Betrayed by Blood by Beth Dranoff

Author:Beth Dranoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

It was daylight, and coffee. Should be safe.

Of course, this was the Agency we were talking about.

“You’ve read the paperwork?”

“Yeah.” I’d skimmed it. Lots of wherefores and heretofores and non-compete clauses that I’d scratched out and initialed on the version I’d printed. Because yeah, sure, I was going to sign away my rights and protections based on one of their boilerplate agreements. I was trusting that way.

Right.

Owain put out his hand for the document and started reading, pausing every minute or two for a sip of coffee. Espresso, no sugar. Tough guy. But then, caffeine wasn’t about the joy for him—it was medicinal, practical, and he’d determined it to be the fastest way between tired and awake.

As he read, I entertained myself with sugar packets and wooden swizzle sticks. I’d gotten the frothiest of café lattes, sprinkled the foam with brown sugar that melts into a crumbled shell, and now I was bored. It was either that or notice new flecks of grey nestled into the red curls cropped short above Owain’s ears. Laughter lines around his eyes etched deeper than before, and a scar the size of my thumbprint under that jawline I used to be able to trace from memory in the dark. The way my chest clenched when he glanced my way. How part of me still waited for him and wanted him back even though I knew we weren’t right together anymore.

Better to build forts out of paper, sugar and disposable cutlery.

I had a good bridge system going and was working my way up to a crystalline catapult defense when Owain put the stack of paper down again.

“Have you looked over the job?” If he noticed what I’d been doing, he opted to keep his opinions to himself. “You’re briefed on the target?”

“No.” Whoops. Should I have broken the seal? “I thought we had to settle terms before I was privy to those kinds of details.”

He chuckled, took a sip of his murky caffeination to cover it.

“I forget that you’ve been gone awhile and need to get your clearance levels back,” Owain said. “You’re right—even if you tried to break the seal, all you’d see would be a supermarket flyer PDF. I’ve got to put this through first.”

“Does this mean you’re my handler?” Yeah, that would work well. My ex knowing all the quirky details of my current life circumstances. “Or are you just my first point of contact?”

“Higher ups are still working that out,” he said, meeting my eyes. Evaluating. My own eyes looking back at him were cool, or at least I hoped they were but who knows. Could we work together again? Really? Someone somewhere thought this was a good idea?

“Any higher up in particular?” Don’t say Ezra don’t say Ezra don’t say Ezra.

“Was there someone in particular you thought would care?” Owain’s voice was deceptively even. I knew his tells the way he knew mine—he was fishing for any triggers I may have developed in the lapsed years between us.

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