The Mogul and the Muscle - Claire Kingsley Page 0,93
least, that’s how I got good at it. I started studying it when I was in the Marines. I wanted to learn it because I thought it sounded tough.”
“Milton Spencer paid for me to go to private school starting in second grade,” I said as we rushed down the hall. “I went to school with Bobby and he bullied me for being tall and for having red hair.”
Jude glanced over his shoulder at Bobby and growled.
“I was messing with you because I liked you,” Bobby said.
“You were a dick,” I said over my shoulder. “He stopped in eighth grade when I grabbed his nuts in front of his friends and squeezed until he apologized.”
“God, you’re amazing,” Jude said, opening the door to a stairwell.
“There’s an elevator,” Bobby said.
Jude’s eyes were hard as solid amber. “Stairs.”
Everyone filed in and we started going down.
“I took the elevator up to save time, but I don’t want to risk us getting stuck if they know we’re in there,” Jude said. “This building is a death trap. And I moved to Miami because I grew up in the Midwest, and once I spent a winter stuck in the Ural Mountains and I never want to shovel snow again.”
I laughed, turning at the next landing to keep going down.
“You really are good in heels,” he said.
“It’s unnatural,” Inda said behind me.
“I wear heels all the time because kids used to make fun of me for being tall. So fuck them.”
“That’s a good reason,” Jude said. “Plus they’re sexy as hell on you.”
He stopped us on a landing and held a finger to his lips. Nicholas and Inda waited on the stairs, Bobby right behind them. Nicholas still carried the skillet, and I had a feeling Bobby knew he’d get whacked in the head if he tried to run. Or maybe he was afraid he’d get shot by one of the Russians.
Jude put his ear to the door, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “We need to wait here for a minute.”
I didn’t ask why. He knew what he was doing.
“My grandparents raised me and they were wonderful,” I whispered, close to his ear. “It was really hard on them, though, because they didn’t expect to be parenting a young child again. But there wasn’t anyone else. I didn’t have any other family. They did their best, but I was alone a lot.”
“What happened to them?”
“They both died the same year. Grandma first. Ovarian cancer. Grandad didn’t last long after she passed.”
He gently touched my face. “Oh, Cameron.”
“That was when I quit my job. I wanted to do something my grandma would have been proud of.”
Eyes locked with mine, he stroked my cheek.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the video,” I whispered. “I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want you to find out.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry I lashed out at you. And you’re not just a job.”
Tears stung my eyes again—damn it, that kept happening—and one slid down my cheek.
He glanced down for a second and when our eyes met again, his were filled with emotion. “I left the CIA because a fellow operative was killed.”
“Oh god, please don’t tell me you lost the love of your life in a tragic mission gone wrong, because there’s no way I’ll ever compete with that.”
“No, I didn’t lose the love of my life. I’m looking at her.”
I bit my lip and nodded.
“His name was Micah Strickland. I’d worked with him for years. It shook me up when he died. I decided I needed a different life.”
I touched his face, feeling his rough stubble against my palm. “It’s hard to lose people.”
“Yeah.”
“We shouldn’t be having this conversation now, should we?”
His lips hooked in a small smile. “Probably not.”
“I’m in love with you.”
He leaned in and planted a hard kiss on my lips. “I’m so fucking in love with you. We’re going to talk about this later.”
“Yeah.”
“First, I’m going to get you out of here,” he said, clasping my hand again.
We continued downward. Several of the floors were blocked off, the doors boarded up. Another had no door at all, but a pile of debris spilling onto the landing made it impassable. Jude took us down to what I assumed was the ground floor, although most of the floor signs were missing.
“What do we do now?” Nicholas whispered.
Jude leaned close to the door, like he was listening. “We’re going to walk out.”
“You guys obviously have this covered,” Bobby said. “I can take my own car and head home.”