Page 73 of My Fallen Saint

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Is there any chance at all you’ll tell me what got under your skin earlier tonight?”

I ask the question as he’s signing the bill for our drinks, and he looks up sharply before returning his attention to the tab. He whips off his signature, pushes the folio aside, then meets my eyes, his expression stony. “No.”

I nod. I expected the answer. But I can’t imagine the Alex I knew losing his shit the way I saw Devlin in the room earlier. And as for Devlin Saint … well, until I heard his curses and the shattering of glass, I never imagined that a scenario existed that could send him off the rails.

“You can talk to me, you know. I mean, we can extend the Vegas parameters to include talking if you need to vent. I’ll even lockdown secrets.”

His features soften and he presses his hand over mine. “Thank you,” he says. “The answer’s still no, but thank you.”

I make a show of shrugging it off, but I can’t deny I’m disappointed. Not because I’m desperate for gossip, but because I loved our talks, and his silence is just one more reminder of how much things have changed.

He pushes back from the table, and I follow suit, only to freeze when I catch a glimpse of red hair behind a crowd of people stumbling drunkenly past us. A second later, my instinct is confirmed correct. Anna.

I know I shouldn’t be irritated, but it’s the middle of the night, and all I want is to get back to the room, lose myself with Devlin in a ceremonial sealing of our newly-forged deal, and then enjoy the blissful sleep of the very well-satisfied.

Anna is not a welcome part of that plan, and from the look on Devlin’s face, he’s with me on that.

“Problem?” he asks as she reaches us. His body is tense, his head cocked just slightly. He looks like a man prepared for the worst, and not for the first time tonight I wonder what happened. Was there another trafficking incident? Did a rescue mission fail?

Anna’s eyes dart to me, her mouth slightly twisted. And even though Devlin has told me they’re not having a thing, I can’t help but wonder if her displeasure is tied to seeing me.

When she speaks, though, I feel like an unreasonably jealous fool. Because not only do I have no claim on Devlin, but also because she’s clearly here for a business-related reason—and one that has her up and working in the middle of the night.

“Those, um, server leaks you were concerned about,” she says. “We were able to review some of the, um, interconnected network feeds. And that enabled us to identify the source.”

“Well, that’s some good news at least. Can you tell if the information has spread?”

Her lips compress as she shakes her head. “It doesn’t appear to be an issue. But it wouldn’t be immediately obvious.”

“Of course. But identification is a solid first step. Give the team my thanks and kudos, and tell them I’ll message them personally in the morning.”

“Will do. Are you—” She cuts herself off with a shake of her head.

His brows rise. “I’m fine. I appreciate your concern. Security incidents of this kind are bound to occur on occasion. We’ll deal with them as we do with everything. One step at a time.”

She inclines her head. “Of course. Goodnight, Devlin. Ellie.” She flashes an icy smile at me, though its chill is probably my own jealous projection.

Devlin takes my arm, his grip on my elbow a bit tighter than needed as we head toward the elevator.

“Security hack?” I ask as we ascend to our floor.

He releases my arm and rubs his temples. “Something like that. A potential mess, but as I told Anna, we’ll lock it down.”

“You told me you weren’t sleeping with her.”

He turns to me, clearly irritated. “And we’re not.”

“Sorry. It’s none of my business.” I mean it, too. I don’t know what prompted that clingy, bitchy comment.

“Then why did you say it?”

I follow him to our door, all the while wishing I could call back the words. Alone downstairs, we’d been fine. Hell, more than fine in a bit of post-coital haze that had morphed into a time-limited friends with benefits deal that I was happy to get behind. As far as I’m concerned, sex equals closure, and I’m ready to ride that train.

Now, though, we’ve jumped tracks, and I have only my own stupid jealousy to blame.

He’s looking at me, his keycard unmoving in his hand as he waits for me to answer. “Honestly, I don’t know. The way you two talk. There’s an intimacy.”