“A job for who? Who do you work for?”
“Still not telling,” she sang, wondering when he’d attempt to get out from under her.
“Is it my sister? Her husband?” he insisted.
“Does it matter? It’s obvious there’s a few groups of people interested in you.”
“And yet I am a boring guy.”
“Hardly. Although you did a good job trying to make us think you were. How many times did you switch out the feed so you could do your thing?”
His lips quirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“It was clever,” she admitted. “And might be handy to know in the future.”
“A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“You’re hardly magical,” she said with a snort.
“And yet I eluded you and your partner numerous times. Tell me, where is the big guy? Hiding outside in the hall? Keeping the getaway car warm? Drilling a hole in the wall from the room next to this one?”
“It’s just me and you, Montgomery.”
“Montgomery? And here I thought we’d reached first name status,” was his sarcastic reply.
“Would you prefer I call you Peter? After all, you and I are about to become close friends.”
“No, we’re not.”
Funny because his racing heart and hard-on said otherwise. She straddled him, ignoring the cheap thrill the pressure put on her parts. “Where are you going?”
“No idea. I got itchy feet and decided I wanted to wander.”
“Could that wandering have to do with a certain book and key?”
He stiffened, and not just his dick this time. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?”
“If I could read women’s minds, I’d be rich.” he tried to joke. It fell flat.
“Are you really going to make this hard?” And yes, she might have pressed down on him. Saw his eyes dilate, his lips part. He definitely twitched.
He didn’t give in. “Why are you watching me?”
“I’m the one asking questions here.”
“Then ask ones that I can actually reply to. I know nothing about a book and key.”
“I really wish you’d skip the lying part,” she said with a sigh. She held up the ugly, heavy key that gave her an uncomfortable shiver. She’d scrounged it out of his pack while he slept.
His eyes narrowed in anger. “Give that back. It’s mine.
“Is it? Or did you steal it?” She kept it out of reach when he would have grabbed it.
“I went through a lot to get that fucking key.”
“No kidding, given it was supposed to have been washed away when Lada dropped it into the river.” The realization hit her suddenly. “That wasn’t the real key.”
“And if it wasn’t?”
“Holy shit. People died because of that fake. You put your sister in danger because of it.”
He grimaced. “It wasn’t meant to fall into her hands. I intended for it to act as a decoy to throw people off my trail.”
“It worked.” All too well, given the people who’d died trying to get their paws on it. “And just so you know, Zach has the book.” A grimoire-style tome containing an old fairytale and an image of the highly-in-demand key.
“Good for him. I assume he knows how to read medieval Russian?”
“Not yet, but he’ll find someone who can. Or you could make this easy and tell us what the book says.”
“Fuck you. I am not telling you shit,” he snarled. Still very human with the courage of a lion. Which explained the marks on his body. And the nightmares.
“Those six months you were missing… Someone was trying to get you to spill your guts.”
“What gave it away?”
“I’ve seen your scars.”
His expression turned blank. “Those weren’t because of the key.”
“Even if they weren’t, you need to listen to me when I say you’re in deep trouble. You’re messing with some dangerous people, Peter.”
His sarcasm was thick as he replied, “Ya think?”
“I can help.”
“Help?” He snorted. “What I need is for you and the giant to stay away from me so I can blend in.”
“No can do. We’ve already thwarted one kidnapping attempt. You need me to stick close by.”
He blinked at her. “Repeat that. Slowly. With context.”
“The other night, someone wanted to shove you into a trunk, but Zach saved you.”
“Says you.”
“Yeah says me, and it wasn’t the first attempt. Count yourself lucky your sister married into the right family. We know how to protect our own.”
“She did marry into the mob. I fucking knew it,” he exclaimed.
Whereas Nora laughed. “Not quite, but close.”
“So what exactly is your job?”
“In your case? Think of me as your bodyguard and partner.”
“And thief.” He indicated the key she still held.
It hadn’t yet warmed in her grip. Weird metal.
“You are under the misconception I need money.” She leaned close so her hot breath fanned his mouth. “I don’t.”
“Says the girl working in a butcher shop and taking shitty undercover work.”
“Says the girl who is independently wealthy and seeks to stave off boredom.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t care.” She shrugged. “It is true though. And can you blame me? It was undercover PI stuff or putting on a suit and going to an office every day.”
“Fuck the suits.”
“Exactly.”
“And fuck you. I don’t need a partner.” He shoved at her, and she rolled off of him, lying on his bed as he stood, mostly dressed, his T-shirt rumpled like his hair, his pants unbuttoned. Ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
She held up his key. “You either work with me, or I find someone else to help me figure it out.”
“There is no one else,” he growled.
“You’re not the only one who knows of the story surrounding this key. As we speak, efforts are being made to translate the book we found in your apartment.” The quick and dirty summary gleaned by images placed it as a fairytale along the lines of Frog Prince, except in this case, the hero, who was a monster, went on a quest to find magic to make him human. Sounded more like a nightmare to her.
“Good luck with finding out anything.” He smirked.
“I don’t need luck since Melly got me access to your cloud.”
That got his attention. “Bullshit. It’s heavily encrypted.”
“Yeah, did I mention I’m friends with a hacker?” Her turn to smile and bluff because while Melly knew he had a secret online storage space, she was still working on getting in.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” She rolled off the bed and stalked toward him. “I mean it when I say work with me or be left out of the equation.”
She could see the inner battle taking place reflected on his face before resignation softened it. “Fine. You win. But only if you promise I get to keep whatever we find.”