Chapter 10

10

Odalie stared at herself in the mirror, trying to understand what had just happened. It was amazing that Tony had kissed her, especially after he’d spent so much time denying that he even felt attracted to her. But that hadn’t been any teasing kiss. It had been half desperation and half passion, and it surpassed her wildest dreams of what a kiss should feel like. The man was amazing.

Well, of course, he’d been married, and there was a woman in his life already. So certainly, he knew his way around women. She caught her breath remembering the expertise in the long, slow kisses that had almost singed her.

But was it just lust on his part? Was he honorable enough to try and keep away from her, because it was just lust that he felt? She wished she knew more about men. She wasn’t close to anybody except Stasia and Maddie, and she could hardly ask them any of her burning questions. Maybe, she thought, there was information online somewhere on male behavior. Surely there was. She’d have to find it. But not today. She and Stasia were going over to Tony’s for supper. And the way he’d smiled at her as he left! Just the memory of it left her breathless. There had been such wicked delight in that smile.

She sighed at her reflection. Then she blinked. She had to change clothes and go back and make lunch for herself and Stasia. She could daydream later, when they got home after supper.

As long as Stasia didn’t know what was going on. This was private and personal, so personal that she didn’t want to share it with anyone just yet. She wanted to live in her dreams without being reminded that Tony was dangerous and the world was bigger than Big Spur, Texas, for a cowgirl in couture in the big city.

She and Tony had been adversaries for a long time. He’d glared at her every time he saw her when she went to parties at the art gallery with Stasia. He’d started fights, he’d been insulting. But let some other man threaten her, in any way, and Tony was suddenly right there, glaring at somebody besides her.

She’d been certain that it was pure antagonism, that he hated her. But the man who’d kissed her a few minutes ago hadn’t been an adversary. She still felt faint just remembering the utter hunger in those hard kisses. That hadn’t been an assault, or taunting, or anything of the sort. That had been pure, unadulterated passion.

She was anxious about how it would be when they went to Tony’s apartment. Would he be back in his shell, antagonistic again? Would they start all over from square one, like after the barbeque at her parents’ ranch when they’d danced and hunger had spawned between the two of them?

She didn’t want to think about backtracking. She put her hair up and went to the kitchen.

“Tony wasn’t growling at you, was he?” Stasia asked. “He’s not really a bear. Well, he can be, if he needs to. But he bluffs occasionally.”

“He wasn’t mean.” She hesitated. “He was at first. He was yelling, and I started crying...” She swallowed and paused to sip coffee.

“And...?” Stasia prodded. “Why was he yelling?”

“He was sitting on the steps when I came home from my voice lesson,” she said quietly. “I told the cab to drive on around the corner and then I sat in the bookshop for an hour.” She glanced at her friend’s face. “Well, I didn’t want to face him. I knew he’d be angry. I hoped he’d just give up and go home.”

“Anybody who knows Tony could tell you that he’d still be there in the morning if he had something to say to you.”

“I found that out.” She put down her cup. “He was fighting mad when I got out of the cab. He saw me go past the apartment and around the corner. He knew I was dodging him. So he yelled and I yelled and then I went into my apartment and slammed the door.”

“And Tony went right in behind you and slammed the door himself.” Stasia chuckled at her friend’s expression. “I know Tony very well,” she added. “You may run from a fight, but he never will.”

“I found that out, too.” Odalie took a long breath. “So we...discussed it,” she lied, not looking at Stasia’s face. “And we sort of worked it out.”

“Sort of?”

“Sort of.” No way was she admitting what had actually happened.

Not that Stasia couldn’t guess from their guilty expressions and her sister-in-law’s rumpled appearance. But she was kind enough not to point that out.

“Anyway, we’ve arrived at a truce,” Odalie announced with a fake smile. “How’s the salad?” she asked.

It was a diversion. But Stasia let her get away with it.

The apartment was lit up like a Christmas tree when they got there. Mrs. Murdock was fussing around with table settings while Tony took the lasagna out of the oven. He was wearing an apron that had a shark with a fork standing in front of a grill on it, over slacks and a sports shirt. Odalie thought how appropriate it was, and smothered a laugh.

“Lasagna,” he said. “Made properly, the way my mama used to make it,” he added, sliding off his oven mitts. “Garlic bread’s already on the table. Hey, Ben—” he raised his voice toward the living room, from where video game music was booming “—food!”

The music went off at once and Ben appeared in the doorway. “Food! The only thing worth giving up Halo Infinite for!”

“You and your video games,” Tony said, shaking his head.

“Well, a man has to have a few vices,” he protested.

“We could list yours, if we had enough paper,” Tony suggested.

Ben answered in Italian, followed by Tony answering in Italian, followed by a lot of arm waving.

“Enough!” Mrs. Murdock muttered. “Everybody sit down, right now!”

It was hilarious how fast everybody did. Even Tony, after he seated Stasia. Odalie seated herself, too shy to wait for him to do it.

“Mrs. Murdock has you intimidated,” Stasia teased Tony. “Admit it.”

“Of course I’d admit it! She carries a Ka-Bar around in that apron pocket. I’ve seen it!” he added.

“Wuss,” Mrs. Murdock huffed. “I can use it, too, so you just mind your manners.”

While she was in the kitchen, bringing in the fruit salad, Stasia turned to Tony and asked, “Does she, really?”

“She does!” Ben answered for him, lowering his voice. “One of our guys came back from overseas with his National Guard unit. He gave it to her. It’s her treasure,” he added with bright eyes.

“Yeah, we think she’s smitten,” Tony added on a chuckle. “He’s her age.”

“An officer, too,” Ben added.

“I hear you in here talking about me,” Mrs. Murdock teased.

“We were only remarking how dangerous you were,” Tony said.

“Yes, I fit right in,” she agreed, putting down the salad. “I have a rosebush that you’d look lovely under, Tony, my dear,” she purred.

He held up both hands. “I’d look awful under a rosebush. How about something more in keeping with my image. Deadly nightshade...?” he suggested.

She made a face at him and everybody laughed.

“At least you two have finally learned not to try and sneak off into the kitchen at meals,” Stasia said with pointed looks at Ben and Mrs. Murdock.

“Am I missing something?” Odalie asked.

Stasia chuckled. “The first time I had supper here with Tony, I asked him where those two had gone. He led me to the kitchen and pointed. They were sitting at the kitchen table with food halfway to their mouths.”

“So, what did you do?” Odalie asked, because she already knew the answer.

“I picked up my plate and sat down with them.”

“Well, in our defense, we knew you came from wealthy people in Texas,” Mrs. Murdock began.

“Wealthy people on a ranch in Texas,” Stasia added, sipping coffee. She grinned at Odalie. “They never pulled that stunt again.”

Everybody laughed.

“This is really good,” Odalie remarked as she savored a bite of Tony’s home-cooked lasagna.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her and letting his glance linger just a bit too long for politeness. “It’s the ricotta cheese. You need to add enough.”

“And it helps if you can cook,” Mrs. Murdock added, with a really vicious glance at Ben.

“Hey, I protect the boss,” Ben grumbled. “Nobody said I should learn to cook, too.”

“What did you do?” Odalie asked him.

“I made scrambled eggs.” He glared at Tony, who glared back.

“Scrambled eggs.” Tony nodded as he finished a bite of lasagna. “With raw whites, burned yolks, a tablespoon of eggshell and no seasoning.”

“Everybody was sick!” Ben defended himself. “I was only trying to help.”

“I called my cousin who owns the restaurant, and he loaned us a cook,” Tony said.

“And he —” Mrs. Murdock pointed at Ben without looking in his direction “—was never allowed in my kitchen ever again.”

“Some thanks I get for trying to be helpful,” he muttered.

“We thanked you,” Tony responded.

“They locked me out of the apartment for half a day!” Ben retorted, glaring from one to the other. “People laughed at me, sitting in the damned hall on the floor!”

“One guy snickered,” Tony translated. “And he was one of ours.”

“Well, it hurt my feelings.”

“He doesn’t have any,” Tony said helpfully. “He was tombstoned in the wrestling ring so many times that only about ten of his brain cells are left.”

“Don’t you listen to them, Ben,” Odalie said soothingly. “I used to love watching you on Monday Night Raw !”

“You did?” Ben asked, wide-eyed.

“I did. I have an autographed picture of you back home in my room,” she added. “Dad took me to a match in Dallas. You were signing photos, so I got one.”

“Well.” Ben brightened. He smiled at her.

“He can write?” Mrs. Murdock asked Tony in mock astonishment.

“Don’t look at me—I didn’t know, either,” Tony replied.

Ben picked up the container of salad dressing and looked narrow eyed from one of them to the other.

Tony and Mrs. Murdock looked at each other, sighed, got to their feet together and waved their napkins in defeat.

Ben beamed.

After supper, they sat over cups of coffee in the living room with its comfortable stuffed sofas and chairs.

“Tony, you’ve never shown Odalie the orchids, have you?” Stasia asked.

“Orchids?” Odalie asked, wide-eyed.

“Orchids,” her sister-in-law replied, smiling. “He has some beautiful rare ones. Even rarer than the ones in the Jungle Room on Long Island.”

“But aren’t they really hard to keep?” Odalie asked.

“Very,” he said, getting to his feet. “I have light tables with automatic waterers. But I still mist them myself every day. The rare ones tend to be temperamental.”

“He was going to put in a terrarium and bring Rudolf over here from the Long Island house to live. Until the revolt, that is.”

“Revolt?” Odalie asked as she stood up.

“Mrs. Murdock and Ben and both bodyguards stopped him at the door on the way out,” Stasia said. “It was them or the snake. So poor Rudolf is stuck on Long Island.”

“Poor baby,” Odalie sighed. “I’ll bet he gets lonely.”

“Our neighbor’s teenage son comes over to check on him every day,” Tony said. “I think the kid’s in love with him. I came home one day to find him watching old DVDs of Ben’s wrestling tours with Rudolf sitting in his lap. Actually, partially in his lap. He’s too big to be a lap snake,” he chuckled.

“Orchids,” Stasia prompted. “Thataway.” She pointed toward the hall.

“I think we can find it, thanks,” Tony said, tongue in cheek. He motioned to Odalie, who followed him down the hall with her heart doing the hula.

“You like orchids?” he asked as he opened a door.

“I love them, but I killed one by not taking care of it properly, so I wasn’t going to try again. It was so beautiful!”

“What kind was it?” he asked when they were in the room with the door closed.

“It was an orchid,” she repeated.

He sighed, feasting his eyes on her unconscious beauty. “There are a lot of different types. If you don’t know how to take care of them, phalaenopsis are the safest. They do well with just light from a window and careful watering. These—” he indicated tall shelves on which many trays of orchids rested under lamps “—are more complicated. They need this sort of setup.”

“Oh, my.” She moved closer, catching her breath. There was every color in the rainbow, even spotted ones, all in glorious bloom. Shelf after shelf of them. “I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous!”

He explained the different species and how they grew in the wild and how they were propagated.

“It must take a lot of work,” she remarked, turning to look up at him. Her heart flipped as she met his soft, dark eyes.

He nodded. He moved a step closer, so that he was close enough to feel her breath at his throat. His hands went into her hair, pulling out the pins that held up her complicated hairdo. She stood very still, not protesting. The feel of his big hands was seductive. So was the silence of the room, with only the sound of her own heartbeat loud in her ears.

He put the pins on a shelf and ran his fingers through her long, wavy pale blond hair, loving its silkiness and the faint perfume that drifted up into his nostrils. His hands framed her face and tilted it up to his. “This is a still a very bad idea,” he whispered, his voice husky and deep as velvet as he bent to her mouth.

She was beyond words. Her hands flattened on his broad chest. Then, remembering what he’d said to her the day before, they hesitated.

“I lied,” he whispered. He was wearing a white silk shirt with nothing under it. Her hands sank onto the smooth surface. Under it she felt thick, curling hair like a cushion over hard, warm muscle. “It was make you mad or reach for you. I was still trying, at that point, to remain sane.”

“And...did you? Remain sane?” she whispered at his lips.

“Hell, no,” he breathed into her mouth just as his settled ever so slowly onto her soft, open lips. “Nothing of the sort.”

His arms were around her now, half lifting her into his body. It was warm and hard muscled, and she felt enveloped, safe, cherished. His hands smoothed over her back, up and down, creating little waves of feeling that made her tingle all over.

Her breasts pushed into his chest, soft and firm as her arms reached up around his neck. She’d been kissed before. But Tony was a whole new experience. Her dates had been mostly boys, and then men, her own age. Even in a sophisticated age, many of them were as innocent as she was. Tony was in a class by himself.

He cherished her mouth, as if they were kissing for the very first time, as if the earlier kiss had never happened. He’d dreaded this, because he knew she was going to become the worst addiction of his entire life.

He drew back a breath and looked down into her sultry half-closed pale blue eyes. “At this point, you should be trying to get out of the room.”

“Why?” she murmured, tugging at his neck to coax his mouth back down.

“Because it’s going to end badly.”

“Right now, you mean?” she whispered, her eyes on his firm, chiseled mouth.

“Eventually.”

“There’s only today,” she said quietly. “Yesterday is a memory. Tomorrow is a dream.”

“You should write poetry.”

She sighed. Her fingers touched his mouth with wonder. “I never used to like kissing,” she whispered.

He raised an eyebrow, suddenly jealous. “You did that a lot, did you?”

She shook her head. “I told you, I didn’t like it. Besides, I’d already decided to sing opera. I didn’t want to get involved with anybody.”

“Well, kid, you’re involved now. And you may wish you hadn’t been.”

“Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is...” she began with a mischievous smile.

He covered the words with his mouth and his arms tightened. He moved and his mouth was suddenly hard and insistent.

She went under in a drugged haze, holding on for dear life while her body suddenly got its first taste of real passion and started demanding more.

He felt her gasp when the sensation began to affect her. It was affecting him as well. He felt his own body hardening, swelling. He moved back a whisper, just enough to keep her from finding out how involved he already was. Before she could question it, his mouth grew even more insistent, twisting sensually on her lips, teasing her mouth open to a deeper and far more intimate kiss than she’d ever had.

She stiffened just a little. He almost missed it. His own senses were swimming in heat. He’d had women since his early teens. This was different. Different even from the relationship he’d had with his late wife. No woman had ever aroused him so quickly and so completely. It was only physical, of course, he told himself.

He lifted his head and looked into shocked eyes. So much for other men, he thought with shameful pride. He could have bet real money on her reactions before now.

His thumb rubbed over her soft mouth, arousing her all over again. She felt swollen. She felt a heat and swelling that she’d never felt in her life. She was drowning in sensation.

“Odalie,” he whispered in a moment of something almost like panic.

Those pale blue eyes lit up like candles in a dark room.

“What?” he asked, diverted.

“That’s the first time I remember you calling me by my name,” she said unsteadily.

“Is it?” He frowned. He touched the hair at her cheeks, moving it away.

She nodded.

He cupped her face in his hands and bent again, lightly brushing his mouth over hers in the quiet room. His heart was going like a fast watch. So was hers. He almost groaned out loud. If he didn’t get her out of here soon, he’d never be able to let go. She had no idea what she was doing to him, either.

The sudden knock on the door stunned both of them.

“Dessert!” Stasia called. “Hurry up or it will melt. Mrs. Murdock made homemade vanilla ice cream.”

“Be right there,” Tony called. He hoped his voice sounded normal. Probably it didn’t.

He looked down at his wrinkled shirt and her wrinkled blouse and her disheveled hair. “Oh, boy,” he sighed. “Are we going to raise eyebrows!”

“Eyebrows?” She was still floating.

“Like to take a guess at how you look?” he asked wryly.

“How I look...” She let him move her gently away and her eyes went from his rumpled shirt to her own. “Oh!”

He nodded. He chuckled. It was funny. He’d never cared how he looked after a few casual moments with a woman. Not before. But what was between them was new and private. He didn’t want people speculating. Not even people he considered family.

He tucked his shirt back in and handed her the hairpins he’d removed.

She gave him an astonished look. “What am I supposed to do with these, pick a lock?” she asked.

“Put your hair up.”

She glowered at him. “Without a brush and a mirror?”

He gathered up her hair, piled it on top of her head and started putting in hairpins. After a minute he stopped and raised both eyebrows. He handed her the rest of the pins. “Hell with it,” he muttered. “The fan messed us up, got that?”

She looked around. “What fan?”

“I’ll close the door quick when we go through it,” he said, imperturbable. “They’ll never know.”

Of course they knew. But they were kind enough not to tease or make fun of the condition of their friends.

Tony sent Stasia and Ben out to the limo while he paused in the doorway with Odalie, who wanted to leave as little as he wanted to let her.

He brushed back stray wisps of her pretty hair. “I have to go downtown for a meeting in the morning. When’s your next voice lesson?”

“Not until next week,” she said. “My instructor is going out of town.”

He smiled slowly. “Okay. How about lunch? I should be free by eleven or so.”

“Lunch.” She grinned at him with her heart racing. “Okay.”

He touched the tip of her nose. “I’d kiss you good-night, but too many people are trying not to look.”

“I left my glasses on the back porch,” Mrs. Murdock called. “Can’t see a thing.”

“You don’t wear glasses,” he pointed out as she sailed past them into the kitchen.

“Complaints, complaints, and here I’m doing my best to portray an ostrich!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Murdock,” Odalie called after her.

“You’re welcome, dear, any time.”

He glared after Murdock and turned back to Odalie. “I’ll text you when I’m on the way.” He hesitated and frowned. “I don’t have your cell number.”

She dug out her phone and handed it to him. He dug his out of his pocket and handed it to her.

They put their respective numbers into each other’s phone and handed them back.

“Okay, then. Sleep tight,” he said softly.

She smiled up at him. “You, too. Night.”

“Good night.”

She turned and started to walk away. She heard him say something, so she stopped and turned. “What?”

He was just looking at her and smiling. “Angel,” he said softly. “If there are angels, and I’m sure there are, you look like one.”

She smiled back, radiant, and walked on to the car.

“I’m not going to ask a single question,” Stasia promised when they were back in Odalie’s apartment. “So you don’t need to think up excuses for your hair looking like birds built a nest in it.”

“All my hairpins fell out at once,” Odalie said, tongue in cheek. “I have no idea how it happened. Magnetic storm? Poltergeists? It’s a puzzlement!”

Stasia just laughed.

She tried to sleep but it was impossible. Her stubborn mind went over and over again that passionate interlude among the orchids in Tony’s office. It was a new experience to be lonely for someone. Not since a crush on a boy in grammar school had she felt anything remotely like it.

She tossed and turned, looking at the clock occasionally, only to repeat the exercise over and over.

It was one o’clock in the morning when her cell phone buzzed. She stared at it in her bedside table.

She didn’t know anybody who would be up this late back home unless it was an emergency. But when she pulled it out, there was no voicemail. There was a text. She stared at it in disbelief and managed not to laugh out loud.

It was from Tony.

Are you as wide awake as I am?

She lay back in the bed, reading the bright display in the darkness of the room. She typed back.

Of course.

There was a Lol. And then a pause. Then the phone rang. She answered it.

“I think the hands on my clock are stuck. They aren’t moving.”

“I have the same problem,” she said.

“Where do you want to eat tomorrow?” he asked.

She thought for a minute. “Sushi?”

There was another laugh. “My favorite. Next to Italian,” he added.

“Except they don’t have dessert at the sushi place.”

“We can have dessert anywhere you like.”

Her heart was racing. She felt on fire with a renewed joy of life. It was an exhilaration she’d never known. New, exciting. Dangerous. Tony wasn’t a forever-after sort of guy.

“French pastry,” she said finally.

“Bigot,” he said. “Italians invented dessert.”

“Okay. Italian pastry.” She laughed softly.

“Better.”

“Don’t you have a meeting in the morning?”

“Yeah. But I can’t sleep. I’ll send Ben. You can come over and sing me a lullaby. That might do it.”

“There would be a scandal. Stasia would miss me.”

Another laugh. “Okay. Better not, then. See you in the morning.”

“See you.”

“Sleep good.”

“Ha, ha.”

He sent an emoji of rolling eyes.

She sent him a kiss before she thought it might be too much, too soon.

But he sent one back. The phone went quiet.

She stared at the screen with her breath caught in her throat. She wondered if he could possibly be as excited about what was happening to them as she was. He’d fought it for ages, but now he seemed resigned to getting involved with her.

She wasn’t sure how it would end, but she knew she was too weak to try and cut it off before there were complications. In the end, she put the phone away and pulled the covers up and closed her eyes, hoping for the best. Amazingly, she was asleep in seconds.

The next morning, Stasia slept late while Odalie riffled through her closet for what seemed forever, looking for just the right thing to wear on her date with Tony. Because that’s what it was. A date. The first date that had ever really mattered to her.

She pulled out a pretty long-sleeved beige dress that clung to her waist and flared out into a skirt. She paired it with a wide belt and suede boots.

The car was outside right on time. Ben grinned at her as he opened the door and let her slide in beside Tony.

He was wearing a suit with a blue striped tie and a matching handkerchief in his vest pocket. He looked expensive and handsome.

They smiled at each other.

“I love sushi,” she remarked.

“Me, too.”

“Have you ever been to Japan?” she asked, wanting to know.

He nodded. “Just once. It was great. But the trip over...” He groaned. “I thought I’d go crazy cooped up for that long.”

“I know what you mean. I can never sleep on long flights.”

“Alcohol helps,” he teased. “But there’s never enough to knock me out, no matter how far I have to go.”

“Have you ever gone down to the Caribbean?” she wondered, lost in his dark eyes. It took a few seconds for her to remember what Stasia had told her, that Tony had been accused of a murder he didn’t commit, and he’d stayed in the Bahamas with Marcus Carrera, another big name in deadly men. She flushed. “Sorry. I forgot.”

He reached for her hand and locked his big fingers in her long, soft ones. “It was a bad time. One of my adopted daughter’s in-laws helped me clear myself. Hell of a thing, to be framed for a murder I never committed. I got lucky. The vicious little jump-up who thought he’d take over my territory made an enemy of the biggest man upstate. Big mistake.”

The feel of his fingers in between hers made her heart jump. She was trying to concentrate, though. “What happened to him?” she asked.

He leaned toward her, his cheek sliding gently against hers. “Bad things,” he whispered, and his lips brushed her ear. He chuckled deeply at her soft gasp.

He drew back just as Ben pulled up to the curb. “Lunch,” he announced.

He opened the door for Tony and Odalie and helped them into the Japanese restaurant. They were greeted and led to a booth near the window. Odalie slid in, and Tony slid right in beside her, close enough that his leg was against hers. The waitress handed her a menu with a smile before she put one in Tony’s hands and then in Ben’s.

“Would you like hot tea?” she added.

“Please,” Odalie said. “Green tea.”

“Same,” Tony replied.

“Me, too,” Ben added.

The waitress grinned and went to get it.

Odalie barely looked at the menu.

“What?” Tony asked.

“Miso soup and ebi,” she said with a grin. “It’s my favorite. Lots and lots of ebi.”

“Shrimp.” Tony rolled his eyes. “You have to try it all. You might like different things.”

“I tried different things,” she assured him. “That’s why I want shrimp. Because I tried the other things.” She made a face. “I ended up with sashimi instead of sushi.” She closed her eyes and gave a mock shiver. “Some fish,” she whispered, “absolutely must be served cooked!”

“Wimp,” he teased, and his dark eyes sparkled as they met hers.

Her breath caught in her throat just looking at him. He was so handsome.

He was thinking the same thing about her. She was a true beauty, inside and out. It was useless to try and backtrack now, no matter how it ended. At least he’d have sweet memories. In the meantime, he could try to keep his enemies away from her.

One of his enemies, in fact, was fuming. He’d just been warned by the senator he thought was in his back pocket that a full investigation was being initiated into the massacre in Iraq.

“It’s ancient history,” Phillip James snarled. “Nobody cares anymore!”

The senator just smiled. “One of the victims had a relative who lives in New York City. He’s a United States marshal.”

James went pale for a few seconds, until he remembered that he had reasons to know that important people in Justice would back him up. They wouldn’t want to. But they’d do it. So he smiled, too.

“I’m not frightened,” he told the senator. He laughed softly. “So there’s no evidence to convict you. But—” he toyed with a paper on his desk “—you have a daughter who’s involved in some very bad things, don’t you?” he added, lifting his eyes suddenly to catch the senator’s.

The senator’s breath left him in a rush. That was totally unexpected.

“Call off your dogs,” James told him coldly. “Or else.”

The senator didn’t have a comeback. He didn’t speak. He just turned and walked out of the room.

James smiled to himself. It was very important to have something on as many people as possible. He’d learned that from a former boss who’d been in Justice for many years. Everybody smart had backup information that could hurt somebody important. If you were ever up against the wall, it would save you.

He’d be all right now. But there was one loose cannon he still had a grudge against. Tanner Everett. He’d tried to off the guy, even sacrificed two agents to do it, and had failed. Everett’s wife was pregnant, but she was untouchable. Damned Tony Garza had her covered like tar paper with some of the most dangerous mob guys James had ever heard of. Everett’s people were on a ranch that was crawling with ex-feds and mercs. No way he could get to them.

He groaned. He wanted to make Everett pay for the hell he’d been through. He was out of danger now and ready for some major payback. He had to find somebody that Everett cared about, a family member, somebody close, so he could pay the man back for all his misery. That it was a result of his own behavior was something he’d never consider. He didn’t make mistakes—other people did. He was important, and ruthless, and ready for some payback.

While he was thinking about vengeance, his cell phone rang. He answered it, smiling when he saw the number. “Hey,” he said softly. “How’s things?”

“Okay,” his son said lazily. “I found a new hangout. There’s this bar near school. Some really cool guys come in, and they’re good at pool. One of them’s teaching me and Ralphie.”

“Not bad guys...?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Dad, I know how to spot gangsters,” he laughed. “No, these are blue-collar guys. One’s a plumber, one’s an electrician. They work together. They come in after work to blow off steam. They’re cool.”

Blue-collar. He didn’t like his son associating with the wrong people. He almost said so, but he didn’t want to start a fight. He and his son weren’t as close as he’d like, and he was reluctant to alienate him. He’d always given in, given the kid anything he wanted, to try and make up for losing his mom when he was little. He still gave him anything he wanted. The boy was his whole heart—in fact, the only weakness he had. Fortunately, none of his enemies knew about the kid; he’d kept him in a famous school up north, out of DC. He didn’t even have his last name. Well, that was because he’d changed his last name just after the Iraq thing. It was providential right now, too, because it gave the kid an extra layer of protection.

He laughed. “Okay, then. You just watch your back, okay?”

“Sure, Dad. Hey, can you wire me a few bucks? I’m running short again. And I guess I’ll have to repeat remedial algebra...”

“What, again?”

“Well, the professor didn’t like me,” the kid said icily.

James sighed. “Okay, sorry, sorry. Sure, I’ll wire some money to your bank. And it’s okay about the algebra. Some people have trouble with math.”

“Sure. I’ll talk to you later, then. Bye.”

“You not coming home for the weekend?” he asked quickly.

“It’s not a good time,” the boy said hesitantly. “Besides, I’m getting good at pool, and they have competitions at the bar...”

James nodded to himself. “Well, have a good weekend, then.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

He hung up. Sometimes, he felt the kid only liked him for money. Certainly the boy wasn’t as fond of him as he was of his son. But that was life. He went back to his desk.