Page 14 of Fallen Hero

“You’re right,” I conceded. “I lost my cool because I thought she gave us the runaround. If her story checks out, I won’t be pissed anymore.”

“Distrusting prick,” he mumbled under his breath.

Sleep. I needed to sleep off this shit mood, and when I woke up, I’d be in a better frame of mind to deal with the sexy Calista Ventura.

“You look ridiculous.”

My observation was met with Fallon’s middle finger. He unfolded out of the chair that was far too small for his large frame, rolled his neck, and groused, “I’m too old for this shit.”

“Too old to pull watch in a luxury hotel?” I chuckled.

“Too old to pull all-nighters,” Fallon corrected. “This shit was a lot easier when I was twenty.”

He wasn’t wrong. Not that I’d admit I had a kink in my neck and a knot in my back from lying on the couch to catch a nap. Hell, when I was twenty, I wouldn’t’ve needed the nap.

“Pussy.”

He ignored my jab and hit the call button on the elevator. The doors slid open, and with another salute with his middle finger, he disappeared into the lift.

I didn’t bother with the chair. When Calista opened her door, she’d find me standing there.

Okay, so, the two hours of sleep I’d managed hadn’t gotten rid of my shit mood. There was just something about the woman that made me want to push her buttons, rile her up, and piss her off. And there was something, again, I wasn’t willing to process.

My shoulder had just hit the wall opposite Calista’s room when the door swung open and a pair of blue eyes collided with mine.

Furious blue eyes.

Good.

“Going somewhere?”

“Seriously?” she seethed.

“Seriously,” I taunted, and pushed off the wall.

She’d changed out of her dress, washed her face clean of the makeup she’d had on earlier, and instead of the complicated updo, her hair was in a ponytail. The jeans, tee, and sneakers did nothing to detract from her beauty. If I was being honest, her natural beauty was far more appealing than the made-up version.

What hadn’t changed in the hours since I last saw her was her frown and sparking-with-fury eyes. If anything, those eyes burned brighter.

I stepped closer, and last night’s perfume still clung to her skin. A tactical error on my part, but it was too late to back down now. Too late to brace against the impact of her beauty. Too late to rethink not taking the first shift so Fallon or Pete could deal with her sneaky, lying fine ass.

“Where are we going?” I asked calmly, when I was anything but.

“We’re not going anywhere.”

I waited for the lie—her attempt to bullshit me with some excuse of a hankering for a middle-of-the-night snack or her needing to switch rooms because of some fictitious reason.

No such lie came.

“I’m going downstairs to catch the taxi I called.” She pushed forward, but her suitcase remained wedged in the door. “Step back.”

“I’ll save you the trouble of going to the lobby. Your taxi’s been canceled.”

Not giving away a single emotion, she lifted one shoulder. “I’ll walk.”

“Correct, you will. Right back into your room.”

“All right, hotshot, I’m really trying to keep my cool and not make a scene in the hall of a fancy hotel in the middle of the night. But I’m done with this shit. Get out of my way. And by that, I mean go home and butt the fuck out of my business.”