Page 43 of Business vs. Pleasure

August found his sister in the kitchen, a glass of red in one hand and the Wall Street Journal in the other. She glanced up at him as he came in. “Quiet,” she warned him as she set the paper aside. “Paschal is sleeping.”

“Did you or did you not take pains to fuck-proof your suite?” he demanded as he sat down across from her. “If I can’t hear you scream his name at night, he won’t hear me chat you up at the table.”

She rolled up the paper and whapped him on the head with it. “He’s on the couch.”

August grinned even as he tempered his voice. “Oooh, what did he do to make you kick him to the couch?”

She grimaced. “It’s nothing like that. I was already awake when he came home. He had a nightmare, and after one of those the only way he can go back to sleep is if he can hear someone else moving around.”

“Oh.” Well shit, that wasn’t funny at all. “I’m sorry. Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine. Nightmares are thankfully rare for him.”

August wondered if him and Ricardo being here had contributed to it. “Well, we’ll get out of your hair, but…” He explained the situation to Elodie, and sure enough, she reversed her position on the jet without him even having to ask.

“You’re going to be careful, right?” she said as he stood up.

“Of course.” He came over and pressed a kiss to the top of his sister’s head. Her roots had grown out a bit, and he could see a few strands of silver mixed with the honey blonde. Oh my God, you’re getting old. Normally he’d have sassed her about it, but he just couldn’t seem to muster the energy for it right now. “You too,” he said, holding her a little tighter than he normally would.

She chuckled. “I have an entire security team for that.”

“Well, tell them my husband will beat them up if they don’t do a good job.”

“Ah, I see how it is. Relying on Ricardo to fight your battles for you, huh?”

“I’m the brains, he’s the brawn,” August explained loftily.

“Mmhmm. Who’s the one who had to be walked through how to turn the television on five times?”

“Shut up, you have a stupid number of remotes.” He kissed her again. “Thank you for everything.”

Elodie nodded. “I’m here for you, you know that. Just come back, okay?”

“We will.” If the last two disastrous jobs hadn’t killed them, nothing would.

CHAPTER 13

Ricardo had an idea.

Heidi wasn’t going to like it, and August would probably dislike it, be confused by it, then jump all over it with manic glee.

With any luck, NightPigeon would be pissed about it. After the fact, anyway.

While Ricardo waited for August to come back up from talking to his sister, he texted Heidi.

Have you finalized the job’s details yet?

You mean have I claimed it for you and your ridiculous husband? Yes.

Can it be reassigned? Like will the system allow it?

The system will allow it, yes. Why? What are you doing, Ricardo? (knife emoji)

Do you trust me?

Probably more than I should.

Exactly. Give me an hour.