One Night Stand novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: After Hours

"Thursday," the fixer said. "I'll call with a place. Somewhere crowded."

"I'm bringing him," I said, and I hung up before the man could object.

By eleven that night the card was in a laptop on the fortieth floor of the Kincaid Tower.

Mateo's security man was copying the two hundred and eleven frames onto three drives.

When he left, two drives were locked in the safe behind Mateo's desk, and the third was in his own coat.

The card went back in my pocket, and the floor went dark and quiet.

I stood at the glass wall of Mateo's office with the whole city lit below me.

I could see the steps where I had been dragged backward, small and gray and empty.

"Don't look at them," Mateo said behind me.

"I can't help it."

"I know."

"You said you were angry at the man who let them."

"I am."

"Show me."

He crossed the carpet without a sound.

He stopped a breath away, close enough that I felt it on the back of my neck.

"I don't want to be gentle tonight," he said.

"Then don't."

"I mean it, Callie. I've been polite for three weeks, and I'm tired of it."

I turned around.

His eyes were black and very steady.

"No lies," I said. "That was the rule. Tell me what you want."

"I want you against that glass."

My mouth was dry.

"I want to hear you say my name where Preston can hear it, in the building he's been trying to take."

"Then take me there."

He kissed me hard enough to hurt.

I got my hands into his hair and pulled.

He made a sound in his throat that went straight through me.

He had my back against the glass before I knew I had moved.

Keep reading free with an account. Start One Night Stand from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.