The job is on.
I grinned. “The verdict is in, and I think you’re a nice guy. You’re also my best bet for information about the Infinityglass.”
“So we can continue our search tomorrow?” he asked.
My grin got even bigger. “Actually, I have other plans for tomorrow.”
Because I was excited to see him.
I used to meet Benny at the same entrance when I was a kid. I didn’t want to throw a Benny-shaped shadow over Dune, and I didn’t think I was. Benny had been my friend. Dune was … different.
I wanted to punch myself in my own face. The last thing I needed to indulge in was a crush, especially one that had exploded on me like a shaken champagne bottle.
“Hey, kiddo.” Carl, who’d been head of security for as long as I could remember, stood and brushed biscuit crumbs from his shirt. “Is something wrong?”
“Take a load off,” I said, briefly placing my hand on his shoulder. “I’m waiting for someone.”
“New kid?” He sat, but kept his posture straight and his feet flat on the floor. Ready to jump in front of me at any second, should the need arise.
“We’re going on a job.”
Carl knew exactly what that meant.
“First one for this guy?” When I nodded, he picked up his Styrofoam cup of hot chocolate and took a slow sip. “And you think he’ll be good in the field?”
“We’ll find out. All Dune has to do is take a little trip with me.”
“To where?”
Dune stepped through the door. Raindrops caught in his black hair, and some settled on the shoulders of his navy windbreaker. He looked mysterious, coming in from the outside mist, kind of like a mystical warrior.
Wow. That cheese stunk like Roquefort.
“The Bourbon Orleans,” I said brightly. “One of the oldest hotels in New Orleans. It’s also one of the most haunted.”
He slid his arms out of his jacket and hung it up on a hook by the door before dropping his bag. “Do you believe in that stuff?”
“I can transmutate. Ghosts don’t seem like a stretch.”
Dune cast a quick glance over at Carl, who just smiled.
“Bye, Carl,” I said, kissing him on the cheek.
“Good luck, and be careful.” Carl wiped hot chocolate foam off his upper lip. He was still smiling.
I hooked my arm through Dune’s and led him toward the living room. It was a really nice arm. Strong. Defined. Tan with just a scattering of dark hair.
“You’re pretty open about your ability,” he said.
“Carl’s been around for years. We don’t have extended family. Or friends.” I wasn’t ready to let go of his arm yet, so I guided him toward the stairs and my bedroom. “Dad just hires staff instead.”
“You aren’t tight with the people you work with?”
“Not really. I’m older than Amelia and Zooey.” I wasn’t even going to touch the Poe relationship. “Besides that, it’s me and my dad, and the guards. Are you tight with the people you work with?”
“The Hourglass operates as a family. Our boss encourages it. You care about people; you have their backs when it comes down to the hard situations. I know how hokey that sounds.”
“It doesn’t sound hokey at all. Kind of nice, truthfully.”
“You’re lonely.”
He said it in a gentle tone, and it was an observation, not a question, but I felt like I needed to explain. “I have other people besides the ones I work with. There’s Gina, my dance teacher. I mean, it’s only the two of us, but I see her three days a week. I’ve taken a couple of classes at the theater where she teaches.”
“Dance class and Chronos jobs.” He raised his hand, and for a second, I thought he was going to touch my face. My heart caught in my chest, but he scratched his chin instead.
“What? You don’t like the way I live my life?”
“You have so much to offer, Hallie. The world needs you like nature needs sunlight.”
“That’s … possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He answered with a frown.
Feeling too close and too obvious, I pulled away from him. My body went cold without his heat. He rubbed his arm, like he was missing my warmth, too.
Or I was losing my mind, or something worse.
“Anyway, neither of my parents had big families. So it’s just us.” I walked into my bedroom, looking over my shoulder to see if he’d follow. He hesitated, but he came in. Then I dropped the bomb on him. “How do you feel about staying with me in the hotel this weekend?”
He blinked a couple of times. “Non sequitur much?”
“Sit.” I took the tiny vanity stool, partly from guilt that it was so small it barely supported him, and partly because I wanted to see what he looked like on my bed.
“A hotel?”
“Yeah.” I did a nervous side to side spin. “For a job. We need to retrieve something from the lobby.”
“When your dad hired me, he told me there was a good chance I would end up going on a Chronos job. I think he said many of them were questionable. He never said anything about taking his daughter to a hotel.”
“If you want to bail …”
“No! No, I don’t want to bail.”
My slow grin was answered with an immediate blush.
“I mean, I’m going to do the job. You’re stuck with me. I just … if I’m going to get arrested for a ‘retrieval,’ I should maybe make arrangements for bail ahead of time.”
“No one said anything about stealing. A family donated an antique crystal ball for display, but there was some kind of mix-up, and the hotel got the real thing.”
“Were they supposed to get a copy?”
“Yes,” I said. “The family needs the original back. They can’t waltz in and get it, you see, because they’re respectable now, with political aspirations. None of them wants the public to know what kind of value they place on it, or that it tells the truth about the past and shows the promises of the future.”
“We’re doing a bait and switch, then?”
“Just a switch.” I grinned. “You really don’t know much about breaking the rules, do you?”
He shook his head.
“Well, then. I look forward to teaching you.” I meant it.
Except … every time a Chronos job came up I felt torn. There was a constant pull between the desire to get out of my house and do a job well and the need to define myself beyond Chronos and my father’s expectations. Dance allowed for that, but only within the boundaries of my studio.
Taking Dune on the Bourbon Orleans job was necessary to keep him on Dad’s good side, and to keep him around. While I was the one who suggested he go on the job with me, it had been before he and I had become … whatever we were now.
He was the only part of my life that wasn’t solely connected to Chronos, and suddenly, I didn’t want him to see me in light of what I did there. I didn’t want him to forget the Hallie he’d managed to discover over the past couple of weeks.
And I didn’t want to forget her either.
