Page 13

13

Hex

Aran is being weird. Again.

It keeps happening since we got on the cruise ship, and I haven’t been able to figure out why. My plan to make him jealous of Mong seems to have backfired as well, if the constipated look he has while I deal our four starting cards is anything to go by.

I chew on my lip, cursing my stupid idea. What if this makes him finally cut me out of his life for good? But I got so annoyed watching him flirt with that woman! He’s never done it before, let alone so blatantly. And even if it was because he wanted something from her, he didn’t need to do it to my face. I know I can be a pain in the ass, but he’s stuck around since the start, so I sometimes forget his patience might also have limits.

Still. If there is a way to salvage this mess, it’s by making my plan a success. I’ll wow Aran with my resourcefulness, then give him my puppy eyes, maybe toss an apology and a promise to decrease my alarms to seven instead of ten, and he’s bound to forgive me.

If worse comes to worse, I’ll even temporarily stop trying to get to his mouth or cock. But only temporarily. Like, for a day.

I place the first card face-down and end my turn.

“Drinks after the game, then? Go easy on me, though. It’s been ages since I played anything,” Mong says, placing a card of his own on the table.

Aran is next, doing the same. “Hex is the one you need to look out for. He’s competed in tournaments,” he says flatly and detachedly without even glancing at me.

Yep, something is definitely off. He sounds like this is the last place he wants to be, and like he’s pissed off that we didn’t stay at the pool so he could flirt with the Evil Witch. But we agreed on the plan beforehand, so, really, he has no right to give me this attitude.

“So, Mong, what is it like working in the off-limits areas for all these bigshots?” I ask with a sweet smile, changing the direction of our conversation so smoothly you’d think I’m a real pro at this.

I hear Aran bite down on a groan next to me. Yeah, I really am so good I don’t even need your help. I got this. And I’ll prove it to you tonight so you realize that no one can match up to me.

Mong raises one eyebrow and gives me a strange look. “Why’d you want to know? We aren’t really supposed to discuss these things. It’s in the NDA.”

I scoot closer to him and place a second card face-down. The rules are that you do this three times and then turn them over in a backwards order. The hand with the most points wins unless there are spell cards on the table, at which point you have to read their effects and do what’s required.

“Well… I’m just curious. Mr. & Mrs. Lynx were super nice, so I was wondering if the rest of the guests are too, since I’ll be accompanying the two of them to game night.”

Mong’s eyes cut to my face, swimming with questions. “You are going to game night? They must really like you then. It’s too bad I’m not working tonight.”

“It really is,” I agree. If he had been, then Aran could come with me once Phase Two of my genius plan kicked in.

Dragging his chair a little closer to me as he flips over his second card, Mong tucks a lock of stray hair behind my ear. It was beginning to bother me, and I was about to do it myself.

Everything happens very quickly after that. One second, I’m thanking him as he leans in, and the next, Aran’s hand is pressing against my mouth as I find myself pressed to his strong chest. With his free hand, he’s lifted Mong off the chair and is squeezing his neck. Mong yanks and tries to get free, gagging and gasping as his eyes water and roll back.

I cannot believe this. I’ve never seen Aran do something so impulsive. He never deviates from an agreed plan. He just… He’s not like that. At all. With him, it’s all about being in control, anticipating what your enemy would do and countering it in the most effective way. What shocks me the most though is that in the years we’ve been together and he’s looked out for me, I’ve never seen him get physical like this.

I’m not na?ve to think he hasn’t done it. But it’s usually somewhere out of sight or he leaves the dirty work to his underlings. There is no one like that with us on this cruise, obviously, but such an extreme reaction was uncalled for at this stage of our plan.

So what made him do it?

A few more moments pass before Aran lets go. My potential new friend who won’t want to be friends with me when he wakes up crumples on the chair limply.

“Oh my god! Is he dead?” I slip out of Aran’s hold and rush to check Mong’s pulse. Thankfully, it’s there. I think.

Aran sighs dramatically, rubs his forehead like he was the one who was wronged, and props his ass on the edge of the table. “He isn’t. I simply knocked him out.”

I am pretty sure we were supposed to interrogate Mong first, get as much info as we could out of him, and then make him pass out, but clearly Aran had other ideas.

Heart hammering in my chest, I check Mong’s wrist and neck. After making sure that he is indeed still breathing, I turn around and plant my hands on my hips as I narrow my eyes at the love of my life.

What was this? He’s never acted out like he did just now. He’s smart and collected, always thinking two-three steps ahead. He’d never jeopardize a mission, especially one as important as this one. Too much rides on us getting to the bottom of the drug conspiracy.

“Care to explain yourself? You’re the one who’s always anal about sticking to what we’ve agreed on, and here you are KO-ing the one guy who can help us make the infiltration of this cruise an actual success.”

For the first time ever, Aran appears unsure. Of what to say, of how to justify his actions. It’s written all over his handsome face, where a wild spark still lives in his gorgeous brown eyes. They lock with mine as if they can tell I am staring, and everything sort of stills. The rocking motion of the ship, the buzz from life on the deck above, my surroundings.

“He got too close to you.”

I feel like an electric current has been unleashed within my body, zapping every cell that I possess as I drown in those bottomless dark depths. Aran acted out because Mong was too close to me? He deviated from our plan and went Rambo on the poor guy just because of that?

My heart bursts with satisfaction, dashing madly within the confines of my chest. This has to mean that Aran hasn’t given up on me, right? He hated seeing me being friendly with another man so much so he had to literally come between us.

And he was so hot too, like a wolf protecting his mate. Awooo.

As I sashay my way over to Aran, I can’t stop smiling. His eyes follow me like two laser sights locked on their target, unwavering in their intensity. Heat rushes through me, congregating in my core.

“I wasn’t in any danger. We were just discussing the game. You didn’t need to do anything yet.” The fact that Aran averts his gaze for a heartbeat tells me that he agrees. That he knows he acted out of line. Good.

I plant myself right in front of him. He doesn’t move or push me away. My stomach flips upside down, filling with butterflies and other such bugs.

“I had my professional reasons,” he replies, stroking my cheek. “You let your guard down too easily.”

He better kiss me, because if he doesn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do. “Uh-uh. Yes, sure. That was why, and not because your little reptilian brain got jealous of another man.” He says nothing to that, so we just stare at each other, frozen in the intimate moment. “Don’t worry, I have a solution. Just confess already and kiss me. I’m sure other alpha men will be able to tell I’m taken once we start going out.”

He laughs and pokes me on the forehead. “Enough nonsense for now. We have to secure Mong.”

“Mong wouldn’t need any securing if Mr. Alphahole over here didn’t lose his shit over me,” I point out helpfully as Aran begins patting down our victim.

He comes up with a phone, which he gets unlocked by scanning Mong’s thumb. After a couple of menus and screens, he shifts his attention back to me and hands me the device.

A shit-eating grin the likes of which I’ve never seen gets my heart from calm to frantic in less than a millisecond. It’s so open and beautiful, turning Aran’s attractive face into a masterpiece I will forever remember.

“This might just work,” he says, a flicker of challenge swimming in his gaze. “Mong has access to the roster for the staff responsible for the off-limits area. He can’t make any changes to it, but—”

“Say no more.” I grin back at Aran, our way in already obvious to my brain. “All we need is one person calling in sick, and voila, Mong will be working tonight.”