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Cat drew in her breath to reply.
Bones beat her to it. “Know what your problem is, Justina? You’re in desperate need of a good shag.”
Cat laughed and then took a swig of gin to cover that when her mother shot an incensed look her way.
“Not that I’m offering you one myself, mind,” Bones went on. “My days as a whore ended back in the seventeen hundreds, but I have a mate who owes me a favor and he might be up for the job-Kitten, are you all right?”
She’d stopped breathing, and her heart rate had skyrocketed. Then, her hands went to her throat. Now he knew what was wrong. That was the universal gesture for choking.
Bones gave her several hard smacks on the back. She coughed, spewing gin out, and finally drew in a ragged breath.
Justina didn’t seem to notice. “You filthy, molesting sodomite!” she raged at Bones.
“Isn’t this a proper flashback to her childhood?” Bones snapped. “You’re more concerned with yourself than your own daughter. Bloody hell, woman, can’t you see that she’s choking?”
Justina stopped her tirade to stare at Cat, who took in several more painful-sounding breaths. She must have accidentally inhaled quite a bit of gin. Come to think of it, Cathadgasped when Bones told her mum he’d been a former whore. If she’d had a mouthful of gin when she did that, no wonder she now appeared as if she’d just been water-boarded.
When Cat’s breathing no longer sounded like the dying gasps of a drowning sailor, Bones returned his attention to Justina.
“’Sodomite’ is both bigoted and technically incorrect. Women were my clients, not men. ‘Course, if you don’t trust my recommendation for that shag, I reckon your daughter might have a friend among her team who’d be up for the arduous task of-”
“That’s it!” Justina shouted, and ran toward the door.
“Come back soon,” Bones said in his cheeriest tone.
Justina slammed the door behind her.
“She’ll go straight to Don,” Cat rasped out.
Bones smiled as he brushed her hair back. “No, she won’t. She’s riled, but she’s not stupid. It threw her a good one to see you stand up to her. She’ll stew for a while, and then wait for an opportunity. Despite whatever she’s told you, she’ll never risk you leaving her. You’re all she has.”
Cat wiped her mouth as she finally straightened from the half-crouch she’d been in when she’d been coughing. “You should still watch your back. If she calls Don, he could send the team after you without my knowing it.”
“To what end?” Bones said with a laugh. “It would take a small army of humans to be able to corner me, and I’d hear that coming. Don’t fret, luv. I’m not so easy to kill. Now, do you want to wear that? Or do you want to put something else on?”
She gave him a confused look. “For what?”
“I’m taking you out to dinner. Thatisa celibate dating activity, is it not? Besides, your previous entrée is now cold, and it looked none too appetizing when it was hot.”
“But what if…” her voice trailed off.
Bones arched a brow. “What ifwhat,Kitten?”
She paused, her guilty expression confirming that she’d almost said,but what if someone from my work sees us?They eventually would. He wouldn’t be her dirty little secret this time, from her mum or anyone else in her life.
Granted, if he hadhischoice, he’d just slaughter Don and run off with her, but Cat would probably object to that. Moreover, if Bones was right, then Don was more than her employer. How much more, Bones would find out soon.
“Well?” Bones said.
She drew in a deep breath. “I’ll go change. Wait for me.”
Bones let out a wry laugh. “I’m rather used to that, luv.”
18
Cat had taken the week off from work, which delayed her confrontation with her team about him. Bones didn’t mind. It gave him more time to secure the final bit of information he’d been seeking.
After their first night at dinner, Cat seemed surprised when Bones drove her straight home and left her at her front door. She seemed surprised the next night, too, when he took her out for drinks followed by a movie, and then dropped her off at her house without even a peck on the cheek. Night three was a lovely meal at a café and a stroll around the city, and this time, when he walked away after seeing her to her porch, Cat wasn’t surprised, but she did seem disappointed.
