Page 98 of The Maverick
Vanessa stared at me for a while as a small smile slid onto her lips. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Kiss me.” I pursed my lips. “Do all the things you want to me. But seriously, you don’t have to give me an answer right now about us dating. Think about it.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “So you want to be my official boyfriend instead of my fake husband?”
“I don’t want anything fake with you.” I smiled. “We’ll let our friends know the fake marriage has dissolved and we’re dating. Emmanuel is dead, but the people behind his death areextremely dangerous. For now, we’ll let the world believe you’re still married to me until the chaos settles, okay?”
I feared The Trogyn or the CIA would hurt Vanessa regardless of whether she was married to me or not. The game had become more perilous. I knew my enemies would target her first to get to me, so the closer she stayed to me, the safer I could keep her.
Her eyes sparkled. “What do you want for the contract breach?”
“For you to paint me in the nude.”
She grinned. “How did you know I’d thought of that?”
Oh, she had no idea what I was referring to.
I ran a finger down her cheek. “I want you to paint me whileyou’renaked.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.
Before she could say anything, I kissed her.
“You’ve got a weird kink, Whistler.”
“It all started because of you, Lily Pad.” I returned my attention to the painting. “Who’s the customer for this one?”
“Promise not to tell anyone?” she asked with pride in her eyes.
“I promise.”
“The First Lady, Madeline Claude-Collins.”
“Wow. That’s fantastic. They tried to stealHope in Bloomfrom me, but I outbid them by one million dollars. That painting is mine. Just likeyou’remine.”
When she threw her arms around me and squeezed, I knew her answer was yes.
She grinned when my stomach growled. “Let’s go eat.”
“How’s Sam? Were you able to question him?”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh, my god. What happened?”
I briefed her on the situation as we ate. “I don’t want you to worry about anything, okay? I need to talk to the boys, so it’s going to be a long night.”
She nodded. “I’ll work on my painting.”
“Can you give me more details about your mom’s case? I’ll have a team review it.”
She looked at me for a moment, debating over something.
I frowned. “You don’t trust me?”
“No. It’s not that.” Her lips twisted. “I did something bad. You might not like it.”
“That’s impossible.” I placed down my chopsticks. “What is it?”
