A Thin Disguise by Catherine Bybee

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“We’ll go outside, get bone cold, and then come back in and warm up.” Olivia lifted her eyebrows and licked her lips, making sure Leo knew exactly how she’d like to be warmed up.

“We’re going to have a snowball fight, aren’t we?” Leo was sitting on the edge of the bed slipping on a warm pair of socks.

“I’m not twelve.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

She turned to leave his room. “Downstairs in five.”

Damn, the day felt good. It shouldn’t, considering how little she slept the night before. But she was energized. Bouncing out of her skin with restless energy. And with the clouds threatening to give them more snow, now was the best time to get out in it.

She bundled up with a knit hat that covered her hair and ears, a scarf that cut the cold around her neck, and ski pants and a waterproof jacket Sasha had picked up the last time she’d gone into Durango.

With all her layers in place, she worked her way downstairs, putting on her gloves.

“Grab some wood when you come back up,” Lars told her from where he sat next to the fireplace.

“Too cold for you out there?” she asked.

“I’m with Pam on this one. The cold is for the birds. It’s nice from in here, sucks out there.”

She sealed up all the open parts of her outfit to ward off the chill and opened the front door. “You’re missing out.”

Lars waved her off.

Once outside she walked to the edge of the porch, closed her eyes, and sucked in a deep breath. Her cheeks instantly felt the chill in the air, and her lungs enjoyed the cold. She loved snow, she realized. The smell, the soft texture . . . the way it gave the earth a chance to slow down, both in nature and in people.

The door to the house opened and closed. “It is chilly,” Leo said as he walked up behind her, his arms wrapping around her in a hug.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Okay, my snow bunny . . . what do you want to do?”

“Let’s walk. Make fresh tracks.”

“And the snowballs?”

She took him in over her shoulder. “Someone has a fear of snowballs.”

He took his gloved hand, placed it in hers. A feeling that no longer felt awkward and in fact would be missed if it wasn’t there.

Their snow boots did a good job of digging in and not letting them slip. “Sasha and the others have really made sure we have everything we need,” she said.

“It’s much better than what the feds would have come up with.”

“You mean the witness protection program?”

“Yeah. You’d be safe, but the temporary housing isn’t nearly as nice.”

She pictured a subdivision home in the middle of nowhere. “What about the long term? How do your people set that up?”

They walked slowly on the trail, which was only outlined by fallen branches and rocks barely visible beneath the snow.

“I don’t work directly with the federal marshals on long-term placement. But they do give witnesses new identities, a place to live, a chance at getting a job so that when the federal funding is gone, they can make it on their own.”

“So the money does go away after a while.”

“Every case is different, but in most cases, yeah.”

“So eventually Marie will be on her own?”

Leo looked over. “The case from Vegas?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you know her name?”

Olivia shook her head. “I heard one of you say it. Sometime after we first arrived here.” Although she couldn’t remember who or in what context.

“Marie will be fine.”

“That’s good. She’s too young to not have a full life after what she’s been through.” She looked ahead, saw a low-hanging branch laden with snow and smiled.

“Who told you about the case?”

Olivia shrugged, her attention dialed into a new mission. “What is that?” She pointed to something on the ground beneath the tree branch, let go of Leo’s hand, and picked up her pace to get in front of him.

“What is what?” Leo asked when he arrived.

“I think it’s an animal track. Maybe a deer or something with long legs.”

He pointed away from her. “There’s more over there.”

She turned away and Leo reached up and pulled on the branch, cascading snow all over her.

“Ohhh!”

“Deer tracks, my ass. You’re sneaky, Olivia, but—”

She did not give him a chance to finish his sentence. She reached down, cupped her hands, and tossed a mound of snow right in his face. He hadn’t shaved in two days, and the snow stuck to his chin like Santa Claus.

She laughed deep in her belly.

“Oh, it is so on,” he said, laughing when he bent down to deliver a human snowplow of his own.

She ducked his first attack and ran, not getting far with a foot of snow making it difficult to lift out of it. Reaching down as she went, she rolled snow into a neat little ball, turned, and took aim.

He was ready with ammo of his own.

She found a tree, took cover. “You know the difference between you and me?”

“What’s that?” Leo’s voice was close.

“I’m not afraid to get hit.”

She cleared the tree with three snowballs ready to go.

Only he wasn’t there.

Then she felt a splash of snow on her butt.

She turned and fired at Leo as he retreated laughing.

They went at it until she felt breathless and warm from the effort of running, dipping, and weaving in the snow.

She knelt behind a tree, Leo stood behind another one, both of them rounding perfect balls to hurl at each other.

When was the last time she’d had a snowball fight?

The early days at Richter. When life was still innocent. The memory brought a smile.

Olivia stopped cold.

Richter.

Images flashed in her head . . . memories. Snowballs and stolen kisses in the stacks.

Words flew at her in languages she hadn’t remembered until that very moment.

Richter.

The boarding school that turned her into what she was.

The school that stripped her of a life she could never have.

A life of snowball fights and laughter.

It was all there. Every dirty detail of her past.

How had it been missing when it was all right there?

Sasha, who she’d had in a few classes, but didn’t really get to know until they’d beat the shit out of each other in Amelia’s apartment. And AJ, Amelia’s brother. Neil, Isaac, Lars . . . all of them.

All of them knew who she was all this time. None of them said a thing.

Olivia fell to her knees, her eyes lifted toward the sky, which had started to drop snow on them again.

She was not safe there.

They were not safe with her there.

Nausea built in her throat.

Get out.

Run.

Run . . .

Yes . . . all of that.

Her brain screamed and her heartbeat leapt out of her chest, ready to follow any direction or run and hide. But she needed a plan.

A plan that was already forming in her head.

“You don’t stand a chance, beautiful lady,” Leo called, laughing from behind his tree.

Olivia placed a hand on her chest, felt a sting of tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat. “No way, Mr. FBI. I’m locked and loaded.” It hurt.

All of it.

She reached down, grabbed a fistful of snow, and rubbed it in her face. The cold snapped her backbone into place.

With hands filled with snowball ammo, she pushed away the images of the people on the other end of the scope and stepped out from behind the tree.

They stumbled into the mudroom, sloshing snow with every step.

They eventually called their fight a tie and let the new snowfall drive them inside.

Leo helped her out of her snow gear and accepted her help when he worked his way out of his.

He tossed his stuff to the side, and she carefully hung hers up to dry.

“Time to get started on that warming-up stuff,” he said, coming behind her and kissing the side of her neck.

“An excellent idea,” she said. “My shower is bigger than yours.”

With an invitation like that, he followed her out of the mudroom and up the double flight of stairs to the bedrooms.

“Did you remember my firewood?” Lars asked from the chair he’d claimed since breakfast.

“Exercise is good for you,” Olivia said as she walked right on by.

Leo pointed toward Olivia.

Lars grunted and unfolded from his perch.

Once in her room, Leo pulled her into his arms.

Her lips were there, offering . . . trembling. “You’re still cold,” he said after a quick kiss.

“Freezing.”

He reached for her shirt, she reached for his.

They made it to the shower, but unlike the night before where every touch was slow and thought out, this time the buzz from the good-natured snowball fight sparked them in an entirely new direction. The water was just warming up, and Olivia had dropped to her knees, taking him into her mouth.

He’d never been so turned on and so ready to explode in his adult life.

Leo tried to pull back, attempted to slow them down. But no. Olivia wouldn’t have it.

Considering their condom supply was limited, he supposed this was probably a better option.

When he warned her of his release, she kept going, taking all reason from his brain.

She looked up at him, smiling.

“Happy with yourself?” he asked, mimicking her words from the night before.

“Yes, sir. I am.”

Such a dangerous emotion swelling in his chest.

He helped her to her feet and kissed her. He found the soap and made use of his hands, touching the edges of her sex until she hummed. With her back against the wall of the shower, he lifted one of her legs until one foot was up on the shower bench, giving him much more room to work.

The feel of her hands on the back of his head as he pleased her felt like heaven. He found all the spots he’d discovered the night before, and new ones that drew out her cries. And when she was tipping over the edge, he sucked her in a little harder and heard his name on her lips.

Later, with steam still filling the bathroom and both of them wrapped up in towels, he kissed her, slowly this time.

Just a kiss.

“What was that for?” she asked when he pulled away.

“A promise,” he said.

Her eyes did the flickering thing they often did. Blinking. “What promise?”

“That I will always show you how you make me feel.”

She blinked. “I-I think you just did that.”

He smiled. “That was the exclamation point.” He kissed her briefly. “This is the promise.”

Olivia sighed and stifled a yawn. “Well, Mr. Promises. I’m going to shoo you out of my room so I can take a nap. Someone kept me up all night.”

“I could use a nap.”

She laughed, turned back toward the bathroom mirror, and pulled a brush through her wet hair. “If you stay in my room, there won’t be any napping.”

“You do have a point.”

She slapped his butt through his towel as he turned to walk away.

Leo gathered his clothing they’d littered all over the room and gave her some space.