She’d seen him ticked. She’d seen him in the throes of passion. She’d even seen him juiced on adrenaline. What she hadn’t ever seen from him was concern. He was always in control. But here, now, his brow furrowed in serious thought, her tough-guy thief was looking a little worried.
And it set her nerves on edge. The fact he wasn’t volunteering information only made her more suspicious.
“Sit down, Sullivan. You’re starting to stress me out.”
He stopped, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he chewed on his lip a minute, then finally turned—careful, she noticed, to keep his eyes down as he dropped onto the bench next to her. “So I think it’s safe to say we’re back at square one.”
Back at square one. He was strategizing. She could understand that. He was a guy after all, always thinking a step ahead. Hell, one of them needed to strategize at this point.
“Okay,” she said cautiously, glancing sideways. His jaw flexed, relaxed, but he still didn’t meet her gaze. Her eyes narrowed on his tense profile, studying him closely. He didn’t look like he was strategizing. He looked like he was stressing.
He leaned forward, braced his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands in front of him. “Right. So I think it’d be a good idea if we split up for the time being. No reason to stick together at this point, not until we get some major research done.”
“Research,” she said, still watching him.
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Probably a good idea if we lay low for a while, all things considered. If I were you, I don’t think I’d go back to your parents’ house or your place in San Francisco, at least not right now. You’ve got friends, right? Be a good time to go visit them. When we’ve got something, we’ll hook up. Or e-mail.”
“E-mail,” she said slowly. “Now there’s a novel idea.”
“Right.” He braced his hands on his thighs as if it had all been settled, and stood. “So that’s decided.”
“Um. I don’t think so.” He finally turned and looked at her, eyes dark and serious. Oh, yeah, now it made perfect sense. Her blood pressure shot up. Suddenly what they’d just been through seemed small potatoes compared to what he was about to do to her. “You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”
“Lisa—”
“We made a deal, and I’m not leaving until we’re finished.”
“I don’t think you get it.”
“No, I get it. I get it really well. We lost Doug’s research, hit a dead end with Landau, and now you want to dump me and go after Tisiphone on your own. Well, tough. You’re stuck with me.”
“Carajo. It’s not about Tisiphone.”
“Oh, no?”
“No. Look. Those were the two guys from last night. They’re following me. It’s not gonna take ’em long to figure out who I’ve been hanging with. The best idea all around is for you to take off for a while.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nice try.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll give you Alecto, okay?”
“You have it on you?”
“No, I don’t have it on me. But I’ll get it for you if you’ll just promise to go.”
He was serious. She could see it in his frantic eyes. He wanted her gone, and not because he was looking out for his own ass. What had happened earlier had more than shaken him.
That burst of anger faded. She dropped her arms. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here?”
He tossed his arms up and turned away from her. “Ave Maria purísima. You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
“Now that one I could translate. I didn’t realize you were so religious, Slick.” When he only glared at her, she flashed a smile, hoping to ease the tension in his features. “Ever notice you speak Spanish when you’re pissed or you’ve got sex on the brain?”
He obviously didn’t think her words were funny, because he muttered something she couldn’t quite hear, something that didn’t sound all sweet and sexy from where she was sitting.
“Look,” she said, rising and stepping toward him. “I’m not leaving. So let’s not even go there.” When he glanced away, she moved closer to get his attention. “They saw me, too. I’m in this as much as you are.” And if she was right, she’d been in it a lot longer than he had.
“So go somewhere else. Take a friggin’ vacation. Just back off this for a while.”