Page 90 of Broken
“Ten grand. Keith wanted to hire a lawyer to try to get our money back, but I told him we’d probably end up spending ten, and I’m not confident she’d pay us anyway.”
“Enough about Leslie—”
“I agree,” Naomi said. “What kind of work are you doing?”
“Targeting a killer.”
“It’s so great that we like our work, don’t you think?”
Hanging with Naomi made her happy. The video chats were great, but they didn’t compare to spending quality time together in person.
“Can I confide something?” Jaqueline asked.
“Always.”
“There’s this guy—actually he’s a man—and I’ve got itsobad for him.”
Naomi set her fork down. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to say that?”
“I’ve had boyfriends.”
“Operative word, ‘boy’. Tell me about this man.”
“I hate him.”
Naomi laughed. “Nowhere to go but up, then.”
“We’ve known each other for a while, but it’s complicated. I don’t want you to judge—”
“I would never—”
“We hooked up a bunch of times at a kink club, but we had a bad run-in at work.”
“That makes no sense.”
“The hookups happenedbeforethe work thing. Then, after the work thing—where we never actually met in person—I got transferred.”
“Got it.” Naomi held up the bottle of wine but Jacqueline shook her head.
“Anyway, I’m forced to partner with him on this project. I don’t like him, but I’m lusting after him like crazy. He’s dealing with some serious family stuff, and, I gotta say, I’m impressed with how he’s handling everything.”
“See how things go,” Naomi suggested. “If you change your opinion of him, put him to the test. Does he golf?”
Jacqueline shrugged.
“If he does, get him on the links. Your dad and Keith will size him up before you hit the back nine.”
“Brilliant.”
“Let me know how it goes,” Naomi replied.
After they finished, Jacqueline helped clean up, spent a few minutes with Loki, and left.
As she headed back to Z’s condo, she tried talking herself out of taking the puppy, but by the time she’d gotten home, she’d convinced herself that taking him would be the smartest thing she could do.
* * *
Prescott
