Page 6 of Protecting You
He’d been right. He’d tasted both in her kiss.
Andthatwaswhy he shouldn’t have done it. Because when he was surrounded by enemies, he definitely shouldn’t be thinking about her lips.
Alyssa was glaring at him with that familiar mixture of irritation and confusion. She’d pushed her blond hair behind her ears. Her large, honey-brown eyes were narrowed, her lips pinched, which made her high cheekbones even more pronounced.
It was an expression he knew well. At Boston College, they'd had the same major and often competed with each other—who had the better design, the better grades, the higher class rank? Whenever she lost, she’d wear that same look.
Irritation that he’d bested her. Confusion as to how she could possibly have lost. Determination not to let it happen again.
He’d lived his life to get that look.
He finished the melt-in-your-mouth, tastes-so-good-it-should-be-illegal lobster. If he ordered another, the restaurant would add it to Ghazi’s tab. Callan certainly couldn’t afford it, especially not now that he had Peri to worry about.
He put thoughts of her away. He didn’t want his daughter anywhere near this job, this life he’d built.
And there was a problem he hadn’t figured out how to solve.
Maybe a problem he should’ve considered before he’d hopped to do the bidding of a disembodied voice on the phone. But the voice had told him that Ghazi would be here. And thatsomebodywould be in danger.
Thesomebodyhadn’t been named, but surely whoever had tipped him off had meant Alyssa.
Callan hadn’t worked out who the man behind the voice was yet, but he would. Meanwhile, he was glad he’d followed his instincts and come to the restaurant. Alyssa was involved in something way over her head, and if he knew her—and hedid—she wouldn’t ask for anyone’s help.
“Do you mind?” He nodded to the tomato dish, which she somehow hadn’t finished. Who couldn’t manage to eat four tomato slices and some cheese?
“I’ve lost my appetite.” She deadpanned the words, and he couldn’t help the smile he knew must annoy her to pieces.
He forked the last two slices onto his plate, plopped the remaining cheese on top, and ate.
Wow. It wasn’t lobster, but still. If he could afford to eat like this, he’d have to step up his workouts.
Alyssa said nothing else. Just watched him.
She wasn’t exactly playing along.
He swallowed the appetizer. “I can tell you’re stunned by my looks and charisma.”
“Stunned is a word.”
He swiped his napkin over his mouth to hide a chuckle, then pulled a couple of bills from his wallet, an additional tip for the waitress in case Ghazi was as stingy as he was evil. “You ready?”
“No. I was really hoping to linger and watch you eat a little longer.”
He grinned extra wide at her sarcasm. “You delight me, my bride.”
She scowled at him.
He definitely shouldn’t be enjoying this. He took her jacket—a practical black hooded all-weather design—from the back of her chair and held it out.
She slid her arms into it, flashing him a smile that might have looked genuine from afar.
After she grabbed an oversized leather purse—he spied a silver laptop inside—they headed toward the street-facing exit, avoiding the hotel lobby, where he knew at least one person was watching them. He guessed it was one of Ghazi’s thugs, but it could’ve been an agent, though from which three-letter agency, he didn’t know.
Callan pressed his hand to the small of her back.
She stiffened, but hopefully nobody noticed.
He’d already cataloged everyone in sight. There were at least four people watching, one at the bar, one at a table, ostensibly waiting for a companion, and two in the lobby, who were eyeing each other as much as watching him and Alyssa.
