Free Gaming for Keeps (Entangled Ever After) by Seleste deLaney

her off. But he had no choice.
    “Great. And what do you expect me to do?”
    His aggravated response must have been more than enough for Trevor. Hell, the guy had already said more than he normally did to Cal in a week. “We talked about lifting one, but Marissa isn’t sure her pickpocketing skills are up to snuff anymore. Marron wants you to crack into Takamaki’s servers, says that’s our best bet.”
    And Marron was right. They needed a forgery and a damn good one. As much as Cal had hoped to spend the day getting to know Pen, dozens or even hundreds of lives hung in the balance. Even though he couldn’t explain why he had to work, he hoped she’d understand and they could figure out a way to get together later. As it was, he needed to get to work now if he had any hopes of creating tickets for them.
    “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.” He thumbed off his phone and tossed it on the couch so he didn’t end up chucking it at the desk. Some vacation, and now he had to send the amazing woman in his bed back into the con none the wiser, because telling her would put the mission at risk.
    Pen’s voice was quiet when she spoke—small. “Who was that?”
    Judging by her tone, he’d obviously done a bang-up job of hiding his irritation. And how the hell was he supposed to answer her question? There would hardly be a “coding” emergency on a Saturday that no one else could handle. Plus, she might see him around the con while he tried to sort things out for the night. His mind ran through lies, hunting for one that would be the least destructive to whatever they’d started building yesterday.
    He had nothing. Some spy he made; he couldn’t even come up with one simple excuse for a woman who wouldn’t be looking for deception. Maybe she’d let work pass after all. “That was the office. I have some stuff I need to take care of. I’d really hoped to spend the day with you…”
    Her lips twitched into a halfhearted smile that faded even as he watched. “It’s okay. I understand. Sometimes life gets in the way of fun. There’s this thing later tonight. If you want to get together for that, I can leave my number and—”
    The words registered in his brain, but Cal was already shifting into work mode. The sooner he figured this out, the sooner Takamaki was in custody and everyone would be safe. Pen would be safe. With his mind on that rather than the tiny lies he’d told so far, he blurted out, “I’ve got it.”
    She didn’t say anything for a moment, and he wondered which front company would allow him easiest access to Takamaki’s network. Then Pen stood, dragging the sheet with her. “Okay. Great. I’ll just…get out of the way, then.”
    In the quiet of the room, he heard her shuffling around in the sheet, gathering her things. He managed to hit pause on his brain long enough to walk over, sweep her hair back from her face, and brush a kiss across her lips. “I’ll call you later, no matter what happens with work.” Because if things go badly, I want to get you the hell out of here. “Why don’t you keep the shirt? It looks better on you anyway.”
    Though she didn’t say anything, her nod told him she’d gotten the message. He would find her again when this mess was over. And hopefully that would be sooner rather than later.
    “I’ll call as soon as I can.” For the moment, though, he had a convention full of people to save, including the most amazing woman he’d ever met. One way or the other, he was going to keep her out of harm’s way.
     

 
    Chapter Seven
    You Give Love a Bad Name
    In the harshand sober light of day, Pen felt stupid walking through the halls in her tiny leather skirt. Actually, she wasn’t even sure why she bothered with it. Cal’s shirt more or less covered the thing anyway. Weird how it seemed dirtier than if she’d just been in the skirt.
    As good as he’d made her feel by asking her to stay…she felt just as dismissed now. Maybe Cal really did have some