Page 149 of Mile High Ruin

She gives me a look. “Don’t start.”

“What did she say?”

“She thinks I’m your mistress.”

I stare at her. For several seconds, I have no response.

Then I laugh. Not because it’s funny, but because Nadia has apparently decided subtlety is unnecessary.

Sloane’s eyes narrow. “I’m glad one of us is entertained.”

“She should not have said anything to you.”

“She said quite a lot.”

“I will speak to her.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It is.”

She turns toward me. “Why?”

“Because nobody in this house discusses you like that.”

Something changes in her face.

The quiet between us becomes different.

Closer.

Sloane puts the mug down on the stone ledge. “You’ll defend me to your family, but you still won’t let me leave.”

I don’t answer immediately.

She watches me. “That’s what I thought.”

“You are not here because I enjoy keeping you prisoner.”

“That’s comforting.”

“You are here because somebody used your bag to bring armed men to an airfield, and until I know whether you are still in danger, I’m not sending you anywhere unprotected.”

“You mean anywhere you don’t control.”

“Yes.”

She laughs softly and shakes her head. “You really believe that sounds reasonable.”

“I believe it’s safer.”

“For you or for me?”

“Both.”

Her eyes stay on mine. There’s frustration there, but something else beneath it. The same thing that has always been between us.

I step closer.