AllFreeNovel
Share Us
clear—and all right again, I didn’t end the move the other night when—”
“The hot kiss,” Emma put in.
“It wasn’t—” Yes, it was, Parker admitted.“After he had dinner here, and I walked him out, he caught me off guard, and I responded. That’s all there is. I’m human. But, particularly since he’s a good friend of Del’s, I felt I had to make it clear I wasn’t interested.”
“Did he buy that? Mmm, thanks, Mrs. G.” Mac dove for the platter of pancakes Mrs. Grady put on the table.“Because if he did, my opinion of his basic intelligence drops several levels.”
“Apparently he didn’t, because he proposed this deal. I’d go out for a ride, a casual dinner, and if I didn’t enjoy myself, he’d back off.”
“And you agreed?” Laurel grabbed the syrup. “You didn’t squash him like a bug or level him with the Parker Brown freeze ray?”
Parker lifted her coffee, took a slow sip. “Do you want me to tell this or not?”
“Proceed,” Laurel said with a wave of her hand.
“I agreed because it seemed simple, and yes, because I was a little curious. He’s Del’s friend, and there’s no point in having bad feelings. I’d go, then he’d back off. No hard feelings either way. Then when we got outside, he told me about the bet.”
“What bet?” Emma demanded.
Parker filled them in.
“Carter bet?” Mac threw back her head and laughed. “And on Mal? I love it.”
“I love it that he told you before you got on the bike.” Emma shook her fork.“He had to know it gave you an excuse to flip him off.”
“And I give him that. And he’ll give me, at my insistence, half his winnings. Fair’s fair.”
“Where’d you go?” Emma wondered.
“Into Old Greenwich, some little pizza joint. Nice, actually. And I won’t deny it’s fun to ride the bike—it’s great fun—or claim it was a painful experience to split a pizza with him. He’s an interesting man.”
“How many calls did you take while you were out?” Laurel asked her.
“Four.”
“And how did he take that?”
“Like business is business and go ahead. And yes, points for him. But the thing is we had a perfectly pleasant evening, then the minute we’re back and at the door, he . . .”
Emma wiggled in her seat. “Here comes the really sexy part.”
“He just takes over. He has this way of cornering me, and my brain shuts off. He’s good at it, and my brain just closes down. It’s reflex,” she claimed. “Or reaction.”
“Is he all hot and fast, or slow and easy?” Mac asked.
“I’m unaware if he has a slow speed.”
“Told you.” Mac elbowed Emma.
“After my brain started working again, I told him I wasn’t having it, that he couldn’t just grab and go whenever he wanted. And he just looked amused. Pretty much like the three of you—and you, too, Mrs. G, because I see you over there—are looking now.”
“Kissed him back, didn’t you?” Mrs. Grady pointed out.
“Yes, but—”
“So even if he hadn’t knocked your legs out from under you, you wouldn’t have one to stand on.”
She wanted to sulk, badly. So she shrugged instead. “It’s just a physical reaction.”
“I don’t know about that,” Laurel began, “but if it is, I have to say, so what?”
“I’m not going to get tangled . . .” She remembered Mrs. Grady’s phrase, cut her eyes in that direction and saw the housekeeper raise her eyebrows.“I’m not going to get involved this way with someone when I feel it could be a mistake. Especially when he’s a friend of Del’s, of Jack’s, of Carter’s. Especially when I really don’t know him well, or know that much about him.”
“Isn’t dating someone part of the process of finding out about him?” Emma reached over, laid a hand on Parker’s. “You’re interested, Parker. It’s all over you.You’re attracted. And you’re nervous about it.”
“You had fun with him, Parks.” Mac lifted her hands. “Why not have some fun?”
“He’s immune to your Back-Off Cloak, and your freeze ray. He doesn’t act or react in a way you can predict or control.” Laurel gave Parker’s leg a pat under the table. “So you want a reason to say no.”
“I’m not that shallow.”
“Not shallow. Nervous about letting him get too close because he could matter more than you bargained for. I think he already does.”
“I just don’t know. And I don’t like not knowing.”
“Then take a little time,” Emma said, “and find out.”
“I’ll think about it. I will.” How could she not, Parker admitted? “And that’s all there is of this morning’s sexy breakfast story. I appreciate everything, I really do, but we have to switch modes. We’re already running behind with the meeting.We have an event to prep for.”
MAL INSTALLED NEW MOTOR MOUNTS ON A HONEY OF A ’62 T-BIRD Sports Roadster. At the customer’s directive, he’d all but rebuilt the engine, and when the job was done, all 390 cubic inches would growl down the road like a big sleek cat. He’d already replaced the brake pads, fixed the cooling system, and refined the three two-barrel Holley carburetors.
By his calculations, in a few hours he’d be taking this big bastard for a test drive.
“That’s a beauty.”
He pulled his head from under the hood to see Del, lawyer-suited-up, inside the cavern of the garage.
“She is that. Sixty-two, M-Code,” Mal added, “bullet sleek. One of about two hundred sold back in the day.”
“Really?”
“Bitch was pricey. Customer bought this at an auction, had it restored. Rangoon Red exterior, two-toned red and white in.White-walls, wire wheels. He got a clue after he’d had the exterior and interiors restored that the reason it might be giving him some trouble on the road was the hundred-twelve original miles on the engine.”
“And that’s where you came in.”
“We fix.Take a look.”
“Sure, as long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”
“This baby has the chrome dress-up package.”
Del looked in, saw a big engine, a lot of black, some gleaming chrome, and various parts stamped with Thunderbird. Because he knew his job, he nodded. “So, what’ll she do?”
“When I’m finished? Just about anything you want her to except kiss you good night.” Mal pulled the bandanna out of his back pocket, wiped his hands. “Are you having trouble with the Mercedes?”
“No. I had a breakfast meeting in town, so I swung by after to drop off the papers you asked me to draw up. I can give you about ten minutes if you want to look over them now. Or I can leave them in your office, and you can read them when you’ve got a chance, call me with any questions.”
“I’ve got my hands full here, so I’ll read through them later. As long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll walk you through it whenever.”With a thoughtful frown, Del looked under the hood again.“Maybe one of these days you’ll walk me through an engine.”
Mal’s office consisted of a cubbyhole off the garage outfitted with a metal desk, a couple of filing cabinets, and a swivel chair. Del stepped in, took the file out of his briefcase, and set it on top of the inbox.
Mal stuck the rag back in his pocket. “We may want to take that ten minutes to talk about some personal business.”
“Sure.What’s up?”
“I took Parker out last night.”
After one slow take, Del shook his head. “You talked her back onto the bike? Did you have a gun?”
“We made a deal.We’d take a ride, grab some dinner, and when I dropped her back home, if she hadn’t had a good time, I’d back off.”
“So you—” A faster take this time. “Back off from what?”
“From her, and this thing we’ve got going.?
??
“What thing would that be?”
They shared that, Mal thought, the instant Brown frost. “You really want me to spell that out for you?”
“And when did this thing start?”
“For me? About two minutes after she first opened her mouth to me, and it’s been clicking up some levels since. For her? You’d have to ask her yourself. Since she did have a good time, and I won’t be backing off, I’m being up-front with you.”
“Just how far has this thing gone?”
Mal paused a moment. “You know, Del, I get how you are about Parker, about all of them. Switch the circumstances, I’d probably be the same, so I get it. But I’m not going there with you, not about Parker. If you want to ask her, that’s between the two of you. But I’ll say this, if you think I’m just after a quick score, you and me? We don’t know each other as well as either of us thought.”
“She’s my sister, goddamn it.”
“If she wasn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She’s also a beautiful, smart, interesting woman.And she’s nobody’s push-over. If and when she wants to shake me off, that’s what she’ll do.”
“And if she does?”
