Fight Like You've Never Lost (Summer Lake #14) - S.J. McCoy Page 0,33
You had some fun, and I’m not saying you can’t have any more, but a different chick, okay? Pussy’s easy enough to find, especially for a young buck like you.”
Ryan nodded, even though his fingernails were cutting into his palms from the effort of not swinging for the bastard. Leanne wasn’t just pussy.
Callahan laughed. “Oh, Jesus! She’s gotten to you?”
Ryan shrugged.
“I told you. You don’t need the complication. We’re here to do a job.”
“And I’m doing it. I don’t see why having a girlfriend would be a problem. In fact, it’d seem perfectly normal, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not saying you’d blow your cover. I’m saying you’d be distracted.”
“Yeah.” Ryan knew better than to argue. Callahan was right anyway. There was no room in his life for a relationship. Once the semester ended, they’d move on. He’d have this cryptography class under his belt and the most likely scenario was that he’d be on another overseas posting. Callahan knew what was best—hell, so did Leanne. He just needed to catch up and admit that they were both right.
“Are we good?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Well. I heard from our contact at the Bureau and you’re going to take a little trip to Sacramento this week.”
Ryan frowned. “Sacramento? Not here?”
“You need to get the hang of this, Grasshopper. San Francisco is business; Sacramento is politics. You don’t get one without the other. Manny will fill you in on everything you need to know.”
“Manny Alvarado?”
“Yep. He’s the assistant special agent in charge there now.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “It’ll be strange to see him back stateside. Last time I ran into him was Colombia.”
“Yeah. It’s worked out well. Patrick Palmer wanted Manny as his second-in-command. Manny had wrapped up the banking deal in Cartagena. So, we now have two guys in our corner who have the background and insider knowledge we need.”
“Okay. When am I going?”
Callahan smirked at him. “I figure you could wait until Friday.”
“Okay.”
~ ~ ~
Leanne glared at herself in the mirror. “Get over it!” she admonished herself. She was going to be late for class if she didn’t go soon. Clothes were strewn all over the bathroom floor. This was her fourth outfit of the morning. She was being stupid, and she knew it.
Okay, so this would be the first time she saw Ryan again. Cryptography class was at nine, and she really was going to be late if she didn’t go now. She hadn’t seen him yesterday. She hadn’t seen Dan either. It was going to be weird facing them both this morning. She hoped that Ryan would have told Dan what had happened between them. She didn’t want to. She also hoped that he would have explained that they were going to go back to the way things were between them. She didn’t know if he’d explain why. Would he be able to tell Dan what he wouldn’t tell her—about what his story really was?
Dan knew her story. It was part of the reason they’d become such good friends. Leanne trusted him. She felt safe with him. Not in the same way she did with Ryan. There’d never been anything between her and Dan. Dan was a good-looking guy. He left many a nerd-girl swooning in his wake. But he wasn’t Leanne’s type—not just in looks, but in personality. He was too … she didn’t know what—and she didn’t need to stand here thinking about it. What she needed to do was get her ass into gear and get to class.
It didn’t take her long to get to campus. Her heart was racing as she walked down the hallway, and it wasn’t because she’d power-walked her way here. It was because … Her heart slammed to a halt when she saw him. Oh, God! How was she supposed to forget about him? How was she supposed to forget about last weekend and everything they’d shared? He turned as if feeling her gaze on him. His gorgeous blue eyes locked with hers, and then he smiled, and a warm fuzzy feeling spread through her chest.
She swallowed hard and raised her hand in a little wave before pulling it back down to her side. She’d told him she’d be back to her usual cold-bitch persona, and here she was blushing and waving. She’d have to work on that—later. For now, her feet were carrying her toward him, and her smile refused to be dimmed.
“Hey.”
She closed her eyes and let the sound of his voice wash over her. He had such a sexy voice.