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She paused, running the scenario through her head.
“So when Stu told him about the cufflink… sorry… I still don’t get it.”
“Ivan moved his hands under the table to distract me from what Oleg was doing. Right?”
“Yes.”
“Oleg would have recorded all our meetings, and he knew I would have done the same. Watching the playback and finding the bug would excuse Ivan’s awkward move. That should have been the end of the story, but when Stu said we’d found the cufflink—”
“It told Oleg when you replayed the video, you realized Ivan had been trying to distract you, so you focused in on Oleg and saw him take off the cufflink.”
“Exactly!” Marco exclaimed. “The moment Stu told Oleg the EMP box had been found, Oleg knew Benny’s remarks in the meeting room about my art being fake was bullshit.”
“I understand now,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I screwed up.”
“It’s okay, I have this under control, but Steph, in order to defeat an opponent you have to put yourself in their shoes and always be thinking ahead.”
“But he knows you’re expecting him now. Why would he still come here? Oh! He thinks you’re dead.”
“Bingo, he believes the head of the snake has been cut off, or rather, blown off, and he doesn’t know I have Stu. If the miniature EMP bomb didn’t work, Stu would have gone into action. The irony is that’s exactly what’s happened. Oleg can’t trust the EMP device now, and as far as he knows, Stu’s still viable.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Exactly what Stu would have done, but I can determine the timing. When Oleg’s soldiers climb over the wall, they’re going to be met with a surprise.”
“Wow. You’re amazing.”
“Not really. My father was an excellent teacher.”
“So, Marco,” she said softly, “if you’re deciding when to send Oleg the signal, that means you have time to help me take off my clothes? These jeans are covered in caked dirt and they’re really uncomfortable, and this tee-shirt—”
“You can stop right there,” he said with a grin, cutting her off. “I’m more than happy to let Oleg sweat for a little while longer.”
Chapter 34
Lifting the torn tee-shirt over Steph’s head, Marco tossed it aside, then reached behind her and unsnapped her bra. Leisurely sliding it down her arms, he placed it on the coffee table.
“Hello, my beauties,” he crooned, smoothing his palm over her breasts as he leaned in and kissed her shoulder. “How are you feeling, baby?”
“Much better,” she replied with a long sigh. “Brent poured me a snifter of brandy. I drank it so he poured me another one. I drank that too. I think it’s going to my head.”
“You need to stretch out so I can take off your jeans,” he murmured, placing a throw pillow at the end of the couch and helping her lie down.
“Marco, please don’t let anything happen to you.”
Her words had been slightly slurred.
“I’m not in the habit of making impulsive decisions,” he said pointedly, unzipping her skin-tight jeans and shimmying them down her legs.
“What I did—it was good. I mean. I saved you,” she mumbled slowly, a frown creasing her brow. “Sometimes you have to act fast.”
“Those are the times you need to take a second and make sure you haven’t missed anything,” he retorted, being careful as he moved her jeans over her sprained ankle. “There were alternatives, but we can talk about that later.”
Pausing and staring at her pink panties, he decided to remove them as well.
“Speaking of alternatives,” she said slowly as he pulled them off, “I have nothing else to wear.”
“I know,” he declared, adding her jeans and underwear to the bra and rolling them together. “That’s why I’m taking these with me. Besides, those jeans need to be washed.”
