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“Sure, man. I could eat. And Indika needs to keep up her strength.”
She whirled back to Brown, shock rippling through her.
“Let me get this right,” she said slowly. “You two actuallylikeeach other?”
NINE
Apollo rolled the die. “Six.” He picked up his racecar game piece and moved it six spaces on the Monopoly board. Since he landed on an open property, he didn’t have to pay out the few bucks he had left in his bank to Indika.
“Look at that. For once you’re not taking my money.” His joke fell flat when he looked at her face and realized she was completely tuned out of the game.
He started making piles of the money and packing up the game.
“What are you doing?” she asked after he had most of it put away in the box.
“You’re tired. We can play some other time.”
She straightened in her seat. “I’m not tired.”
“Then you’re bored.” He was going to have to get more creative with entertaining her. Three board games had filled the dull hours of the afternoon. He racked his brain for some other activity besides laying her down in bed and sucking her clit.
She sighed. “I am bored. I hate not being able to work.”
“You love your job.” He sat back in his seat at the kitchen table to study her.
Besides the small fatigue smudges under each eye, she looked as beautiful as ever.
“I do love my job. Except when a guy they call Shark stabs me.”
He compressed his lips. Neither Brown nor Indika had given him any particulars on that raid. Now that he had a name, he could go after the guy—except he was already in jail for human trafficking.
There’s always the option of finding a contact inside.
He needed to get off the subject or he’d just get pissed off. “What do you say about cards?”
Her eyes lifted to his. “Cards?”
“Yeah. Ever play poker? We can make it a game of strip poker. Only I’ll win since you have no poker face.”
Her lips twisted into a begrudging smile. “I’ll pass on the strip poker. I’m going to sit in the living room. This chair is making my back hurt.”
Concerned that he’d let her sit in an uncomfortable chair for too long, he stood and helped her up. When he slipped an arm around her back, she didn’t fight him.
Slowly, they made their way to the sofa. She took her seat in the corner she preferred, and he handed her the throw cushion she used when she needed to cough or sneeze.
He reached for the remote. “So if we’re not playing poker and taking off our clothes, what do you say to a movie?”
Her blank expression didn’t fool him, not when he recognized the turmoil taking place behind her eyes. Ever since his return, he’d only seen her mask slip a couple times. Once when she let him make love to her, and the other earlier after Robert left.
Every other minute she kept her expression calm. But he knew it was a thin sheet of glass, easily shattered.
“Is this what you do since you’re not on duty?” she asked.
Her question stung when it shouldn’t.
“Look, we both know how to hurt each other. Let’s not do that.” He grabbed the remote to distract himself. He needed a minute to get his head out of the quicksand. Going down those dark alleys of asking if he’deverget back on Blackout wouldn’t put him in a good mental place.
Right now, Indika deserved the very best of him.
