little brother,” Carlos said as he checked me out. “Got to hand it to you. Better than I expected. You must have some hidden assets after all.”
“Oh, Lucas has hidden assets,” William said. “About five million of them, and that’s just the guarantee. Hold out for the big gamble, and he has a half-billion more.”
Carlos laughed. “No shit. That kind of dough, any loser can get laid, huh? A few blow jobs is a small price to pay for a shot at Cortez cash.”
“Not necessarily,” I said. “From what I hear, it can be too high a price.” I met Carlos’s gaze and smiled. “At least with some of the Cortezes.”
His eyes hardened. “Like hell.”
“If you say so.”
I let Lucas lead me away. We’d gone about five steps when he leaned down.
“Dare I ask?” he whispered.
“Jaime.”
He started to laugh, but choked it back. “Jaime and Carlos?”
“No,” I said. “Jaime and not Carlos. She decided five million wasn’t enough.”
His laugh escaped then, a burst of laughter that made me grin and squeeze his hand. I glanced back to see Carlos glaring after us. Guess I hadn’t made a new friend. Too bad.
“To be honest, I suspect it’s far less than five million by now,” Lucas said as we walked. “At the rate he goes through money, I’d say Carlos is down to about five dollars. He’ll have to hold out for the inheritance.”
“I thought five million was the inheritance.”
“No, the trust fund.” His lips curved. “Silence falls, as she refrains from stating the obvious, namely that her impoverished boyfriend is not as impoverished as she believed. Remember that next time you challenge me for paying cab fare.”
Lucas pulled open the back door to the warehouse, and we stepped through into a lobby that would be the envy of any small-town courthouse. A few people milled about, but Lucas looked neither left nor right, just led me toward a set of interior double doors.
“Somehow I suspect you’re no more able to pay the cab fare now than you were ten minutes ago,” I said. “No trust-fund-dipping from this Cortez. You could be kidnapped by demon guerillas and still refuse to use any of it for the ransom.”
“True.” He smiled down at me. “But if you’re ever kidnapped, I’ll make an exception.”
A swarthy young man in a suit and cap appeared at Lucas’s side. “Mr. Cortez, sir?”
“Yes?” Lucas said.
“I work for the St. Clouds. Mr. St. Cloud’s driver.”
“Rick, isn’t it?”
The man smiled. “Yes, thank you, sir. I just wanted to say we appreciate it, what you did, catching this guy. Griffin’s inside. He’ll speak to you himself, but I wanted to add my thanks. And, uh—” His gaze flicked to the double doors. “To say there’s a back way in there, if you’d rather take that.”
“Back way?” I said.
“Uh, yes, miss. Past the others. The Nasts and a few of the St. Clouds are in the waiting area. There’s another way into the courtroom. You and Mr. Cortez might be more comfortable using it.”
“Thank you,” Lucas said. “But we’ll be fine.”
“Yes, sir.”
The man backed away and slipped into a side hall. I glanced up at Lucas’s taut face. All the tension he’d expelled on our walk into the building had returned double-strength. Once we walked through those doors, it was only going to get worse.
Lucas needed a distraction. As I glanced down the two side halls, I had an idea. Highly inappropriate but, sometimes, a little impropriety is exactly what you need.
“Nearly forty-five minutes left,” I said. “We’ll be sitting all day. No need to rush in there.”
“Do you feel well enough to take a short walk?”
“Not what I had in mind.”
I tugged him toward the nearest side hallway. His brows lifted, but when I didn’t answer, he followed. I turned at the first branch, walked to the third door and opened it. An office. I tried the fourth. Locked. A quick unlock spell and the door opened into a large storage closet.
I flicked on the light. “Perfect.”
“Dare I ask?”
“If you have to ask, you really are tired this morning.”
He hesitated, then smiled.
“Well?” I said, backing into the closet.
He strode through the door, kicked it shut behind him, and cast a lock spell. I stepped back, but he grabbed me and pulled me to him in a deep kiss.
“Damn,” I said, gasping as I pulled back. “I’ve missed that, Cortez. Last night I was wondering how much weight my hospital bed held. Should’ve conducted a test.”