Someone wanted special tech favors. Antony got it. “I keep my word.”
“Good to know.” Eric tossed up a wave. A few moments later, he was gone, along with the installation crew who’d come to work on the security system. Before they departed, they paused to give Antony some instructions—instructions he hadn’t needed because he knew how the damn system worked—and soon the house was blessedly quiet.
He was alone with Ella again.
“What do you have to pay him?” Her first question.
He tossed aside his tie. Rolled up his sleeves. He’d long since ditched his coat. “Favors. It’s the way of the world, isn’t it?”
“Tech favors.” A nod. “Everyone always thinks that you can do anything with tech.”
He flashed her a grin. “Because I can.” Not being arrogant. Just stating a fact. “Come on, I’ll show you.” He made his way to the office he’d set up—sure, most of the rooms didn’t have furniture, but he’d made sure he teched out the home office within an hour of signing a contract on the house.
He settled in his chair, booted up his system, and just like that…he was hunting. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he searched for his prey.
“What are you doing?” She leaned over his shoulder to peer at the screen. Her hair brushed against him. “I don’t think…Hold on. You’re not supposed to be accessing that information.”
“You weren’t upset when I accessed street cams earlier.” A gentle reminder. There’d been no protest from her.
“I didn’t love that you were breaking into the street cams. I told you that then, but we were looking for your would-be attacker, and time was of the essence.” She leaned a little closer.
His nostrils flared as he drank in her scent. “You smell delicious.”
He heard her quick inhale. Antony thought she might jerk back. She didn’t. He tried to ignore the fact that her utterly delicious scent was making him insane. “Strawberries,” he murmured.
“It’s my shampoo. And my body lotion.”
His fingers kept flying over the keyboard. “That explains why you tasted like strawberries the night we made love.”
“Antony—”
“Bingo.”
“Bingo—what?”
“I found our guy.”
Her face was pretty much next to his now as she studied the screen. Nearly cheek to cheek. “This is all illegal, isn’t it?”
He considered lying as he turned to stare at her profile. Discarded the idea because obviously… “Yes.”
Her head whipped toward him. Her eyes were wide. “You can’t just break the law!”
“I could wait for the overworked cops in the area to investigate what—to them—is probably just another would-be mugging. Kind of low on their priority list. You know, when they have murders and kidnappings and what-not to solve.”
“What-not?”
“Um. Yes. Or I could save everyone time and find the perp on my own. Which I just did.” He smiled at her. “You have the most amazing eyes. The gold can get deeper or lighter depending on your mood. Fascinating to see.”
Her delicate jaw hardened. “If you could keep tracking the perp—why didn’t you do it at Wilde after the agents found the abandoned van?”
“Well, Eric was already calling in his buddies at the PD, and I didn’t think they’d appreciate my efforts. So…” He shrugged. “I came here. I did what I do best. Used tech to help me. I searched the area where the van was abandoned—I figured our perps just switched rides—and I saw our fellow with the curly, dark hair driving a blue Corvette with a busted front light.”
“Can you get his name? Use the license plate on the Corvette to figure out who he is?”
He went back to work on the computer. Turned up… “That’s a fake plate.” Not registered to a Corvette but to a pick-up truck owned by someone in Savannah. “Probably did a plate switch. Our guy is not a newbie to the criminal world.” He dove a little deeper. “Don’t have his address, but I do have his current location.”
“We need to give the address to the cops.”
He could feel her gaze on him. Antony turned his head toward her. “That is one idea.”
The gold of her eyes went deeper. “It is a great idea. It is the idea we’re going with.”
Antony gave a slow shake of his head. He hated to disappoint her. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Why on earth wouldn’t it be possible?”
He’d had to bribe his boss, Dex, in order to be able to do this next part. Had to move freaking heaven and hell, but Ella was worth it. Sure, he couldn’t tell her everything. Dex would have his head if he did, but now that they were alone in his house—no prying eyes—Antony could at least tell her… “Because you were right.”
“Right?”
She was so close. If he just leaned forward about two more inches, he could press his mouth to hers. He could thrust his tongue past those plump lips of hers and enjoy her. “Yes. Right.” His voice had turned low. Guttural.
“What was I right about, Antony?”
He released a slow breath. Time for a confession. “I am a spy.”
Chapter Six
I am a spy.
His confession seemed to echo in Ella’s ears even as her heart thudded hard against her chest. “I knew it.”
“Yes, well, you were correct.” He gave her a half-smile. “Guilty as charged. Now, I’m afraid you can’t exactly go around and tell the world what you know. That’s not going to be allowed. I was able to get you enough clearance for the truth, but my boss wasn’t thrilled.”
“You have a boss?” That threw her. Of course, yes, he was the boss at Shark Gaming and Design, but in the spy world…
He admitted it. Antony is a spy. Clark Kent had just stared her in the eyes and finally confirmed the truth to her. Ella was both incredibly elated and extremely infuriated.
What in the hell took you so long, Antony?
“Yes, I do have a boss. Not like I run a major spy ring.” Behind his glasses, his eyes assessed her. “Now, to circle back to your point about calling the police. That can’t happen. Because I don’t know who I am dealing with here. I’m not sure if this is some jerk who wanted to mug me or someone who might have a much different agenda. I need to talk to this guy myself. See what’s happening.”
The drumming of her heartbeat was still far too fast and too loud.
“You stay here,” he continued in that rough voice that she hadn’t heard him use much before. Except for, well, the one night they’d been together. The night that should have been her parting gift to herself but instead had become something a whole lot more. Something that threatened to wreck me. She shouldn’t have responded so strongly to him. Days later, the intensity of her response still stunned her. Her response. His. They’d been desperate for each other that night. Wild.
Completely out of control.
She’d never seen Antony that way. He was always so carefully guarded. His emotions were held in rigid check. But that night…