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Cygny waved it off with her hand. “Exactly what I meant. Sure I followed that first track and found that piece from the tire, but I didn’t see what they did. I didn’t think of sifting through the gravel looking for cigarettes, so yeah. ‘Dummy me.’”
She started to turn away to listen to the radio conversation, but he tugged on her arm, turning her back toward him. “Hey.”
He leaned down and looked straight into her eyes. “Listen to me for a second.”
Lifting her hand, she turned down the volume and then met his eyes again. “A second.”
“How often did your work take you outdoors? Out into the mountains?”
That was an easy question to answer.
Scoffing at the truth she sighed. “Never.”
“That’s because, what? Your primary skills are electronic.”
“Computer programming and analysis,” she added and then pulled back. “How is that going to be helpful here? He has a computer specialist, Swede. He’s good. Really good. But that doesn’t help me. Beck’s marketing us to Hank as female cover agents. Hank wants to base the group out of a small town in Colorado. Where does that leave me? I guess they could plop me behind a desk in their offices, but if I can’t analyze a site and figure out they were picking up cigarettes that they might have left behind, then what good am I to the group?”
“This is just a training,” he countered. “Working in pairs, searching for your friend’s sister. Assignments in the future will cover any number of different situations.”
She stopped trying to pull her arm from his hand. It wasn’t her fault that the heat from his skin felt so good.
It would be too easy just to accept it.
Enjoy it.
“Why?”
He looked as confused as she felt. “Why what?”
“Why,” she took a step closer to him, “are you trying to talk to me like I’m going to end up being a part of this? Like I’m going to fit in with the group. You do realize that if that happens, that we might be working together from time to time.”
She felt his thumb brush against her skin. A slow sweep of motion.
“I know what I’m saying. It’s not about whether or not we work together. This is about you. You’re right for this group. Just because you didn’t think to look for cigarettes doesn’t mean you’re not cut out to work with the Brotherhood.”
She lifted her head and looked deeper into his eyes. “Wouldn’t… wouldn’t it just be easier if they left me out of this? You wouldn’t have to see me at all. I could go back to my condo and work skip traces. Fraud investigations. I have quite the collection of pajama sets and fuzzy slippers.”
From his expression, it looked like it took a moment for her words to settle into his head. When he spoke, he sounded more than a little unsure of what he was saying to her.
“You do seem to make a rather interesting argument for leaving and working on your own. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to make a counteroffer.” He reached up and rubbed at his hair, longer now than when they’d originally met and she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him. “Home cooked meals? If you remember, I am… I am pretty good in the kitchen.”
His kitchen. Yes, he was a good cook, but there were other things they’d done in the kitchen. Things that still made her ache when they came to mind.
“I wasn’t talking about sex, but yeah, I remember that too.”
He tugged on her arm until she could feel his breath on her face.
“Leo,” she swept her tongue over her bottom lip and saw his gaze dip down before returning to her eyes, “there’s still more that you should know.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “I know that you… that we still have a lot to say. And I have a thousand questions to ask. I just don’t think we have the time right now.”
“You’re right,” she blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes, “I shouldn’t have-”
“Stop.” He pulled her against him, covering her mouth with his. When he pulled back a moment later, he gave her a pointed look. “There’s a world full of people out there ready to judge you for any number of things. The least you can do for yourself is not add to that.”
She looked at him, a smile pulling at her lips, but a furrow between her brows. “But-”
“I know.” He cleared his throat and stepped back, making it easier for them to see into each other’s eyes. “I’ve been one of those people, but I think we need to talk. Later. I need to hear more about what happened from you. Until then, let’s both be kinder to you than we’ve been in the past.”
His words didn’t just shock her, they took the floor out from underneath her feet. She really didn’t know what to think or what to say. When she opened her mouth, she uncharacteristically said the first thing that came to her mind.
“That’s a hard ask, Leo.”
He nodded and his hand dropped down from her forearm to give her hand a squeeze.
“There’s a lot of hard things that need to be done in our lives, Cygny.”
Her heart swelled in her chest at the tone in his voice when he said her name. Her name.
He didn’t spit it out or snarl.
He put warmth behind it.
“I think you can take some of your stubborn determination and direct it at yourself for a while.”
She couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips or the heavy throb of her heart in her chest.
“You’re not going to argue with me?”
“No.” Cygny shook her head. “I’m not going to argue.”
He smiled and started for the motorcycle, keeping her hand in his. “We’ll head back and jump in where they need us. Later, when this is all over, we’ll talk.”
Leo handed her her helmet and put his own on, watching her with a bemused smile on his face. He swung his leg over the motorcycle and sat down, shaking his head. “Crazy.” He sighed and held out his hand for her to take as she got on behind him. “Who knew?”
* * *
