“Is she always such a buzzkill?” Dana saunters over to the wet bar.
“Damn, I didn’t know a pantsuit could be that sexy,” Carlsson whispers.
“I’d be her house husband,” Ren drawls.
I elbow Ren. “You’d need to get teeth first.”
The music changes. Ellie’s cousins scream, dragging players into the middle of the living room. “I love this song!”
“Shots!” Granny Murray hollers.
“Do you still have that purse full of pills?” Ziggy jokes.
“There’s a game tomorrow,” Ellie rushes around reminding people.
I sidle up to Dana. “Didn’t think you’d want to mess up your nice shoes in a place like this.”
Dana snorts as I dance next to her. “You should have seen me in college.”
“Yeah, were you a party girl?” I ask, trailing my fingers on her pantsuit, hoping I feel her phone and can snag it.
Zayne is giving me thatI’m going to fuck you uplook that he gets before he creams someone on the ice.
I can’t care, can’t feel the weight of his disappointment.
Or of Ellie’s.
Sure, that might be Ellie looking jealous, but I have a mission. And it’s not “fall in love with my hockey coach,” no matter how cute she is.
Dana catches me looking at Ellie. She’s too good of a businesswoman to let me get a read on what she’s thinking.
“Boss lady,” Ren drawls in that molasses accent. “I believe they’re playing our song.”
A country pop song blares from the speakers as Ren practically tosses Dana up onto the coffee table to cheers. I bleed back into the shadows, watching as the players dance with Ellie’s pretty cousins and sisters.
The music pulses. Jovi’s taken over DJing duties.
I drift into a side room. Dana’s purse is among the pile of coats in what Carlsson calls the “smoking room,” but really, it’s where Ren has moved onto the couch.
I don’t hesitate. Anyone can come in, but I just pray that there’s enough of a window.
Out comes her iPad. I have the decoy tablet in my jacket for easy access, and I swap them out.
Just in time. Dana saunters in.
“Can I help you, boss?”
She raises an eyebrow. She’s a little drunk.
I need to stall, need her not to wonder why I’m in here, not at the party, and what that iPad-shaped thing in my coat is.
“Uh-oh.” A smirk plays around her mouth. “Did you make my coach mad? Did she put you in time-out?”
“Someone jealous?” I slowly roll out the words. I don’t need to worry anymore. I have acquired my target. Once Lawrence hacks into this iPad—hopefully, all the evidence Hudson’s client requires will be on it—my job will be done, debt repaid.
“Not me.”
“Hmm. Too bad. Because I still want to know what it’s like to fuck a billion dollars.” I wink at her and head back into the party. I need to duck out, get the iPad to my cousins.
