Page 76 of The ARC Unit: Breach

“Surprised. You avoid parties unless someone important is miserable.”

Kade just smirked.

A blonde woman in a bronze bikini joined us from the other side and kissed Luca on the cheek before greeting Kade with the familiarity of someone who had seen him before. Nobody introduced him and nobody seemed to find that strange.

Luca gestured toward me instead. “Oh, this is Mia Morgan. American money with American opinions.”

“That’s becoming a very unfair summary of my career,” I giggled toward Luca.

“You told me I overcharge.”

“You do.”

The woman laughed.

Kade looked at me, and the party seemed to fall away in the space between one breath and the next. His eyes looked green, clearer than any photograph had ever managed, and they moved across my face and hair before settling back on mine with a stillness that made the skin along my arms tighten. My stomach lurched, the nervous flutter in it souring into nausea almost immediately.

I made myself smile and tilted my head, trying to act natural. “Nice to meet you.”

Kade answered briefly in Serbian. My pulse struck hard once against my throat and I responded in whatever Serbian I remembered in that moment.

Luca glanced between us.

Kade’s expression changed so slightly that anyone who was not already looking directly at him would have missed it, a tiny pull near one corner of his mouth and something in his eyes opening before it closed again.

Raven’s voice came through my ear, energized by the access. “Good. Keep him talking. Trying to pinpoint an accent.”

Wolf said nothing.

Luca laughed. “You speak Serbian too?”

I dragged my attention away from Kade. “Enough to embarrass myself internationally.”

“How many languages do you have hidden?”

“Depends how drunk everyone gets.”

The blond woman raised her glass. “Finally, a useful skill.”

Kade did not laugh.

He kept watching me until Luca asked him something about a man named Emil, and only then did his attention move. The conversation shifted into Italian and this time, I followed without difficulty.

Kade spoke less than everyone else. He listened while Luca complained about a delayed vehicle and a security change that had inconvenienced someone important. When he answered, he had a habit of turning slightly away from me, or lowering his voice just enough that the pool music ate the end of the sentence.

Raven noticed too.

“Audio on him is poor.”

I shifted half a step closer to the group.

Wolf said, “Don’t.”

I stopped, annoyed at how quickly the command worked. Kade looked at me again.

“Di dove sei?”

“N-New York.”