“Just make sure the safety’s on so you don’t tase your nuts off.”
As I often found with Hallie, I had no idea how to respond.
“I’m not going to lie and say that most often I find it disgusting when men can’t look above my shoulders. But above my shoulders is where you usually look.”
“That’s where your eyes are.” I sounded like an idiot.
“Do you know anyone who has eyes elsewhere?”
“I mean that’s where your intelligence is. I can see it there. I like that part of you.”
“I know. And that might be where your focus is right now, but I have to be honest. After our earlier conversation, I’m hoping your thoughts are somewhere else entirely.”
Chapter 11
Hallie
I needed to be 100 percent to do a job, and I had to do this one well to keep Dune in my father’s employ. Now he had my thoughts spinning, and other parts of me aching. We were alone in a hotel. I’d thought there was something happening between us beyond a working relationship, but I couldn’t even convince him to stray a smidge into moral ambiguity. All he could think about was the job. I just wanted a kiss. So I would have an answer.
o;Retrieval,” Hallie said through gritted teeth as she pushed me inside the suite. “Here’s an idea. Try not to blow it all before we even get started. And I told you, we’re not … whoa.”
A red leather couch was backed up to an exposed brick wall. Across from it sat a small desk and a huge flat screen. The room was perfectly proportioned. French doors opened onto a private balcony, or gallery, as they are called in Lousiana. A split staircase led upstairs. To the bedroom.
Where there was one bed. One big, big bed and a bottle of champagne.
“I’ll take the couch,” I said. Or better yet, we’d finish the job today, and I would go home, lock myself in my apartment, and stand in a cold shower for two solid days.
“Don’t be passive-aggressive.” She threw her bag on the desk, unzipped it, and pulled out a sweater. “We can share the same breathing space for a day. Screw this job up and get me in trouble, and I’ll be forced to find inventive ways to injure your man parts.”
I tried to hide my smile as I sat down on the couch. Everything with Hallie was easy and complicated at the same time, in the very best way, but being alone with her in a hotel room with one bed was one complication I had no idea how to handle.
“Maybe you just want to think about my man parts.” Apparently I was going to handle it overtly.
She blinked a couple of times. Finally. I’d managed to throw her off. “Maybe I should do this myself.”
“I said I was in. I’m supposed to be helping you.”
“Right. Because you were so helpful in the lobby?”
“We both know you could do this job blindfolded in a blackout,” I argued. “Just like I know why you want to be here.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“You wanted out of your house,” I said. “You’re out. What else is there?”
Her look of frustration told me there was a lot more. “Maybe I wanted to get somewhere private and give you a chance to kiss me.”
I almost fell out of my seat. Her excuse was a diversion from the truth, and the perfect one to throw at me. I stood.
Tilting her head up, she moved close enough that our chests were almost touching. “Hallie,” I warned.
“Don’t you want to?”
“Want to what?”
Her hands went to her hips. “Kiss me.”
Caution spun my brain dry. “Not a good idea.”