Billie Bossa Nova

23.

"It appears your meeting with Kayden Klide went well?"

Billie sneered at Finneas. "Of course you watched the whole thing." She crossed her arms and fell back on his apartment coach. "How did you even manage to hack the Corner Kisses CCTV, I thought Klide was like tight with his security."

"Oh, he is. But nothing is impossible for me, really." Billie rolled her eyes at him. He grinned. "Anyway, it'll be good to have eyes on what happens there."

"Keep me posted."

"Will do. By the way, I sent some of the information you gathered to Quincy to report our progress. You've done well in this span of time. I need more stuff like that recording you got of Storm and Adan, if you may."

"You got it. Anything else?"

"No," he shook his head. "How has it been living with the Riveras?"

"Adan and Julianna basically don't live there and Kai..." is provocatively hot to the point where I can barely look at him without wanting to squash my lips into his face. "...is just like any spoilt annoying rich boy."

Finneas found interest in his laptop again, as if he had been asking casually and not really because he cared. Billie watched him as he focused on the screen as if nothing else beyond it mattered in his life.

"Hey, Finneas?"

"Yeah?" He didn't even glance at her.

"Have you ever wanted to just let loose during a mission? Like, act guiltlessly reckless without thinking of the consequences?"

"Fuck no!" he snorted. "Reckless behavior in an assignment is bound to either get you killed or caught. Never worth the risk."

"Not even a crush?" She so badly wanted to relate to someone, anyone. To know that she was not the only one to have crossed the line like she did with Kai during this assignment. That she was not a disgrace or a failure. Knowing that Finneas of all people might also have made that mistake would placate the concrete guilt weighing down on her shoulders. To her utter dismay, Finneas spun on his chair, frowning towards her.

"No," he said. "A crush should remain just that. Any persuit could lead to-"

"A risk to the mission, yeah yeah," Billie interrupted. She couldn't hide her exasperation. Of course Mr. Perfect had never done anything in the littlest that could even remotely jeopardize a mission. It was stupid of her to ask him in the first place.

"What's this about?" Finneas' frown was now deepened, eyes narrowing.

Billie shrugged, putting away every emotion that was once there. "Nothing. I was just curious. So you've never thought of settling down with someone?"

Finneas relaxed a bit, seeming to believe her. Then he said, "I mean, of course I have. I just knew it wouldn't be with a normal person. Probably with another agent, be it CRO or the FBI or CIA doesn't really matter. So long as we both understand this field of work."

"But what if you did end up with someone who isn't an agent?"

"It would never work out. I would have to lie to her, which I won't be able to do, especially if I end up falling for her. And if I tell her the truth, she would either reject my lifestyle and CRO would have to kill her or become part of CRO, meaning even if I break up with her, she'd still be forced to stay since she found out about the organization. Too complicated."

Billie sighed. "Probably. So you'd have to choose your love interest wisely, huh?" She sure as hell didn't. Not that Kai was a love interest. That was too strong a word. Maybe a crush, one that she could get over if she stayed away from long enough. She had been doing so for the past three days, which made work so tense not even a knife could cut through the thick air. Kai was strict on not mentioning home issues at work, even for himself, and she had used that to her advantage. She didn't want to talk about the night at the shower and she ensured to avoid Kai so that that didn't happen.