Chapter 25

Danielle

I’m beginning to wonder why I’ve never reached out to Janus sooner.

I know, deep down, it was probably pride. But if I had known about how well connected he was like I do now, I would have swallowed that pride a whole lot sooner.

It never hurts to have a large network, especially when they’re not the kind of people you can look up on LinkedIn. And it never ever hurts to know somebody who can get his own chartered jet.

Of course, I always know that Janus has contacts of his own. After all, we only met due to a mutual connection back when I hired him for South Sudan.

But I never imagined the extent of his network would go this far.

I’m sure that between the two of us, we could have contacts at least in every city that we go to, or at least every country.

Janus’ network has so much untapped potential; he can travel from city to city at the drop of a dime and find out information on damn nearly anyone, thanks to his friend, Leviathan.

I wonder for a moment if that was how Janus knew where to find me in Athens and how he knew exactly what hotel room I was staying in.

It’s almost scary to think that Janus knows a person who could access my entire online presence. But I can trust him, and I can trust Janus to look out for me. He tailed me through the streets of Athens when I went to meet with Pandora, so I know that he cares about me even when he said he didn’t.

I miss having that kind of connection with someone in my life.

Being an investigative journalist—especially when you’re a woman in a male dominated industry—you get used to feeling like you can only rely on yourself. Usually, it’s for good reason that I aim to uncover horrible atrocities, and in doing so, I piss off some very powerful people.

I can deal with that fire coming down on my own head, but if I knew I’d hurt someone else because of my quest for the truth, I don’t know how I’d be able to take that.

As we drove through the streets of Istanbul, I’m reminded that Janus can take care of himself. He’s not the kind of man whose hand I’d need to hold as I gently lead him through my dangerous life.

I wouldn’t have to leave him at home, either. I’ve lost count of the number of boyfriends that I’ve had to leave behind in New York, only to find them in another woman’s bed before my plane even lands.

But with Janus by my side, I know that we could do anything. This trafficking ring could be just the beginning—he’s the perfect ally and resource.

“I’m beginning to wonder, Janus, what else you’re hiding from me.”

“Yeah? Why don’t you tell me your suspicions, and I’ll say whether you’re hot or cold?”

“Oh please. We both know that I’m hot.”

Janus tears his eyes from the horizon for a second to look at me and smirk.

I shuffle in my chair and find my mind slipping back to the intense sex we’d just had on the plane. I wonder if I’ll be able to get a repeat performance once we finish settling in here.

“But seriously Janus, you could’ve told me about all these contacts you have sooner. We could’ve used them.”

“We are using them, Dani. My friends have other lives than just waiting around for me to ask for favors.”

“I know, I know. I can’t help it. We’re just making so much progress on this story, and we’re one step closer to helping those refugees—”

“And you think it’s sexy that I’m not just some dumb bodyguard for hire.”

“Oh, no, you were sexy as just some dumb bodyguard.” I tease and shift in my seat so that I’m leaning towards him slightly. “But now you’ve got intrigue. You’ve got mystery. Are you sure you’re not James Bond with your fancy private planes and your very own ‘Q’ at the end of the phone?”

“I see what it is now, Dani,” Janus chuckles. “You’ve had one taste of the mile-high club, and now you’re itching to go back.”

Well, damn. He’s got me there.

“I’ll take that silence as a ‘yes.’”

He chuckles again and moves across the room. He kneels down before me and slides his hands along my thighs. His mischievous grin does nothing to distract me this time around—at least, not completely.

“But what else haven’t you told me, Janus?”

He pauses for a moment. “I haven’t told you that I have a third nipple.”

I roll my eyes. “If you had a third nipple, I would most definitely have found it by now.”

“Don’t you want to have another look?”

“Maybe once we finish getting settled.” I wink at him. “What else do I need to know?”

“That Arsenal is on the way to the top of the league table.”

“What’s that got to do with anything? It’s not as though soccer has anything on football.”

“Football. Actual football. Not that garbage you Yanks call football,” Janus smiles and rolls his eyes as he always did whenever I make fun of his beloved sport. “When Arsenal beat Man-U, and I collect the winnings from a friend of mine, I won’t be taking you out to dinner with them now.”

I know he doesn’t mean that. Janus knows that after dinner, I’m going to want dessert. And he knows how I like my dessert.

“And this friend of yours, what’s their particular talent?”

“He’s got a bad taste in football teams.”

“Soccer teams.”

“Hey now, Dani, we invented the sport. It’s not my fault that your country has mistaken football for a coward’s version of rugby.”

“Coward’s?”

“You heard me.”

Janus smiles again, enjoying the rise he’s gotten out of me with that one well-placed comment.

“You think your football players are so tough behind all that padding. It’s not truly a rough sport until you’ve begun to develop cauliflower ears.”

I look at Janus, momentarily insulted—or at least, that’s what I want him to believe. I pretend to huff and turn away from him, but I angle my thighs and ass to remind him what he’s missing out if I was actually mad.

“Are you really going to be like that?”

I feel Janus’ hand slip along my thighs again, his fingers gently tracing against my upper thigh and across the underside of my ass. I keep pouting and say nothing, even though each gentle touch of his fingers sets my skin alight.

“If you wanted some rough play, Dani, you should have just asked for it on the plane.”

He’s so maddening, so beautifully and perfectly maddening. I’ve always admired it when a man could keep up with me without first trying to make me slow down, and Janus seems to be able to do just that.

I really do hope that our time together won’t end after we finish exposing and shutting down this trafficking ring. I couldn’t bare it if I lose Janus again, and we ended with bad blood between us.

I’m not looking for a relationship where I spend every waking moment with the man. I don’t want to have to sacrifice my job or ask him to do the same, so that we can always be together. But I would like it if, whenever we were in the same city, we could see each other—hook up maybe.

Being friends with benefits with Janus O’Connell sounds like something that would be every girl’s dream.

And I’ve always been fond of making my dreams a reality.

Janus gets up from his place before me and strolls across the room to where our bags are sitting.

I get up from my chair and take another glance around our new headquarters.

It’s a quiet, almost suburban style apartment. It’s neither too opulent nor too poor to attract anyone’s attention if we were, by any chance, being followed. The neighborhood looked quiet too—perfect for keeping a low-profile in.

Janus carries our bags through the loft—which almost seems to be very bare and decorated with only the essentials—to the bedroom. When he returns, he collapses down onto the sofa, and I sit down beside him.

I shuffle to move closer and lean my head against his chest.

“So—let’s go take down a human trafficking ring.”