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“No,” she said, but resisted when he tried to urge her into the truck. “Things are different now. I won’t be coming back here. I can’t, I… My Heart…” He paused to meet her eye. “Olympus isn’t my home.”
“Tess,” he said, taking her waist to angle her his way as he bent his knees to descend to her eye level. “You go, I go.”
Swallowing, his certainty was overwhelming. It didn’t even seem to be a choice that required any consideration. Tearing him away from his life, like Harry had tried to, should be wrong. Except there wasn’t a flicker of doubt or anger in his gorgeous brown eyes that, in that moment, were completely open to her.
“I have no expectation of you,” she said, feeling it necessary to ensure he understood he wasn’t obliged to do anything. “None, baby. I love you wherever you are.”
“Right back attcha,” he said, throwing the bag past her into the back seat. “Can we hit the road now?”
As she turned, Leonard’s car snagged her focus. After a beat, she asked, “Can we check his trunk?”
“What’d you do? Bring a body?” he asked, walking across the street to pop the trunk. The moment it opened, he exhaled and shook his head. “Gotta love the professionals, right?” He held her carpet bag up. “This what you’re looking for?”
Her grin widened and she nodded, hopping into the truck and closing the door while he used the end of his tee-shirt to wipe his prints from the trunk lid. When they were both discovered as missing, it wouldn’t be a leap for anyone to figure out who had retrieved her bag. Still, her Heart actually was a professional and didn’t leave evidence… apparently.
Daire came around to get in the driver’s side, handing over her bag. “What you got in there that’s so precious?”
She opened it up and reached inside to pull something out. “Your shirt is in here.”
“My shirt?” he asked, glancing her way as he put on his shades and started the engine. Smiling, she rubbed it against her cheek. He laughed. “Okay.”
Putting it back into the bag, she closed it up and tossed it in the back with the other one. His shirt wasn’t really the reason she wanted it. Other than just wanting her own things, there was money in that bag. British money, but still, they could convert it if they found themselves in a pinch.
“Will you get in trouble for running away with me?” she asked.
“How about you just tell me where we’re headed?”
Oh, boy, God knew how he’d react to news of their destination.
She opened the glovebox, trying to be discreet about staying low. “I’m not sure I’m ready to do that,” she said, peeking at him when he frowned her way. “We have to go to Miami.”
The frown faded as he realized she wasn’t withholding, she was teasing.
“Are you playing with me?”
“No, we really have to go to Miami.”
His focus went back to the road, though his eyes were hidden behind the glasses. “For old time’s sake or because you’re going after the Scepter? That’s where Harry said he stashed it.”
Cutting right through the bullshit. Seemed only right if he was doing it, she should too.
“Don’t need to hunt for something I already have,” she said, prompting a double take as she twisted. “Mom still here?” Popping open the center console, Tess found her mom’s urn untouched. “Thank you for looking after her.”
“Back up,” he said. “You have the Scepter? How did that happen? I thought you were in London.”
“It’s a long story,” she said, her eyes rising to their top corners. “I guess the Scepter story isn’t so long. I found it in my mom’s bedroom before we left town together the first time.”
“And you never told me you found it?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t know what it was until after our family reunion in the beta site control room. I was mad at you after that. It hasn’t been the number one thing on my mind either.”
“Until now,” he said. “If you have it, why are we going to Miami?”
Sliding even lower in her seat, she combed her fingers through her hair to cover her face. “Maybe I should be in the back.”
“Why do you want to be in the back?”
Passing other vehicles, anyone could spot her, and she might not even know it. “We’re not invisible. If Ulysses sees me…”
