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I hide my smirk. My whole body wants to curl into itself in bashful embarrassment. I put on a stupid accent, flirted with him, snapped at him. And… he still likes me?
In the past, whenever my personality came out, Joey would call me an idiot and tell me to act my age. It feels kind of nice not to be shunned.
“Thank you… for helping me with my issue,” he admits, and my heart nearly melts.
He’s being sincere.
What the heck is going on today? Mobsters tailing us, the feds finding me, my captor thanking me? It must be a full moon.
“C’mon, I’ll walk you back to your quarters.” He shifts his hand to the small of my back. “I’m sure you had enough of me for one day.”
I didn’t, actually.
“I’m still mad at you for using me as bait,” I finally say.
He stops in his tracks, and laughs loud.
“What?” I punch him.
“It’s hilarious how you think the world is out to get you,” he says. “That paranoia still lives strong in you.”
“Shut up.” I punch him again.
He continues to laugh at me. “Those two buffoons didn’t even know you existed. My windows were tinted, remember?”
“We locked eyes!” I protest.
“Yeah? And how did that work out for him?” he growls haughtily.
“That’s not the point!”
He takes me inside and whips up the carpet like it’s weightless before escorting me down the hatch stairs. There’s some bland-smelling grilled chicken waiting for him on a plastic plate as soon as he opens the door, and I don’t know why, but I bend down and grab it for him.
There’s a moment in the tight stairwell. His presence is overwhelming and powerful. I can hear his heavy breath over me as I turn face-to-face with endless tattooed muscle. For a second, I almost lose myself by glancing at his lips.
He feels it too, because his eyes track to mine.
“Leandro, hunnie, is that you?” Anabel’s voice echoes through the underground mansion.
“I guess she’s feeling better.” I smirk at him.
“I better run,” he says comically, squeezing my shoulder then shutting the door in my face.
Thanks, Anabel.
I sigh as I stare at the block of cement, then gather myself to ready to face the girls.
My mission overwhelms me now that Leandro can’t. I have a crusty earpiece in my pocket that certainly doesn’t have any signal within these walls. I have to press it twice to activate it when I’m ready. But it’s a longshot, isn’t it? He could be on another job when I reach for him. Then all of us would be running out for nothing.
I shake my head.
Leandro would like that, though. Maybe he wouldn’t even be suspicious.
But what do I tell them? How do I get them to join me without letting them know there’s a fed that can lead us to freedom?
Recalling the look in Arnold’s eye… Now that I think about it, there was something there. He wanted to kiss me, I think. His stare tends to linger just a little too long after he says something.
“Hey, what are you doing up there?” Anabel calls from the foot of the stairs.
