Cygny's Six

“Room.”

The woman scoffed. “I’m sorry.” She sounded like nothing of a sort. “What did you say?”

Leo turned, but Cygny gave the man at the door an apologetic sort of smile.

“I’m staying with Miss Muldoon.”

Cygny heard the beginnings of a protest, but Leo cut her off.

“My job is to keep Miss Muldoon safe. I can’t do that from a separate room.”

“Fine.” The edge in her tone made it clear that it was anything but. “Show Miss Muldoon and her… bulldog to her room. I hope he enjoys the floor.”

Sebastien affected some kind of bow and gestured for them to follow him.

Cygny didn’t look at Leo or speak to him as they walked.

She felt how rigid he was, his hand on her hip, his arm around her back.

She wasn’t sure what was going on with him, but there was no way she was going to question him with Sebastien just a few feet ahead of them. Instead, she filled her time on the walk looking at the home and the art that was visible in it.

The pieces were mostly contemporary. The theme American West. Some specifically Colorado. Given what the event was, they’d rented the property specifically for the event. Both Cygny and Swede, the Brotherhood’s main computer expert, had researched the rental and ended up stonewalled by shell companies.

Whoever was organizing this was at the top of their game and knew enough to keep their identity a well-kept secret. The only way they were going to take them down was from inside the event.

They came to a stop beside a door at the middle of a long hallway. “Miss Muldoon. This is your room and,” he cleared his throat, “the gentleman’s as well. Your bags will be brought in shortly after they’ve been examined.”

Cygny and Leo were silent at the reminder. The invitation had stated as such. And electronic devices of any sort had been forbidden so they knew they were on their own for the time being.

“There will be a reception this evening for all of the buyers and,” he nodded at Cygny, “their representatives to get to know one another. If you wish.” He grimaced and Cygny wondered how many of these he’d been a part of. He seemed to know these people well enough to know that the event would be insular and all but silent. People who bought stolen art were a particular breed of collector. Certainly not friendly with their competition. “If you’d like to stay in your room, you may do so without affecting your invitation to the auction.”

“We,” Leo put emphasis on the word, “will attend.”

“Noted.” Sebastien nodded and almost hid the hint of a smile that touched his lips. “Someone will come to get you at seven.”

He left a moment later and before the door fully closed, it opened again, and porters brought in their luggage.

They left it just inside the door and Leo was the one who put his bag up on the luggage stand. When he opened it, he sighed. “They certainly searched it.”

The garments he’d packed had been searched. They’d likely pulled out each item and shook it to make sure there wasn’t anything rolled up inside of it. His clothes were left in a rumpled pile.

He dropped the lid down and set the bag on the ground.

He put Cygny’s bag on the stand and opened it up.

She tried not to wince at the state of her things.

The dresses that Sadie had insisted that she buy and take along with her had been gone through much like Leo’s clothing had been. They were left a crumpled mess.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up and met Leo’s gaze. He was concerned for her. The thought made her smile. “I’m not all that big on fancy clothes.”

He nodded and lifted his hands in a vaguely helpless gesture. “It’s kind of hard to figure out what parts of you are you and what parts of you were-”

Cygny held up her hand and reached into the recesses of her bag where she pulled out a little pink satin pouch. She loosened the draw string and pulled out a bright pink personal massager.

Knowing what it must look like, Cygny didn’t even glance in Leo’s direction. Her cheeks were already heating up just holding it in her hand. It wasn’t until she unscrewed the end and reached her hand into the battery compartment that she looked up at him.

Holding it in her hand, she looked up at him and gave him a hesitant smile. “A little white noise in case there are some listening devices.”

He nodded and followed as she walked back to her bed.

She leaned up and whispered into his ear. “Just in case they’re watching.”

He nodded and dipped his head down to kiss her cheek beside her ear. “With the ban on personal electronics, we can’t even search for devices in the house.”

Leo reached around her back and pulled her loosely against him. “Most personal electronics.”

She hid her laugh with a kiss, and he laid her down on the bed. As soon as he was on top of her, she turned them over so that she was on top.

Straddling him, she gave him another kiss before leaning down to speak into his ear.

“My name.”

“What?” He hesitated, his hands on her hips.

She sat up a little and braced her hands on his chest. Just an inch or two from his face, Cygny looked right into his eyes. “My name was different. Everything else was basically the same. Like they say in those tv dramas, ‘the names have been changed to protect…’” She shook her head, hating the direction her life had taken. “Not so innocent.”

Cygny could see that he wasn’t sure. Not completely.

“I don’t blame you for doubting me. After I left Norfolk, I doubted myself too. That’s why I-”

His hands moved from her hips, one sliding around to get a handful of her backside and the other around the back of her neck.

“Later.” He held her tight and didn’t let her move as he stared into her eyes. “We’ll work everything out later. But for now, I need you to stop moving so much.”

She blinked back at him.

“Because if you keep it up, I’m not really going to care if there are cameras in this room.”

Cygny felt the rock-hard length of his erection pressed up against her. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” He took her lips in a long, searching kiss. When he released her lips, he moaned softly in the back of his throat. “And my body can’t tell the difference between make-believe right now, because all it feels is you.”

She let out a breath and nodded. “Okay. I got it.”

“Good.” He slowly let her go and she managed to get off him without nailing him with her knee.

When he sat up, she gave him a quick, hard peck of a kiss.

“And just so you know,” she bit into his bottom lip and then soothed the sting with her tongue, “if you’d kept on kissing me like that, cameras wouldn’t have stopped me either.”

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