Page 75 of Double Shot
I found Conan in the sitting room, on one end of a settee, sipping tea from a fine china cup one of his books open in his hand, waiting for me.
This was our thing. I would lay back, my own book in my hands, my head on a pillow in his lap, and we would just read and cuddle. Kyle thought it was adorable, and almost always snapped a picture of us when he caught us at it and I loved that.
Without a word, Conan set one of the velvet pillows from the settee in his lap when I’d selected one of my new books from the low marble table top in front of him. I laid down, and he put his free arm around me, his hand between my breasts just resting there.
I smiled and opened my book, hesitating before I started reading when whatever it was that’d been percolating in my mind finally rose to the surface…
Conan Roan had bested the Chess King of Indigo City and not two hours before,Ihad bested Conan Roan…
“Oh,” I uttered and closed my book as my epiphany completed itself…
“What is it, Poppet?” Conan asked, setting his own book aside.
“I think I’m ready,” I said and looked up at him. He smiled, and it held both wisdom and pride. I felt my brow wrinkle and asked, “You knew?”
“Of course, we did,” he said with a nonchalant shrug. “There’s no need to rush things with the Escadrille so firmly rooted at the moment.”
“So, what? You were just waiting for me to come into my own or figure it out naturally for myself?” I asked.
He winked at me and I laughed, and suddenly I realized what all this low-key restlessness I’d been experiencing the last several days was from. It wasn’t anxiety or reluctance at all – quite the opposite. It was eagerness,readiness.I was ready to be on the move and for whatever our next step was going to be.
The electronic sound of a phone taking a picture came from the doorway and I turned my head, Conan looking up.
“Hello, you two. Have a nice afternoon?” Kyle asked.
He came in, tucking his phone back in his pocket and I smiled.
“Yes,” I said, turning my head in Conan’s lap and tipping it up. Kyle put his hand to the back of the settee and leaned way down and kissed me, an almost chaste press of lips. On his way back up he winked at Conan and asked, “You want one too?”
Conan arched a brow and said, “I’d feel left out, mate,” calling Kyle’s bluff. Kyle pecked Conan on the tip of his nose and Conan pushed him away laughing. “You bloody sod!” he cried and Kyle bounced his eyebrows at me. I giggled.
“So?” he asked, lifting my feet and depositing himself beneath them on the other end of the plush, velvet piece of furniture. “What’d I miss?”
My eyes practically rolled into the back of my head as he pressed a thumb into the arch of one of my feet, down low, near its start at the heel. I let Conan fill him in.
“Well, it would seem our Poppet passed her tracking and shadowing a mark flawlessly this morning,” Conan announced. “A test I hadn’t even thought to give her quite yet.”
“You got him?” Lach asked, and I nodded in Conan’s lap and almost immediately regretted it.
“Well done!” he crowed and took his hand off my foot to hold it up for a high five. I high-fived him back and set my hand back down on my book on my stomach so it wouldn’t slide off.
“Walked right into The Black Watch like she owned the place,” Conan agreed and chuckled. “Didn’t even know she was behind me.”
“I did,” I agreed. “And I don’t own theplaceI was there for my king.” I threaded my fingers through Conan’s and he chuckled.
“What else did I miss?” he asked. We recapped the rest of our day and he nodded.
“So, we’re ready for phase two or whatever,” he said and Conan laughed.
There weren’t really any phases to any of these things. At least not yet. We needed more plans for that.
“I think so,” I murmured. “Don’t stop that.”
Kyle laughed at me and said, “Wouldn’t dream of it, just give me your other foot.” I did as he told me and sighed out in bliss. Conan petted my hair.
“So, what’s next, Captain Roan?” Kyle asked with a sigh.
“Next, we take the fight to them.”
