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“Agreed!” Robb laughed so hard he had to thumb a tear from his eye. “I heard about your orders that no one else ask her to my party.”
“Lew...” Qasim groaned. “Is there anybody he hasn’t told about that?”
“In Lew’s defense, he was probably talking about it out of sheer surprise rather than his obsession with honesty.”
“I’m just predisposed to getting physical, I guess.” Qasim shared the insight airily, but inside, the words stung.
Joining the military hadn’t actually been his plan; his then financial situation had been a deciding factor. Additionally, he had viewed the military as a place that would welcome a guy who didn’t mind shedding blood or having his own shed. He’d joined right out of high school and found more than his fill of violence and testosterone-driven angst.
He’d chosen not to make a career of it, however. Instead, he’d opted to complete his education on the government’s dime. Money, not violence, had been his motivation and the only way to truly distance himself from an impoverished past. Still, all the degrees, money and respect in the world couldn’t stifle his true nature—one he’d never regretted until Vectra Bauer came into his life.
“She doesn’t seem like the type to get off on seeing guys come to blows over her,” Robb noted.
“She’s not and that’s why I backed off our friendship.” Qasim shrugged.
Robb laughed. “Backed off with conditions.”
Qasim conceded the fact with another shrug. “It was wrong. I was threatening Lew before I knew what I was doing. I wouldn’t have hurt him.”
“So is backing away from Vec really necessary?”
A server stopped by the “king’s court” with fresh drinks before Sim could respond.
“I enjoyed my tour in the army,” he admitted, following a sip of the smooth bourbon. “I think I got addicted to the nonstop adrenaline. I craved it more than anything.”
“And the killing?” Robb kept his gaze fixed down into the stout, beaded glass he held. “Were you addicted to that, too?”
Qasim didn’t need to think about that, and the answer was quick and genuine. “No, not the killing.” He twisted his glass, swirling the liquid there. “But I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t get a certain amount of enjoyment off the power.”
He set aside his glass. “Knowing I held someone’s life in my hands. That I had the authority and approval from others to take it...made it difficult for me not to find satisfaction over it. That’s why I didn’t make a career of it. The way I felt about what I was expected to do over there...scared me.”
Robb raised his glass in toast. “And now you’ve got more power than you know what to do with.”
Qasim reached for his glass, reciprocating the toast. “Making money is the best kind of therapy.”
“A woman’s love and affection can be an even better kind.”
“Robb...” Qasim rested his head against the high back of the chair. “I might agree with you if all this possessive crap hadn’t reared its ugly head again the second I admitted to myself how much I want her in my bed.”
* * *
“You promised not to do this to me, Olive.”
“Are you really gonna try to convince me that no one else here could give you a ride home?”
Vectra smiled tightly. “I can see you haven’t learned much about wooing women from your father. Taking your date back home is one of the top rules.”
“But we’re talking about you, not women.”
Vectra attacked Oliver’s shoulder with a playful yet firm punch. They both dissolved into full-blown laughter over the tease and the action that followed.
“Look, Vecs, all the men here are guys I trust.” Oliver planted a fist to the center of his chest. “I even took the liberty of asking one.”
Vectra followed her brother’s gaze past her shoulder to where Qasim approached them from the curving hallway that led to an outer balcony along the VIP room.
“Olive,” Vectra spoke through clenched teeth.
Oliver kept his voice low. “Don’t even try it. I caught your dance earlier. What was going on when you disappeared before that?” He moved on to greet Qasim with a handshake and hug before Vectra could lash out with her retort.
She kept her palms plastered at her sides to resist fisting them. She and Qasim had parted ways shortly after bestowing warm birthday greetings upon Robb DeWitt.
Qasim had stopped to talk with Robb for a while and she’d taken time to chat with Robb’s wife, Davia. Afterwards, Vectra had mingled a bit more until she’d caught up with Oliver only to have her brother tell her he’d made plans to spend the rest of the evening with one of his female acquaintances.
