Page 75 of Fallen Hero

That was, if her reaction to him wasn’t stumbling before she turned to stone in my arms.

“Will you do me the favor and call Shep?”

“Yeah, I’ll call him when we get back to the apartment.”

The drive back to the penthouse was filled with Fallon’s blow by blow of the evening, with Pete interjecting here and there. The general consensus was, Calli was a badass and a verbal ninja. My commentary wasn’t needed, thus I said nothing.

Which was problematic; it gave me time to stew. Not only that, but the unease I’d felt at the end of the night when Amir looked at Calli grew.

Men like him wouldn’t see Calista as a beautiful woman to be cherished and spoiled. They’d look at her as a trophy to be paraded after they had her cowed. They wouldn’t work themselves to the bone to make her happy and feel loved; they’d work to break her.

Thank fuck she wouldn’t have to see Amir again. She’d get her invite and pass the location to Tom and be done.

As soon as Pete let us into the penthouse, Calli made a beeline to the stairs. “I’m going to wash this shit off my face.”

I waited until she made it to the top of the stairs before I announced, “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I bet you are,” Pete mumbled. “I’ll let you know when the team gets here.”

Fuck. I forgot the team had landed and were on their way over.

I had my suit jacket off by the time I hit Calista’s bedroom door. Without knocking, I pushed in, expecting she’d already be in the bathroom. What I didn’t expect was for her to be standing in the middle of the room with her head bowed, deep breathing.

That man was no ex-boyfriend. Unless he’d hurt her, in which case I’d be heading back to the Sky View.

“Who was he?”

She righted her head, and her eyes came to mine.

Flames danced in the blue.

Gone was the sweet, pliant woman who I’d kissed a few hours ago, and back was the woman who’d greeted me in the hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Totally closed off and defiant.

Chapter Eighteen

“Drop it.” Calli’s demand was coupled with a deep frown. Her body language screamed ‘back off or else.’

Fuck that.

“Drop it? You froze when you saw him. Now you’re standing in your room breathing like you just jogged up the forty-two flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator.”

“Fine, Mason, how about this? Who he is, is none of your business.”

“Wrong answer.” I slammed the door and tossed my jacket on her neatly made bed, which brought me within reaching distance of her.

“Mase—”

“Oh, no, don’t Mase me, sweetness. Who the fuck was that?”

She took two steps backward. The retreat would’ve been smart except she’d backed herself against the wall. I followed and caged her in with a palm on the wall above her shoulder.

My advance was the opposite of smart. A fatal error bringing me too close to the sexy woman in her black dress, spiked heels, and that devil-red lipstick, all of which had been fucking with my head all night. Then there was that sultry perfume that wrapped around my senses and grabbed me by the balls.

“Step back.” Her demand came out breathy.

“Not a fucking chance, baby.”