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Or don’t. And just accept that he was here where she wanted him and do whatever was necessary to survive whatever was to come.
“I don’t care where you go.” She got into her 4Runner. “But I’m in the mood for Chinese…”
***
Kendra was blow-drying her hair when she heard the front doorbell ring.
“Open the door,” Lynch called. “I come bearing gifts from the Middle Kingdom.”
She opened the door and he whisked into the condo carrying two huge shiny red sacks with white firecrackers all over them. “Li Po’s,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for the dining room table. “I’ll set up the table while you finish drying your hair.”
She shut the door. “You rang the bell. Why didn’t you use your key? Did you lose it?”
“Nope.” He pulled cartons from the first sack. “But I thought that it might be a good idea not to use it until you tell me to. When I left here the last time, it was because I thought it was safer for me to be able to reach you at any time. But it has to be your choice. I don’t want to ever have you feel that I’m violating either your independence or your privacy. I’ll always ask you and I’ll never take you for granted.” He smiled. “Or you’ll tell me. That would be even better.” He started delving into the other sack. “You’d better finish drying your hair. You don’t want Li Po’s special to get cold.”
“No, I don’t.” She headed for the bathroom. “I won’t be long. I’ll just run a comb through it and let it flop.”
“Good. I always liked it like that. It’s all honey brown shot with sun streaks, but it certainly doesn’t flop. No matter what you do, it always turns out rather sculpted. And it shimmers.”
“Shimmers?” She looked over her shoulder. “Where on earth did that come from? I could understand if you were talking about Olivia. She has that gorgeous brunette hair.”
“True. But I prefer sun-streaked. ‘Shimmers’ perfectly describes the hair and you.”
“Okay, I’ll take it. How did things go in South Africa?”
“It’s still ongoing. I’m helping to arbitrate an agreement between energy producers and politicians. There’s corruption to deal with on all sides. It’s an ongoing struggle just to keep the grid up.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “And I’ll tell you about it at dinner if you don’t let the food get cold.”
“Deal.”
She disappeared into the bathroom.
***
The food was excellent, and Lynch’s stories kept her amused throughout dinner. His background was always colorful, and his experiences were equally fascinating. Everything was entirely different from the darkness and blood that had been surrounding her for the last couple of days. Tonight, Lynch was in fine form, and she just let herself flow with the stories. She even found herself laughing a few times.
“That’s what I wanted.” He got her a glass of red wine and then sat down again. “Now it’s time for you to perform. Are you ready?”
“Ready?” She took a sip of wine. “Perform? I don’t have any tales to tell you.”
“Yes, you do. I’ve heard you tell me about your wild days, and the times you and Olivia almost closed down that school you both went to.” He poured himself a glass of wine. “But that’s not what I want you to tell me right now. What did you find down in that crater today that made you so intense while you were talking to Cassalas?”
She stiffened. “Eavesdropping, Lynch?”
“I admit I was watching you for that couple of minutes before you sent him on his way. I could tell you were almost exhausted, but you were still generating that electricity. It was…interesting.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to see exactly how you were doing before you confronted me. Sometimes lately I’ve had to fight to get you to show me what you’re thinking. I thought it might help me to know how to handle our situation.”
“Situation?”
His brows rose. “Kendra.”
She nodded. “I grant there is a situation. And how did you decide to handle it?”
