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“Mara fucking Smyth.” She raises her eyebrows. “I mean, Wilson. My bad. What have you been up to?”

“Same old, same old,” she says around a mouthful of pasta.

“How can you fit so much food into such a tiny body?” Tony asks, a mixture of concern and amusement on his face.

Mara shrugs, and I get back to questioning her. “You still after that big pharma guy?”

“Yep, and I’m this close to getting him.” She holds up a pea, speared on her fork. She stares at it as she continues. “I got that job, thanks to you, , and I’ve been working under him for almost a year now. I’m practically invisible to him, so I’ve overheard a lot of sketchy shit, plus I’ve gotten access to a lot of his files. Then, a couple of days ago, he threw a massive tantrum in his office. I don’t know what was wrong, but he stormed out, yelling at me to get the jet ready.”

“Where was he headed?”

“No idea. He canceled his entire schedule for the next week.”

Tony isn’t impressed, apparently. “And you think Adley throwing a tantrum is important why?”

Man, Tony is hot as hell, but he’s kind of a dick. I don’t really like the way he’s talking down to Mara like she isn’t the most badass bitch at this table, but I know Mara can handle herself. I try to keep my scowling to a minimum.

She looks over at him with a sly grin that makes my cock twitch. “Because when big, powerful men like Jackson Adley have big, powerful tantrums, they make mistakes. Whatever is happening is big, and he’s distracted. This is our time to strike, I know it.”

Tony grunts. He’s about to use actual words, I think, but his phone vibrates.

“I have to take this,” he says, walking away from the table.

Mara watches him leave, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

“Well, I’m in. I’m always down for you, Mouse.” Yeah, yeah. I’m laying it on thick, but I like the girl, alright? On top of being the smartest person I’ve ever met, she’s fierce and feisty and flawless. I kissed her once, over a year ago, and my dick is still hard.

And it’s not even like I expect anything. While I certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stick my tongue wherever she’d let me, I’m perfectly happy just being in her orbit.

“I hoped you would be,” she says, looking up at me sincerely. “I’m really sorry I ghosted you after…”

“Hey, don’t do that to yourself. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” It was only the best kiss of my life.

“I just? panicked.”

I shake my head at her with a wry smile and a silly bow. “My man-whore reputation precedes me.”

She giggles. “Yeah, you’re probably doing just fine.”

I want to tell her I haven’t been interested in anyone since, that I haven’t dated, fucked, or even kissed another person since the day I pushed her up against a pier and showed her just how hot she made me. She had made some idiotic comment about how being invisible was her superpower, that no one noticed her.

“I notice you,” I said, running my eyes over her body and back up to her eyes.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “If we’d never met, I could walk right in front of you and you wouldn’t notice. I blend into a crowd, I blend into the walls or the furniture. I’m not there. That’s how I get the best information. Because people talk in front of me all the time, not even realizing I’m there.” She shrugged. “It’s a useful skill.”

“There’s no way in hell you could walk past me unnoticed. You may think you’re just mousy, and maybe some blind dumbasses fall for that shit, but you’re all might to me.”

“You have to say that because we’re friends.”

“Are we? Friends?”

“Are we not?”

“We’re whatever you want, Mouse. But most friends don’t want to tear each other’s clothes off.”

The look she gave me was full of disbelief. And then she had the audacity to roll her eyes again and try to change the subject.

So I proved it to her. I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, ran from the shore to the pier, laughing at her kicks and protests. The moment we had the illusion of privacy, I let her down. Her body melded against mine as I slowly lowered her to the ground, feeling every inch of the trail of scorching heat she left wherever her body touched mine.

Once she was firmly on the ground, she looked up at me with searching eyes, fighting to make out some discerning feature in the shadows. Just when I thought she might move away, I went for it. Tilting her head up, I pressed my lips against hers, soft and slow at first, before licking the seam of her mouth. She opened up for me and I swear I felt fireworks go off over every surface of my body the moment our tongues touched. I delved in deeper, wanting to siphon her essence from her like I could make it part of myself.

Lifting her slight frame, I pressed her against the pier, grinding my pelvis into her. A small moan released from her mouth, the vibration of her voice on my tongue spurring me on. Before long, we were practically dry humping, hands roaming, touching, squeezing. I was a little too close to ripping her pants off and burying myself inside her heated body when she stilled.

Her eyes darted around us, as if she’d forgotten where we were. As we caught our breath, I bent down to give her a chaste kiss on the side of her cheek. I attempted a cheeky grin when she looked up at me again, but I was caught off-guard by the worry and sadness in her eyes. That’s not exactly what one expects to see when they’ve been snogging for the past half hour. I had thought she was as into it as I was.

But I was wrong. She straightened her clothes and made her excuses, running away. I tried texting her that night, and the next day, but she made it clear she didn’t want that type of relationship with me or anyone. And then she more or less ghosted me, aside from responding to posts here and there on HackWeb. But outside of our professional relationship, I didn’t exist.

Tony returns to the table, getting my attention and snapping me out of my daydream. “Hey, uh, ? you said you forge documents. They’re good?”

“The best,” Mara answers.

I wink at her, then turn back to Tony. “What do you need, exactly?”

“I need new identities for six people. Five men and one woman.”

“How quickly do you need them?”

“How quickly can you do it?” Why do I feel like this is a test?

Mara is watching us. Probably curious about how we’re going to work together.

If I make these documents for Tony, he kind of has to say yes to helping us, right? I can use this to get Mara what she wants.

“I’ll do it. Give me the info and meet me at my place tomorrow around noon?”

Pausing for a moment, Tony gives me a sharp nod before turning his attention to his phone so we can exchange info. Mara beams at me and I’ve already decided this is worth it.