“Whew. Okay, well, you know that paparazzi reporter?”
His face fell. “Uh-oh…”
“Hey, I haven’t even told you anything yet!”
“I know, I know. I’m not mad. Go ahead. Whatever it is, I want you to tell me.”
She bit her lip and hesitated. Jason stroked her back again and she relaxed somewhat. “I tracked her down—just to talk to her—and my friend Roz came along.”
He groaned. “I thought you might. How did that go?”
“Not very well. I told her what I thought of her fabrications. She claimed to just report her observations. I told her to leave us alone.”
“And what did she say to that?”
“Basically? Something like, ‘Make me.’”
To his credit, Jason didn’t react badly. He nodded but didn’t seem upset. Maybe she could trust him with other things that might push his buttons—if she had to.
“So, do you think that’s the end of it?”
She shrugged. “Maybe? I hope so?”
He fidgeted. “You don’t sound one hundred percent sure.”
“Well, no one has called me with any more incriminating rumors about you.” Ha, so there. Put the shoe on the other foot and lethimsquirm for a while.
“You know what? I feel kind of sorry for her,” he said.
“Why? Have you met her, too?”
He chuckled. “No. Confrontation isn’t my style, remember?”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “I like that about you.”Good, maybe he’ll leave Sly alone.
“And I like that you can stand up for yourself.” He took her glass of wine and set it on the table. Then he closed the gapbetween them and kissed her.
Whew! Crisis averted… for now.As they kissed, she took great pleasure in the fact that he made sure she was as satisfied as she could possibly be, each time they made love.
Perhaps for the first time in her life, she felt as if raw sex and lovemaking were both present in every coupling. Not that she’d had much experience before this.
“Jason?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I sleep with you tonight?”
His grin lit up his whole face. “I’d love that.”
Today was the day everyone would gather in Chad’s apartment to talk to him about the conspiracy. Yes, the whole building had been included—except Sly. The Falcos still didn’t know he “lived” in their basement. They must not—since Dottie hadn’t had a major spaz in a while.
Speaking of the devil’s daughter, she’s waiting impatiently with the detective, glancing around the candlelit room, as if I’m going to materialize in front of her. Like I would if I could. I’d rather appear to those less prone to fainting.
Chad remembered the old TV show,Columbo, and thought Detective Joe Murphy, sitting at the head of the table, facing the door, looked like a modern-day version of Peter Falk in the starring role—but without the trench coat, or the lazy eye, or the mop of…okay, he looks nothing like him.
Yeah, he’d seen the TV show. Nathan used to watch it all the time. They both identified with his whole “crazy as a fox” routine. As a matter of fact, he still let Chad watch crime dramas with him. Chad decided that Joe looked more like the guy with the cockatoo on his shoulder… Beretta.
Nathan wasn’t watching much TV these days. During decent weather, he spent more time outdoors, soaring above the earth.I think he prefers being a bird—an animagus raven.
