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My phone buzzed with a message.
“Sorry,” I said weakly. “My grandfather. He worries. Just give me one quick sec.”
Hux: Make an excuse. Say you’re sick. Delay till tomorrow.
Thankfully, there were enough people around us to keep Adam—or whatever his name was—from seeing my phone screen. I tapped out a response.
Me: Shouldn’t I learn his room number? Or get him to confess? Something?
Hux: No. Get out of there.
But I didn’t want this encounter to be for nothing. I remembered the second tracker in my pocket.
Hux: Kev, I’ve got eyes on you, but I can’t get too close. He might recognize me if he has intel on the team. Move toward the elevator. Do it now.
Hux: You’ve got this.
My hands shook even worse than before. Hux wasn’t coming. Couldn’t come. So it was up to me.
I slid the phone back into my pocket and fingered the tracker.
I could do this.
I swallowed. “I’m… not feeling well. I think I need to…” I leaned against his shoulder suddenly, like I was feeling faint. My drink tipped just enough to dribble on his shoes, but instead of grabbing onto me to keep me from falling, Adam shoved me away from him.
“What the fuck? These are seven-hundred-dollar shoes.”
I blinked at him in shock. The tracker fell from my fingers back into my pocket. “Sorry,” I said again. I probably looked as nauseated as I truly felt. “I’m so sorry. I think I need to go back to my room and get some rest.”
When I turned away from him, his hand darted out to grip my elbow. “I’ll walk you back. You shouldn’t be alone.”
I hope Hux is still listening to the microphone feed.
“That’s not necessary,” I said faintly. As I moved through the crowded room, I thought I recognized my other target, Luis Estrada. It didn’t matter. There was no way I was pulling the drink-spilling maneuver a third time tonight. I kept walking toward the doors and tried again to shake my escort. “Stay and enjoy the party so you can tell me about it tomorrow.”
“Linus? Is that you?” a young woman’s voice called out in surprise as she noticed the man nearly dragging me through the ballroom.
He ignored her.
“Linus! It’s me, Darla. From the Philly division. Remember? We met at the GovTech conference last year?”
“You’re confusing me with someone else,” he said without looking at her.
She frowned. “No, I—”
By the time she second-guessed herself, we were out of the ballroom and striding down the wide corridor. Hux was nowhere in sight.
My mind scrambled to come up with a plan. One that would shake him loose while stroking his ego enough that I could try again with him tomorrow… though the very idea of spending more time with this almost-mistake made me shudder.
What I knew for sure was that I couldn’t let him get me upstairs alone. I didn’t think he’d kill me—as long as I kept my mouth shut and played along, he had different plans for me. But if I went upstairs, Hux would come after me, I knew it. Then the whole operation would be blown, and Hux could be seriously injured.
All that uncertainty made my knees weak.
Instead of fighting to control my body’s reaction, I leaned into it—leaned into Anomaly—and pretended I was as excited by the idea of being with him as I would have been if I hadn’t fallen hard for Jasper Huxley in the meantime.
“Adam, stop. I’m really not feeling well. I’m exhausted, you know? What with the travel and the excitement of coming here. I wanted to wait and meet you tomorrow when I looked fresher, but then you messaged, and the temptation was too great to resist. I… I’ve been so confused about you and me. I convinced myself that what you and I shared wasn’t real.” Because it wasn’t. “So I started seeing someone back home. But now that I’ve met you in person, I finally understand what real attraction is.” And it’s not this. “I’m overwhelmed by the, um… the strength of my reaction to you. And I… I want to be with you.” I forced myself to set my hand on his arm. To widen my eyes and glance up at him soulfully. “But I think a man’s first time should be perfect.” The way mine had been with Hux. “Don’t you?”
Adam straightened and puffed out his chest. “Of course. I want that too. But we’re together now, honeybunch. I’m committed to that. Come back to my room so I can take care of you,” he said. “We can talk until you feel more settled. You can tell me all about your life in Tennessee. We can plan that visit we talked about. And when you’re feeling calmer…” He smiled that smarmy smile again. “I’ll be gentle, I promise.”
Shit. Lesson number one: appealing to a man’s sense of honor only works when he has one.
