Page 158 of Power
She laughed. “Thank you, I needed that. No, Peter Hirzog is not going to make a move.” She laughed again. “I have updates for later.”
“All I heard was ‘later’.”
She smiled. “I gotta go, charmer. I hope you and Sin put the squeeze on that jackass.”
Simone parked in the hotel lot, made her way into the luxury boutique hotel near Dupont Circle that bore Rebel’s name. She loved the bohemian-styled hotel with the chill vibe. The lounge caught her eye, and she stopped to admire. Purple microfiber sofas flanked by bright orange chairs filled the room. One entire wall housed cabinets of vinyl records. She sauntered over to check out the album collections. Rebel had every kind of music imaginable.
The bartender said hello. “First time?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m meeting someone for lunch,” Simone replied.
“Bring your lunch in here. You can choose an album to play on the spinner.” She nodded toward the stereo.
“Thanks,” Simone said.
She entered the restaurant and found Peter waiting near the hostess stand. He offered a friendly smile, but instead of a hug, he extended his hand.
As she shook it, he said, “Thanks for meeting me.”
The hostess seated them in a booth, handed them menus, and left. Simone eyed the options, selected something, then set the menu aside.Somethingneeded to go her way so, with a tactic in mind, she shifted her attention to Peter.
The server approached, told them the lunch specials. After they ordered, he scooted off.
“Simone, I invited you to lunch to apologize,” Peter said. “I’m very sorry I asked you to spy on Luciano. It was out of character and I’ve been disappointed with myself ever since.”
She smiled. Not too big, but enough that his shoulders relaxed. “Peter, it’s totally okay. Even you couldn’t keep up a perfect track record?—”
He mimed stabbing himself in the heart. “Ouch.”
“You feel passionate about it and I appreciate that.”
“Jerod was so angry with me. That never happens, so I knew I’d really messed up.”
The server delivered their beverages and left.
After sipping her iced tea, Simone said, “Are you happy with Lucy?”
“Very,” he replied.
“I’ve never been married, so I can’t begin to know how you felt, but I am sorry about what happened with your first wife.”
His rueful smile told Simone that he probably still had feelings for his ex. “I don’t care about Santini, but Jerod’s right. If I’d paid my first wife more attention, she might not have gone looking elsewhere.”
Simone wanted to tell him that Luciano Santini was a man that most women probably wouldn’t refuse… her included. But that was not the plan she’d laid out for their meeting. Instead, she leaned forward. “I completely forgive you. It’s all behind us now.”
This time, his smile touched his eyes. “Thank you.”
“So, since we’re having a heart-to-heart, I wanted to confide something to you.” She cleared her throat. “You were right, I was with ALPHA.”
His eyebrows jutted up. “You have the best poker face ofanyoneI have ever met.”
“Thank you.” She sipped her drink.
“Are you still with them?”
“No, I really did leave five years ago. I was only with ALPHA for a year.” She looked around, pretending to check if anyone was eavesdropping. “I was the lead Op on The Bomb Maker case. Everyone on my team got killed. I got PTSD, left the group, and went into private industry.”
She was studying his reactions, like he was under a microscope.
