Page 52 of Smoke Screen
“There’s no food in the fridge yet, but I’ll get that taken care of. There’s water, though. And coffee.”
Maddy waved him off. “I’m just grateful not to be in a hotel.” She pointed to the furnished patio. “Can I sit out there?”
“Absolutely. We arm the house after eleven, so if you’re interested in stargazing, call me. I can disarm it for you.”
Or I can keep you company.
The room suddenly closed in, the air getting thick enough to smother him. Worse, she just stood there, peering at him with those beautiful eyes that made him think of heat and bare skin and … sheets.Tangledsheets soaked in sweat from a good screwing.
If he kept this up, he might need a cold shower.
Hell, it’d been a good ten years since he’d been forced to try that trick. Typically, if he needed to get laid, he got laid.
No big deal.
That sounded bad even to him, but he was always honest with himself. And women. They knew going in that he wasn’t a long-term guy. Why exactly that was, he couldn’t be sure. Eventually, he’d like a family. A couple of kids running around. A girl who’d get pissed at him when he scared off boys.
Right now? With his late-night schedule and his sometime hook-ups when he needed to schmooze someone?
Impossible.
Fuck buddies, one woman, Angie, had said. She was the assistant to the chief of staff in the governor’s office and called him every couple of weeks when she needed to bust off stress. They’d met at some gala he couldn’t even remember and had hit it off. They were a pair. Both hungry for something that didn’t include walking down an aisle.
Suddenly, looking at Maddy and her adorable curls, his life didn’t seem so great.
Nothing to do about it.
Not with his responsibilities to BARS.
“Okay. I’m … uh …” He jerked his thumb to the door. “I’m going now. Call me when you’re ready and I’ll show you around. I’m gonna check in with my brothers.”
He left her to unpack and strode the long hallway back to the Great Hall. All quiet there, so he moved to the kitchen.
Nothing.
Mom and his grandmother might have gone into town for a bite.
Leaving via the front door, he turned left, walking down the drive to the Annex, where he’d most likely find Zeke and his brothers and a barrel of lectures for disappearing all day while they worked their contacts looking for priceless loot.
At the Annex, he pressed his hand against the pad. The door slid open, allowing him access to a vestibule that led to the Theater.
Separating the vestibule and the Theater stood a high stone wall with oversized black metal lettering that said Blackwell Asset Recovery Services. Who the sign was for, Phin wasn’t sure, since they rarely allowed visitors in here, but there you go.
He strode around the wall and found Cruz still at the conference table, laptop in front of him. He glanced up. “Look who’s back. We’re busting our asses here.”
“Remember that when you’re tucked in your bed and I’m bustingmyass schmoozing assholes so you can make a living.”
All of them worked hard. They all knew it. Sometimes his family needed a reminder that none of them wanted to do what Phin did. Putting on a suit gave Cruz hives, never mind having to make nice with people.
Cruz, in his own casual way, flipped him the bird and went back to his laptop.
His brother, never one to start a fight, wasn’t afraid of one either. He was the sometimes silent-and-deadly type whose protective instincts ran deep. If a brawl needed to be had, he’d fight someone all damn day. Not an ounce of quit in that guy. Over the years, Cruz had probably kicked the crap out of more idiots than Phin, Zeke, Rohan, and Ash combined.
“Phin,” Zeke called from his office, “I need a minute.”
I’m sure you do.
Rohan, mug in hand, wandered in from the kitchenette. “Good luck. He saw you and Maddy pull in. You got some 'splainin’ to do, Lucy.”
