Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When Eva had exited the hotel room, wearing the black fitted dress he’d picked out for her, he’d nearly thrown her over his shoulder and locked her back in the room.
And hell, maybe he should have.
Inside the elevator now, her attention was on the ground, which suited him fine. It afforded him the chance to study her, to take in every curve and beautiful line of her body.
Eva officially looked the part of Everly Reed—from the dress to the makeup.
“You look stunning.” He toyed with his collar and popped the top button. He’d refused the tie, but the blazer and black dress shirt made him feel like he’d been sprayed in starch and a hot iron had scorched the material to his body.
“And you look”—her gaze briefly flicked up to meet his eyes—“lethal.”
“Is that a compliment?” He smiled.
“I’m not sure yet.” She tucked her long, silky strands behind her ear, exposing a diamond stud. Jessica had given her the earrings to wear before they’d left.
The elevator doors parted, and he pressed his hand to his ear. “What’s the target’s position?”
“He’s still in the same spot,” Owen said into his comm.
“Copy that.”
Eva glanced back at him as they walked through the lobby. There was something in the look of her eyes that had his stomach dropping.
It wasn’t fear he saw, but he wasn’t sure what the hell it was, either.
After crossing the plaza and reaching the main casino, he placed his hand on the small of her back as the doors were opened for them.
A tiny shudder moved beneath his palm, and he wondered if his touch had the same effect on her as it was having on him right now.
“You said you’ve been to Monaco before. Vacation or . . .?” he asked as they worked their way past the gaming tables and through the aisles of slot machines, the clinking sounds taking a back seat to the thumping of his heart.
“My dad was filming a racing movie here five years ago. He insisted I come.”
“Must’ve been fun.” He eyed Knox at the roulette table off to his right and Asher at his nine o’clock.
“There’s the room.” Luke tipped his head to the back corner. “Are you nervous?” He stopped walking and faced her. “You can back out.”
She kept her eyes on the two closed doors. “I want this over.”
God, he hated this. He reached for her hand. “Best to make it look like we’re a couple.”
“Okay.” She allowed him to tighten his grasp, and a buzz pulsed up his arm.
“Any seats open?” he asked the suited man guarding the private gaming room.
“Ten thousand euro buy-in.” The guy’s snake tattoo wrapped around his thick neck, the tongue extending up the jawline.
“Not an issue.” Luke tucked a hand in his pocket and started to reach for the wad of cash Jessica had supplied him, but he stopped when the man held up his palm.
“There’s a wait. What’s your name?” He held a phone now, and Luke offered him the alias, Cross. “She’s not playing, too, right?”
“What? I can’t play cards because I’m a woman?” She folded her arms, a flash of defiance settling across her face.
“Are you playing?” the man asked, his tone deepening to borderline offensive.
Eva’s lips rolled inward, and her cheeks deepened in color. “No, I’m not.”
The guy sniggered and pointed to the bar behind them. “Wait there. It shouldn’t be too long.”
Luke thanked him and motioned to two empty stools at the bar.
“So, now we wait.” Eva crossed one long leg over the other, and the skirt of her dress edged higher up her thighs.
He nodded and drummed his fingers on the counter.
“Lethal in a good way,” she said, catching him off guard. “You stole everyone’s breath when we walked into the room.”
He stabbed a finger at his chest. “Me?” He swept an exaggerated gaze from left to right. “Honey, they’re all looking at you.”
“No.” She swirled a finger in the air, and he wanted to snatch her wrist and press her palm to his heart so she could feel how fast it beat around her. But he wasn’t romantic, and he shouldn’t keep wanting her, so . . .
“Do you not have any idea how beautiful you are?”
“I don’t care about that stuff.” She blushed. “Well, your beautiful package caught my eye, at first—”
He tipped his head back and laughed. “‘Package’?”
“You know what I mean. You’re hot.” She slapped his arm and slowly pulled her hand away. “I’m not insecure, by the way. But one of the perks of being Eva is I no longer have to try and impress anyone with how I look.”
He swallowed back the untimely lust that continued to gather inside of him like a storm that was about to surge. The appearance of the bartender saved him from saying anything ridiculous. “What do you want to drink?” He let go of a hard breath.
“Oh, how about champagne?”
Luke looked at the bartender and ordered, “Le champagne et l’eau minéral.” He scooted his chair a touch closer to hers, fighting the impulse to rest a hand on her thigh, even though it seemed like the natural thing to do.
“No alcohol?”
“I don’t drink on an op.” He smiled. “Usually.”
“So back at the house in Pennsylvania—”
“Was different.”
Her long lashes lowered, hiding her gaze as she focused on her lap. Her nerves were clearly pulling her apart, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
“So . . .” He cleared his throat. “Was there one defining moment that made you up and leave your old life behind?”
Her focus moved to his face, and it had his leg muscles tensing.
Any time this woman looked at him—really looked at him—his insides thawed and set him on fire.
“Not really.” She lifted her shoulders. “At first, it was about freedom from the spotlight. But once I got a taste of it, I didn’t want to go back.”
“But you missed writing?” He looked at the bartender as he served the drinks. “Merci.”
“Merci,” she said and took a quick sip from the flute. “Yeah, I decided I wanted to try my hand at screenplay writing as Eva, not Everly. I wanted to see if I was really good—or if it was my name that had carried me.”
“Hm.” He gulped half his glass of water to cool off. “And what’d you discover?”
“I landed my current gig all on my own merits, so—”
“So you rocked it anyway.”
Owen’s voice sounded unexpectedly in his ear. “God, you have it bad for this woman.”
Shit. He’d forgotten Owen could hear everything. “Turning you off until I’m with Malik.” Luke fidgeted with the comm and then sighed. “Okay, now we can talk.”
“Since when do you want to talk?”
She had him there, but . . .
“Oh,” she said. “Are you trying to distract me again?” She took a sip of her drink when he nodded. “Does that mean you’ll answer some questions for me? We could take turns.”
“What, are we in high school? Are we going to play the twenty-questions game?”
She chuckled. “What’s that?”
He waved a hand in the air, made eye contact with Knox and Asher, and then looked back at her. “Just ask a question.”
“When did you know you wanted to be in the military?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “I was three.”
“Three?” She edged closer, her hand falling to his knee, and she looked up at him. “Really?”
He blinked twice, trying to rein in his thoughts. “Yeah, I used to wear my dad’s dog tags and run around the house shooting bad guys. My bedtime stories at night were about his missions.”
“Aww.” She hiccupped and pressed a hand to her mouth. “One more from me, and then it’s your turn.” She scooted a little farther to the edge of her seat, her knees bumping his. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“I figured out who you really are,” she whispered. “Asher thought I was watching movies all day, but really, I was working through theories in my head.”
“Oh, yeah?”
She nodded. “I’m curious about how you stay in the shadows and no one connects the real you to this you.”
He glanced around, checking to ensure no one was within earshot. “I’m not two people. That’s you.”
She hiccupped again and shook her head. “We’re different; you’re right. I said goodbye to my old life. You, on the other hand, live two simultaneously. Has anyone ever found you out?”
“Not until you, Hollywood.” He sucked down the rest of his water.
“Your sister is a cyber guru, huh?”
He wasn’t all that surprised Eva had figured him out—well, he assumed she hadn’t worked out every detail in her head, but still .
. . “Jessica deleted my digital footprint a long time ago, but if anyone ever makes the connection between ‘this me’”—he dropped his voice to emphasize her wording—“and the real me, it could prove dangerous for anyone close to me.”
“I get that.” She sighed. “I hope it never happens, for your sake. And I hope, someday, you get to step out of the shadows.”
His stomach dropped and he closed his eyes, trying to prevent all hell from breaking loose on the inside.
A quiet moment passed between them, and a smile touched her pink lips. “You didn’t get to ask your question.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” He smiled. “Best kiss?”
Her fingers rested on her collarbone, and then slowly sank to her plunging neckline. “You should know the answer to that.” She tensed. “Yours?”
He leaned back and closed one eye. “High school girlfriend.” His tongue darted between his teeth as he fought back the laugh trying to break free at the sight of her scrunched-up nose.
“Kidding.” Unable to stop himself, even knowing his buddies had eyes on him, he dropped his head so her lips were within reach.
“Me?” she whispered, staring at his mouth instead of his eyes.
“Unfortunately,” he whispered, easing back into his seat and allowing another sweeping silence to settle between them for a few minutes.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?” she asked after finishing her drink. “We’re sitting here in Monaco, listening to this woman sing a cover of a Taylor Swift song, acting like—”
“There’s someone singing?” He craned his neck around to find the woman on stage with a microphone in hand. “Shit, I didn’t even notice.”
“Aren’t you supposed to notice everything?”
He scratched at his jaw. “There’s a certain someone who makes it hard for me to do that.”