She went still as stone. I lowered my weapon and pressed a finger to my lips, signaling I needed them to be quiet.
“Wait. Did you hear something?” Giovanni’s voice cut through the night air. Confusion widened on Olivia’s face.
“I go,” Johannes said, hurried.
Heavy footfalls faded away.
This meant Giovanni would be heading my direction. I quickly ran the different scenarios and settled on the one that took her out of the situation.
Footsteps approached. Fuck, I was going to have to hurry. I launched myself toward the pair, my focus on the young man beside her who carried a rifle.
“You’re on patrol,” I said in a barely audible voice to the guard. “You never saw us.”
Her wrist was warm when I wrapped a hand around it and tugged her along, disappearing from our boss’s view, hopefully in time. She said nothing as I once again had her hidden, her back against a wall and her body dangerously close.
Worst-case, Giovanni would find us and think he’d caughthis bodyguard and pilot in an intimate moment. Olivia stared up at me in the silvery light, her eyes clear and unblinking. If I had time, I would have liked to look at her longer. Instead, her head turned to the sound of Italian around the corner.
Giovanni asked the guard what he was doing, but the guard didn’t understand.
There was no attempt to kiss me this time. She seemed to study the sounds past the wall as intently as I did, and I was grateful she stayed silent as Giovanni shuffled off, back toward the lodge with the guard. But her evaluating gaze slowly shifted, returning to me.
“So . . .” she whispered. “What was that about?”
This was bad.
There were two different types of operations I participated in. Covert and clandestine. Covert meant no one knew the U.S. was involved. Clandestine meant no one even knew a mission had taken place. The pair of green eyes examining me seemed too smart, and clandestine was about to go out the window.
“Don’t worry about it.” I pushed away from the wall, away from her, extending a hand toward the path to her room. “Let’s go.”
She remained, an eyebrow lifted. Like a challenge.
I didn’t have time for this. I needed to relay the deal I’d overheard and get my office working on the name Giovanni had dropped. The sooner it was done, the sooner the Abramos were handled and I was out of this mess.
“Why were you spying on our boss?” Her voice was hushed as she strolled closer, and I had to will my body not to respond. Not to reach out and touch her. “That’s what you were doing, right?”
“No. Giovanni wanted privacy. He asked me to hang back.”
Her mouth lifted in that infuriating, sexy smile. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t believe you. He had no idea you were there.” She moved to the path, only?—
“You’re going the wrong way,” I said.
She moved fast too, her pace demanding I keep up.
“Not if I’m going to the lodge.”
“Olivia, stop.” My voice was cold and harsh, but I was still stunned when it worked. She turned to face me, her eyes furious.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
The phone in my pocket twitched with the door alarm. Presumably, Giovanni had made it back to his room and was within range of my listening devices. Which meant it was unnecessary to throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to her cabin to avoid him.
I hesitated at the thought, fearing how my hands and mouth would react to having her in my arms.
“You’re right,” I said in a low voice. “He didn’t exactly know I was there, and that’s all I’m going to say about it. I need you to understand that Giovanni’s dangerous.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “And I need you to understand, I can take care of myself. Trust me, I’ve dealt with men worse than him.”
She said it with such conviction, I wanted to believe her, but I shook my head. “You don’t know him.”
