Privilege (Special Tactical Units Division 2)

“Tanner’s my best friend. I might not see him again for months. And Alessandra is your sister.”

She gave a stiff little nod.

“Exactly. And we live thousands of miles apart, me in New York, she in North Dakota.”

“South Dakota.”

“Whatever,” she said with a touch of her usual impatience. “The point is, it’s far away. It is why I agreed to fly to Texas and meet them there so we could spend time with our family, and then to drive back to South Dakota with them and see their ranch.”

“Sounds like a great trip.”

“It was okay.”

“What? Not fun to see the family again?”

“No. I mean, yes. Of course that was fun. But I had a couple of phone calls…” She clamped her lips together.

“A couple of phone calls…?” he prompted.

“Business calls,” she said briskly.

There was more to it than that, Chay thought. It was that old sensing thing again, or maybe it was the surprise in her eyes, as if she’d said more than she’d expected to say.

He wanted to ask her about that, but a silky gold curl somehow escaped the ponytail and curved against her cheek.

It was a major distraction.

His fingers twitched with the desire to tuck it back.

Foolish.

Not just foolish. Ridiculous.

“… a truce.”

“Sorry?”

“I said, what I suggest is a truce.”

“A truce,” he said. “You want a truce.”

“I said I’m suggesting one.”

He almost laughed, but her expression was dead serious. Okay. He could play serious too.

“The difference being?”

“The difference being, I’m suggesting we behave ourselves tonight.”

Damn. Not laughing was tough.

“You mean,” he said carefully, “the war will pick up where we left off if our paths ever cross again?”

She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. This time, more than his fingers twitched.

“I mean,” she said, “the odds are that won’t ever happen. You know. That our paths will cross. So why even consider it? There’s no reason to look beyond tonight.”

Chay considered the request. For once, this woman who was always certain her ideas were sensible had actually come up with one that really was sensible. Tonight was a one-off. There was no way they’d ever see each other again, which meant they could afford to treat each other politely for the next few hours.