Fire and Ice (Ice 5)

“I’m not touching her again, I told you.” His voice was clipped, emotionless. “You know me, I don’t believe in commitments and relationships. I like novelty. I’ve already had her—I don’t need to revisit old territory.” He didn’t know who he was trying to fool—Taka or Jilly. Or maybe himself.

Taka’s eyes narrowed, and Reno braced, ready for him to rush him again, but in the end he just nodded. “I’ll let Summer deal with you. In the meantime, you’re probably safer if you stay put. I tried to pick up as much intel as I could, and they’re not planning on doing anything with you two until they get their hands on me. So you should be safe. Otherwise I expect you to die trying to save her.”

“She’s too much of a pain in the ass to die,” he said, glancing in her direction. She didn’t react—she just sat there, silent, waiting.

Ignoring Reno, Taka turned and went over to her, kneeling down beside her, taking her hands in his. Which annoyed Reno—Taka had no business holding her hands. That was his business. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want anything more to do with her—he just didn’t want anyone else touching her, even her brother-in-law. He’d work out the logic of that later. In the meantime, all he could do was seethe.

“Is this all right with you, Ji-chan? I hate leaving you with that miserable son of a bitch, but I don’t have any choice. He’ll keep you safe—I trust him that much.” His voice was gentle, another annoyance. It wasn’t Taka’s place to be gentle with Jilly, it was his. If he felt like it, he reminded himself.

“Of course, Taka,” she said in a voice so calm Taka knew it was a lie. “Reno’s very good at protecting people, and I know you’ll do everything you can to help us. I wouldn’t want to slow you down.”

Taka looked unconvinced. No shit, Sherlock, Reno thought, fuming. That calm, reasonable voice was a sure sign that Jilly was about to erupt.

“Maybe I can get you to the American embassy before I—”

“There’s no need,” she said. “I’ve put up with him for at least four days by now. I’m not sure—I’ve kind of lost track of time. I can survive another day or more. Particularly since he’s going to keep his hands off me.” At that she did look in his direction, her usually warm brown eyes looking flat and dark. She turned back to Taka and smiled with a sweetness she’d never shown him. “We’ll be fine.”

Taka rose. “I promise you, Ji-chan, that Summer will make him wish he’d never been born.”

She even laughed. A fake laugh, but Taka wouldn’t know that. Taka didn’t know her as well as he did, Reno thought sourly.

“I’m sure she will,” she said. “I just wish I could be there to see it. But as soon as we get out of here I’d better head back to L.A. I have to get back to my classes. I’ll wait till you two can get away for a visit with my sister.”

This was the best news Reno had heard in days. She was removing herself voluntarily. She’d live half a world away and she would no longer be his problem. It wasn’t like it was her first one-night stand.

Or maybe it was, given her virginal state. Though she’d never explained what semivirgin meant. Presumably nothing that involved penetration.

&nb

sp; And he needed to stop thinking about words like that when he was looking at her.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. No longer than twenty-four hours,” Taka promised her.

“And what if they catch you on your way out of here?” Reno said. “You can’t be the hero and save the day if you’re already strung up.”

He didn’t like the look Taka gave him. Instead of the hostility that had been bristling from him, he looked faintly amused. And then he answered, “I never get caught, Reno. You should know that. Only if I want to be, and right now I need to be free to roam around. Just keep her safe or I’ll rip your throat out.”

And he gave him a rough, cousinly embrace, leaving Reno astonished, and then he was gone.

“Holy motherfucker,” Reno muttered. “He thinks we’re going to die. Taka never hugs me unless something big is happening.”

Jilly didn’t say anything. She was still sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest, and she was staring off into nothingness. For a moment he panicked, wondering if she’d retreated back into that crippling state of shock that had possessed her after she blew the man’s head off.

Though, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he had to wake her up the same way he had last time.

No, she wasn’t in shock—she’d been conversing normally with Taka. And being told he had no interest in her anymore was a lot milder than blowing someone away.

“Are you going to just sit there and ignore me?” he said, determined not to sound irritated. All his adult life women, annoyed with him, had tried to get to him with the silent treatment, and he was immune to it.

Nothing from her, not even a glance. “Well, that certainly makes things easier,” he said, stretching out on the cot and trying not to think about what he’d been doing there a few short hours ago. “Taka may or may not be able to come up with some help. In the meantime, I don’t intend to sit around waiting for an execution.”

She didn’t even blink.

“If Taka can get out of this place, so can I,” he continued. “I’m even better at picking locks.” Of course there was no doubt that the silent treatment was extremely annoying. He was just able to ignore it, not let it irritate him into showing any emotion. Emotion was what led him into this mess with her in the first place, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

“I’ll give it a couple of hours. If Taka doesn’t make it out, they’ll come for us—no need to keep us hanging around if they’ve got what they wanted.” He glanced up at the bare lightbulb overhead. “I’m going to sleep for a little while. If anything happens you can wake me.”

To his astonishment he heard a noise coming from her direction. She didn’t have the stubbornness he expected—he thought she’d hold out longer than that. It wasn’t speech actually, just a derisive snort.