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She blinked rapidly. “I don’t know. You seem to like to drink. Wait, that’s not what I meant! You seem toappreciatea good bottle of whiskey. That sounds better, like I’m not calling you an alcoholic.” She grinned awkwardly.
What is this girl’s deal?
“I don’t know when I’m going to be needed, but I have to be ready at a moment’s notice,” I replied. “No alcohol for me.”
“Oh. That’s a shame.”
“Whiskey is gross!” Kaylee piped up.
“How do you know what whiskey tastes like?” Trish asked.
“Because daddy gave me some. It was awful!”
Trish stared at me wide-eyed. “You gave your eight-year-old daughterwhiskey?”
“I think she was six at the time,” I replied.
“You’re not helping your case!”
“I gave her a taste. The tiniest little sip. And she hated it. Now she wants nothing to do with alcohol of any kind.”
Trish stared at me. “That’s actually kind of shrewd.”
“I know how to parent. Sometimes.”
Trish nodded, and put her headphones back on. But I noticed that she was only staring at her laptop screen without actually taking part in the game. A few moments later, she took her headset off and turned to me again.
“I like you without a beard.”
The comment totally caught me off guard. All I could do was grunt.
“Your beard doesn’t do anything for you,” she said. “It covers up your square jawline. And it looks dirty. You’re much better this way. Right, Kaylee?”
“Yeah!” she said. “Daddy’s beard tickles.”
“I like my beard,” I replied curtly. Why did she have an opinion about my beard? “I had to shave it for the mission, because Archer says I’ll stick out too much in the city with it. I’m growing it back as soon as we’re done here.”
“Oh. Okay.” Trish hesitated, then said, “This mission is dangerous. Right?”
“Crossing the street is dangerous.”
“You know what I mean. This is dangerous for you guys. Much more dangerous than working security at a peace conference, or training some Ukrainians on how to use rocket launchers.”
“We’ve taken dangerous missions before,” I replied carefully.
“Like Prague?”
I tried to conceal my surprise, but probably failed. I wasn’t good at hiding my emotions like Archer or Jordy. “What do you know about Prague?”
She leaned forward, showing a bit of cleavage. “Not much. Nobody will tell me anything.”
I struggled to keep my eyes from drifting downward. She wasn’t well-endowed in the chest region, but what she had was shapely. “For good reason.”
“What happened?” She gave me a sexy smile. “Come on. You’re sitting here, at home, bored.” She put her hands over Kaylee’s headphones to help muffle what she said next. “I’m bored too. And I like hearing about what you guys do. Even the missions I disagree with. What happened in Prague?”
I wanted to tell her. I wanted to do anything to make her happy, I realized. She was smiling at me, and leaning forward in a way that gave me a view down her chest, and shehadto know what she was doing. And damned if it didn’t work. I found myself leaning toward her and opening my mouth to answer.
I stopped myself. Just barely.Letting Trish get to me like that. I’m just as bad as Jordy or Archer.
