Page 25 of Run

Ignoring them, Elle moved on to the other more interesting piece of information Harvard had let slip. “Your name is Knight?”

The expression on his face said,Really, we’re going there?

Hell, yes. “Knight? As in champion of the king? Savior of damsels in distress? Fighting the good fight, Knight? Armor and jousting? This. Is. Priceless.”

Laughter bubbled up inside of her, and before she knew it, she was holding on to Ryan’s shoulder while fighting hysterics.

“What am I missing?” Harvard asked, making Elle laugh even harder.

9

“Why are you here, Rachel?” Callum faced off against his frenemy, making Elle nostalgic as she fought to remain calm after finally managing to get a grip on herself.

“Honestly, Callum.” Rachel tossed her long, straight, dark hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at her former partner. “It’s hardly rocket science. Elle’s secret past life has put all of us on her psychopathic father’s radar, and I’d rather not die.”

“I’ve missed this,” Ryan whispered, his voice filled with wonder.

“It’s good to see the parents back together again,” Elle agreed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me for a minute, I have a Knight I need tojoust with.”

Barely containing her glee, she bounced across the room to stand directly in front of David while he caught up with Harvard.

“I see you’ve got someone else who wants to talk to you.” Harvard grinned. “Catch you later, bro.” His big mitt ruffled Elle’s hair. “Go easy on him,” he said before heading over to stand sentry at Rachel’s side. Not so much to protect her, rather more to protect the teamfromher.

Elle grinned at David, who’d folded his arms as if to defend himself against her. Poor, naïve man. Like that would stop her from getting any closer if she wanted to.

“Do you have a suit of armor?” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Is it shiny?”

“Do you still have those fluffy pink cuffs I gave you? Because I’m beginning to think I should use them on you while I spank the sass out of you.”

“Kinky. I like. All this time, I was hunting for you in cyberspace, and all I had to do to find out all your dark, sordid secrets was buy Harvard a beer. I’d be a bit miffed about that if finding out you’re a Knight wasn’t so entertaining.”

“It’s a name, not a title.”

“Methinks it’s a calling, Sir David, knight of the realm. Wanna do some cosplay later? I’ll let you rescue me from a dragon. Or maybe you could pillage my village.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Joe muttered as he walked past.

“So,” Elle said to her spy, “is it your real name, or did you make it up?”

He managed not to roll his eyes, although, she was pretty sure he wanted to. “Blue, I’m a spy—there’s nothing real about me.”

“If I keep digging, will I uncover your real name?”

“Only if you want to attract even more attention than you already have.”

“No. I think I’m good with the amount of attention I’m getting right now. Guess that means I’ll have to think of other ways toteasethe information out of you.”

The heat in his eyes ignited a spontaneous hot flush that made her want to strip to her underwear and fan herself.

“You’re playing with fire.” His voice came out deeper than usual, making her shiver.

“Funny.” She straightened her shoulders and stared him in the eye, issuing a challenge. “I thought I was playing with you.”

“Everybody, sit back down,” Callum ordered loudly. “We’ve a meeting to finish.”

It seemed intermission was over. Callum and Rachel had come to an understanding—for now. With a saucy wink at David, Elle went back to sit beside Ryan and helped herself to the bag of chips he’d produced out of thin air.

Julia took her position in front of the wall displaying her PowerPoint presentation, and at a nod from Callum, she resumed her talk. “As you can see, the main area where all three organizations overlap is drug dealing. If we undermine their business in that area, there’s a very good chance they’ll think it’s a turf war.” She glanced at Joe. “Do people still say turf war?”