliner has satellite linkups. And the planes that carry diplomats and heads of state absolutely do. With the right amount of that sound, they could incapacitate the pilots and bring down whatever airliner they want.”