Page 59 of Sweet Deception

All I know is that I smell bacon, and I need it.Badly.

As I blink, the bedroom comes into focus, midday light brightening the space. For the first time, I notice how the room is bowed out and built like a semicircle. It’s charming, unique.

Yawning, I stretch my arms and legs and roll over until my face is buried in the sheets. I inhale deeply, and Darren’s scent crawls up my nose. Images rush through my mind.

Last night. The sex we had.

The computer. The decryption.

Drag racing until dawn.

Are these really snapshots of my life from the past twelve hours? It doesn’t seem possible.

I sit up to go over everything in detail. The decryption…

Of course, the first thing I did once I’d stolen Darren’s phone data and finally decrypted it was study everything.

In the end, though, I found nothing.

Literally nothing.

No trafficking trails from the two women who worked at their clubs that linked directly back to the Irish Kings. No suspicious transactions. Nothing to suggest the Kings were incahoots with the cops to kill Lucy’s case. In fact, nothing about Lucy at all. The stolen files contained only mundane business records and personal messages.

Which means, not only did I go to Vegas, infiltrate a high-profile mafia wedding, and sleep with a dangerous enforcer, but I did it all for nothing.

Relief swept through me when I didn’t uncover anything to suggest Darren was involved in Lucy’s kidnapping. Craving the touch of a man who harmed someone close to me would’ve killed me. Instead, I’m falling for a run-of-the-mill mob enforcer who has probably kidnapped plenty of other people. Somehow, that seems to be the upside in all this.

Along with the relief, a sour creep of guilt has snaked its way into the pit of my stomach. Was I a crusader doing her job to find out everything she could? Yes. Was I also a backstabbing traitor violating Darren’s privacy and trust? Yes, absolutely.

Not that he trusts me.

But after last night…I’d be lying if I said things didn’t seem different between us.

The sex wasn’t the same as that first night…and then he took me to his usual haunt.

I bite my lip at the memory of him in his natural habitat, behaving like a normal man. Just another rebellious racer.

I can admit—at least to myself—that witnessing that carefree side of him was attractive. Who am I kidding? Seeing him in his element was hot as hell. Watching that car fly down the road, knowing Darren was behind the wheel, reminding myself that those hands aren’t just good at handling hairpin turns…

And if I’m being honest, I was a little bit honored that he let me see him that way.What am I saying?

I jump out of bed too fast and get a little dizzy as I pad to the bathroom. Climbing into the shower, I try to wash the crazy off. It doesn’t work. Even once I’ve toweled dry, roped my hair intoa ponytail, and braided it up, all I do is climb into more clothes that smell like him…thrusting my mind right back to him.

His hands all over me. His mouth on mine. His eyes?—

My face burns. I slap both my cheeks a few times. This is ridiculous.

What? One crazy night with my kidnapper, and now I’ve got a crush?

After I’ve fidgeted with my appearance for a few more useless minutes, my stomach grumbles loud enough to make me self-conscious again, so I head for my bedroom door.

I pause with my hand on the knob.

When we got back from the Hub, I was so tired I came straight up here and fell into bed. I don’t even know if Darren locked me in.

But the knob turns easily, opening right up.

In the back of my mind, a little voice wonders if he trusts me more than I think.