All too brief.
He pulls away and when my eyes flutter open, he’s regarding me somberly. “I’m going to New York.”
Startled, my body jerks over such a proclamation. “But why?”
Griff’s thumb grazes my cheek. “I want to make sure Bogachev buys my story of your death. I want to look him in the eye when I tell him how you died and that Aaron’s still out there, and I should find him. I want to make sure he doesn’t doubt me, and that it’s safe to come back here and be around you, because I am not going to put you in danger. I really need to see it for myself.”
Now I’m scared and it’s not for me, but for Griff. I know how demented Bogachev is, particularly if he thinks someone is disloyal. “No, don’t go. Notify him by phone. We’ll both be safe at Jameson until I can figure out how to hack him.”
Griff shakes his head. “Sorry, Bebe, but I need to do this. I need to judge the situation. While I need to do everything to maintain my case, I need to balance that with making sure you’re absolutely safe.”
And it’s then I learn my first lesson about Griff. I can tell by the tone of voice there’s no arguing with him about this.
But then I realize… this actually may be a golden opportunity.
“Will you be going to his apartment?” I ask.
“Yeah… he conducts all his business from his home.”
“Then I have an idea,” I say, my mind now spinning madly with inspiration.CHAPTER 14Bebe“Hand me the solder thingy,” I tell Dozer, holding my hand out like a surgeon requesting a scalpel.
“Solder thingy?” he asks. I can hear the smirk in his voice, but the tool is placed in my hand. I touch the tip lightly against the metal alloy, which hisses, melts, and secures the wire clip to the circuit board. “You should really learn the terminology if you’re going to be using it on advanced circuitry.”
I blow a soft breath over the board, not that it’s needed. The alloy has already cooled and solidified permanently. “You know I fly by the seat of my pants on many things.”
“Yes, I do know this about you,” he agrees with a low chuckle. “Speaking of pants… did you keep yours on this weekend?”
Jolting, I shoot him a nasty glare over my shoulder. Not that what he just asked me was incredibly personal, but it’s that he’s just now getting around to asking me. He’s been working by my side all morning, and he hasn’t asked a damn thing about me or Griff. Hasn’t even shown a single curiosity over Griff not being here, and now he just blurts out about wanting to know if I got laid?
“That’s rude,” I say primly before returning to my work. We’re building a new satellite phone prototype for our teams to use when they’re out on missions.
“Whatever,” he replies, taking the solder thingy from me and setting it down. He reaches over, spinning my stool so I turn away from the circuit board and face him. “Now, I’ve been dying to know what the hell is going on all day, but you haven’t said a damn word. I’m also hungry and going to go get some lunch, but I can’t go wondering what the hell happened between you two after I left his apartment, and frankly… now that I’m thinking about it… you’re the one who’s rude for not having told me already.”
He finishes, sucks in a deep breath because that was quite the mouthful, then motions for me to proceed.
I should make him wait for it, since he waited so long to ask, but truly… I’ve been dying to tell Dozer all about it. I feel it’s only right given the fact he did the whole asshole thing with Griff to make him jealous and all.
Dozer watches me expectantly. I let him stew for just a few moments longer, then lean forward and quickly explain how everything went down. “Okay, after you left, I just went ahead and admitted to Griff you were trying to make him jealous so his interest wouldn’t languish while we worked on the case, then I point-blank asked him if there were feelings between us and what we should do about it. He gave me a really great speech about destiny, then he kissed me and it was really good. You know, one of those sweet, romantic kisses, but it had that underlying hint that it could blow up into something so much more.”
I smile—all big and cheesy—proud of myself for having taken control of my own fate and putting things on track in a way where I could at least know what to expect. I bet he’s proud of me too.
Instead, he frowns. “But did it, in fact, blow up into something so much more?”