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Ryder watched her, curious about what had caused this sudden change in her demeanor. He shouldn’t care, but if it had something to do with his actions, he didn’t want it coming between them. They were going to have to work together for the next two weeks. In his experience, tensions between partners led to poor decisions, and poor decisions could be deadly.
“Nita, wait,” Ryder called out when the elevator door slid open.
She glanced back at him, her gaze guarded but tinged with something else.
“What?” she asked, impatience in her voice.
He walked over and stood by her side. The door slid closed, but he put his hand out to stop it.
“Something’s wrong,” he said.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“I saw something in your eyes just then,” he pressed, his voice softer than before. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Nita’s gaze flickered away for a moment before returning to meet his. “It’s nothing,” she replied, a trace of defensiveness creeping into her tone.
Ryder’s eyes bore into hers, refusing to accept her answer. “If this is going to work, we’ve got to be honest with each other. What’s going on with you?”
She slumped and a mix of emotions washed over her face. “It’s just... this whole situation, I guess.”
Curiosity piqued, Ryder asked, “What about it?”
Nita hesitated, her voice barely above a whisper. “Thinking about why you’re here, and the knife in the kill kit,” she said, then shook her head in exasperation. “I mean, we found a fucking kill kit on the property! I think the reality of that is just hitting me.”
He compressed his lips and reached out, gripping her arms. He felt her flinch away and he let her go. But it made him feel bad.
“Itiscrazy, and it’s jumped up a notch for me, too,” he replied. “This… mountain bunker was built to handle some serious shit. Maybe not a threat like whoever buried the kill kit, but some kind of danger that follows people with massive amounts of money. People like that can be unhinged.”
She looked up at him, a hesitancy in them that hadn’t been there before. “To be completely honest, I’m a little freaked out about working with you.”
He nodded. It probably hadn’t helped that he’d brandished his karambit in front of her.
“You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. We both have to trust that we’re working together for the right reasons. My job is to make sure this event—”
“Engagement,” she corrected, and he saw the hint of a smile curve her lips.
“Yeah. Fuck. Engagement. To make sure this engagement goes without a hitch. That way I get the rest of my payment, and you get to keep doing your assistant-to-the-lawyer gig and all the perks that come with working at a sex club,” he said.
The more he talked, the more she smiled and he felt the tension leave her body like it was a physical thing.
“Okay. I’ll trust you. Let’s just agree that we’ll always be honest with each other.”
Ryder nodded, his voice filled with sincerity. “I promise. No secrets, nothing held back.”
“Okay.”
“Even if a dress makes your ass look big, I won’t hold back,” he teased, and held in a laugh when her face screwed into a frown. “And if you smell a little funky after a hard day’s work, I’ll tell you about it.”
“Jesus Christ, Ryder,” she exclaimed, and marched into the elevator. “Be honest, but don’t be an asshole about it.”
“So that’s a no about telling you your ass looks big?” he asked, punching the button that would take them down to the fake storage room and eventually down to the cart.
“My ass is exactly perfect and if you ever don’t think so, that’s your problem,” she replied, and the sassy gleam in her eye ignited a sizzle in his groin.
“Fair enough,” he agreed, and wondered if he could coerce her to come back to his hotel room with him. “Can I be honest about one other thing?”
“I don’t know, can you?” she replied.
