Skullduggery {sapphic thriller}

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

After a night of pleasure, morning came far too quickly. I wasn't even sure I had slept, but somehow I woke up with my arms around Desirae, our bare legs tangled together. I slid her hair away from her neck, breathing in sweet jasmine and amber on her skin. Soft, warm sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, bathing us in its rays. I'd forgotten how good it felt to wake up to someone like this.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her sketch of me from yesterday morning on the nightstand. My arm slid out from under her, careful not to wake her as I slipped out of the bed. I tugged the shorts and shirt she'd given me last night back on, checking that my phone was still safely tucked away in the pocket. Quietly, I flipped the sketchbook to a fresh page and found a couple charcoal pencils in the drawer. I walked over to the chair near the patio door and made myself comfortable. It'd been awhile since I'd drawn from life.

Sunlight roamed over Desirae's body, tracing where my lips had been just hours before as morning continued on without either of us paying attention. I was content to remain in this liminal moment, in the space between sleep and starting the day, anything to distract myself from the looming loneliness of knowing that she'd be leaving soon.

"Come with me," she whispered, catching me off guard as her long lashes fluttered. I hadn't realized she was awake.

"What?"

"Come to DC with me."

"That's just the sex talking." I laughed as I shook my head. "And I thought lesbians were quick to Uhaul."

"Don't make it about us." She pushed up onto her elbows, breaking the pose. "I'm serious. Whatever this is or isn't between us doesn't matter. With everything you know about shady art dealing and its ties to organized crime, I could find you a job. Something legitimate."

"Oh please." I buried my eyes back into the sketch. "I'd never pass background checks or clearances or your little FBI polygraph..."

She waved off those concerns dismissively. "Your background is exactly what they'd be interested in."

My gaze crept up over the edge of the sketchbook to find hers tempting me. "Working with you?"

"I think you'd get sick of me bossing you around."

"I doubt that," I murmured into the book.

Her lips pursed. "I can't say too much right now, but I might be getting transferred to a different department. That's why they want me back tonight. For a meeting."

"Is that a good thing?" I looked at her skeptically, trying to figure out what she wasn't telling me.

"I think it will be, yes."

"I dunno, Des. Me, working for the government?" My phone was practically burning a hole in my pocket as I weighed Desirae's offer against working for Pino again. The latter paid a hell of a lot more, the other sounded like a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork. Both seemed equally likely to result in my early death. "Wouldn't you rather just retire and make art in some coastal town no one's really heard of?"

"Like what you could've had in Favignana? Why'd you give that up to come home?"

"I came home because I heard my naked ass was plastered across the front of a museum," I chuckled softly. Part of me had hoped to find some kind of closure here, but maybe this was all I was going to get.

"You wasted some of your best years behind bars for a woman who didn't love you enough to stand up to her father. But you're still young, Kirby. You've got a second chance to change, to turn your life around. Don't throw it away again."

She had told me the same thing at the museum the other night, but hearing it now, I felt more inclined to believe I might have a chance. There was nothing holding me here, no ties to anyone, but for some reason I didn't feel ready to weigh anchor.