39. Chapter 39
thirty-nine
L ina put away the supplies Marcus had sent. She was still fuming at Curtis’ insistence on joining her to do some recon on Sofia Stiletto. Whether or not he liked it, she was still responsible for his safety. He shouldn’t have put her on the spot in front of Marcus and Ken—and Dean Rowland, for crying out loud.
“Hey,” Curtis walked into the kitchen.
Lina continued putting things away, ignoring him.
“You’re still upset?” he asked.
She didn’t answer.
“Okay, you are.” He leaned on the counter next to the fridge as she stored the perishable items.
Lina just gave him a quick glance.
“Come on, stop sulking. This isn’t you,” he said. “I said I’m sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your bosses.”
“I do not sulk.” Lina jammed the orange juice box into the door slot and closed the fridge.
“I’ve done my share of sulking. I know a sulk when I see one.” He grabbed her arm to pull her to him. Lina rotated her arm to release herself.
He attempted again, but Lina blocked his hand before he could even touch her. The man took it as a challenge as he tried to catch her around the waist with his other arm instead. Except he wasn’t a match to her in the art of evasion, even after the training they’d had this morning. She simply spun out of his reach and walked away.
“Come on!” Curtis pled. “Lina, please. You wouldn’t let me go out and do this on my own, either.”
“There is a difference, Curtis. Nobody put a bounty on my head,” she snapped. “I need to go to the Stilettos’ territory to stake out Sofia. I don’t want you to be anywhere in the vicinity.”
“When we decided to come home, we agreed to deal with this together. This is my problem, not yours. I got myself into this mess. I need to get myself out of it. But I know I can’t do it by myself. I need your help, but I don’t want you going all hero-mode to protect me and go out there alone.”
“Who says I’m gonna be alone? I’m not stupid,” Lina retorted. “Of course I’ll have backup. But if you come, then my focus is gonna be on you.”
“You know I can take care of myself. You train me so I can.”
“If it comes to that, Curtis. It doesn’t mean putting yourself in harm’s way.”
“What harm’s way? You said it’s a stakeout. We’ll be just observing in a car, right? Cheap coffee, maybe a cigarette and a pair of binoculars?”
Lina scoffed along with an eye roll. It’d most likely go that way—minus the cigarette.
“Yeah, and it’ll be boring. You can’t keep still for over five minutes,” she pointed out. “How will you survive boring hours in a car? And no, you can’t just get out and walk around. We’ll be in enemy territory.”
“Any hour I spend with you can’t be boring, my love.” He plastered his best grin on his face.
Lina mimed a gagging face that made Curtis laugh.
“I’m serious, Curtis,” she told him. “We are not some teenagers crazed in love.”
“Maybe not teenagers, but we are—”
“We need to be practical, strategic, and safe about this,” Lina talked over his muttering. “I can’t be worrying about you when I’m doing this. And if I get a chance for a face-to-face with Sofia, she’ll most likely talk with another woman. She might see you as a threat.”
“I’m a threat? When her mother wants me dead?”
“There are too many variables we don’t know yet about Sofia. We can’t risk you being spotted,” Lina said firmly. “This is not a negotiation. You’re staying here.”
Curtis’ lips flattened into a straight line.
Lina walked to him and took his hands to soothe the blow. “I’m not being a hero, I promise you. I’m just gathering information.”
His tight jaw loosened as he looked at her. “I’m not happy about this.”
“I know. But you’re a smart guy. You know I’m right.”
“Who are you going with?”
“Kate.” Lina explained, “She’s been studying the Stilettos. She knows them better than any of us.”
“Is she a ninja like you?”
Lina laughed. “She can handle herself. I trust her to cover my back.”
“I’m supposed to cover your back.”
Lina wrapped her arms around him and, with a smile, suggested, “You can cover my back when I get home.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Well, that’s an enticing offer.” Cupping her face in his hands, Curtis kissed her. “Promise me you won’t risk yourself for me.”
Lina sighed at the request. “Curtis, there’s always a risk.”
He looked her in the eyes and asked again, “Promise me.”
She met his gaze. “You know I can’t do that.”
“Lina—”
“I love you,” Lina said. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe. As you will do the same for me. So please don’t ask me that.”
Curtis’ pupils widened at her revelation. “That’s not fair. You’re telling me you love me for the first time to avoid making a promise to me?”
“No. I’m not avoiding a promise. Telling you I love you is the promise,” Lina stated. “It’s a promise I’ll come back to you. It’s a promise I’ll find a way out of this so we can finally live our lives together.”
Curtis blew a breath, his voice shaking a little when he spoke. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Lina wrapped her hands around the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. “Count on it.”
“Be careful,” Curtis said as Lina and Kate headed to the door. “Both of you.”
Kate Bishop threw a flirty smile at him. “Don’t worry, handsome. We’ll be fine.”
When he’d learned Kate was Ken’s right hand, he’d expected Kate to be a little geekier. But boy, did he learn not to assume anything about the women of B&Y.
She looked like she could break him in half. Even in her all-black outfit, he could see the muscle definition on her arms, shoulders, and legs. And to top that off, she had an infectious smile and a pair of green eyes set off by deep dark brown hair.
Whereas Lina was almost aloof, Kate had no qualms about asking him to sign a Canis Major album she’d brought. She kinda reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t figure out who.
“We’ll stay in touch through Bill,” Lina assured him and nodded toward the man who would stay with Curtis while Lina was away.
Curtis nodded but felt like a child being babysat. But he couldn’t argue with Lina anymore.
Sometimes you gotta compromise.
He had to learn something from his friends, who were in great relationships. He might not show it, but he’d quietly observed how they had good days, just okay days, and bad days. But they all made each other happy.
Kate opened the door, but Lina hesitated to follow her out. She rushed back to Curtis and planted a firm kiss on his lips.
“I love you,” she said.
Curtis couldn’t prevent the stupid, happy smile on his face. “I love you.”
“I’ll see you later.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
As fast as she’d come to him, she left the apartment. Bill closed and dead-bolted the door. He turned and looked at Curtis, no expression revealing his thoughts.
Only reaching a little past Curtis’ shoulders, Bill wasn’t exactly a big guy. But Curtis could see the bulk on his back and arms.
Totally a gym bro .
“So, Bill, what should we do now?” Curtis asked as he looked around Lina’s apartment. She had a chess set sat on a small table and two chairs by a window.
Lina and I should play sometime.
He glanced at Bill, but the dude didn’t show interest in a chess game. Too bad Lina didn’t have a video game console.
“How about a card game?” Curtis suggested when he found a deck of cards on a shelf near a framed sketch of Lina, which he recognized as Brandon’s handiwork.
Bill just shrugged.
Sighing, Curtis settled in the sofa, turned on the TV, and started going through the movies in a streaming app. Bill settled in a reading chair.
“I’d watch a movie,” Bill finally said.
“Great.” Curtis muttered.
“Hey, they have ‘Witness.’ Great movie. Haven’t seen it for ages,” Bill said.
Curtis glanced at Bill and nodded approvingly. He loved anything with Harrison Ford, so he clicked and played the 1985 movie.
“I think we’ll get along okay, Bill,” he said as he settled back into the couch and tried not to worry about Lina.