asked about.”
“Thanks, Harvey.”
He stood. “I’ll be in touch when I have more.”
Kade walked him to the door, offered his hand. “They’ll be a bonus in your account. Appreciate the speed.”
“Anytime.”
“Penelope,” he called from the door.
“Yes, Mr. Wakefield.”
“Confirm my attendance to the Art Institute gala.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Upside to all this bullshit, he’d get to dress his woman again and then undress her.
He closed the door and walked back to his desk. Lifted the file and scanned the contents. “Son of a bitch.”
“What’s going on with you?” Carmine asked Kade that night. They were on the back patio, surrounded by manicured lawns, tended garden beds and woods. He had purchased the estate in the suburbs, as a tax write off, but it had grown on him. He liked the quiet, the open space, even the history of the place that Benson went out of his way to share. “Talk to me about the cop.”
“She knows,” Kade said, and waited for Carmine to lose his shit.
He didn’t disappoint when he stood so fast he knocked his chair over. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Kade’s words were clipped. “How long have you known me?”
“She’s a fucking cop, was working with vice.”
“She told me you’re not their target.”
“Of course she’s going to tell—”
Kade was up and had Carmine against the wall in a heartbeat. “You forget who you’re talking to.” His tone menacing.
Carmine shrugged him off and stalked away from him. Pacing to get a hold of his temper. “You’re telling me you’re looking at the big picture.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not letting your cock do the thinking?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask me that.”
Carmine stopped pacing, looked at his friend, really looked at him. “Shit, she’s not just a fuck.”
Kade bit back. “No.”
“And she knows about DeNuzzi.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She said she didn’t see a crime there.”
Carmine pulled a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you’re sleeping with the fucking NYPD.”
“Not all, just one.”
Carmine stopped pacing, looked back at his friend, then laughed out loud. Kade relaxed his stance.
“I took her to Antigua.”
Carmine stopped laughing. “No shit? She’s that important.”
Kade returned to his seat, reached for his whiskey, took a sip. “I’m only just beginning to realize how important.”
Carmine sat on the edge of the chair and dropped his elbows on his knees. “Fuck, man. Surprised as fuck it’s a cop, but seeing her in person, I get the appeal.”
Kade leveled hard eyes on his friend.
Carmine put his hands up and laughed. “Just an observation,” he said, and then added sincerely, “I’m happy for you. So what happens now?”
Kade wanted Molly in his apartment and his bed. It was one of the things they needed to discuss. “I make it known she’s mine.”
“What do you think her partner and boss are going to say?”
“She took the commercial flight back with her partner to tell him.”
“And what if she gets push back?”
Kade wasn’t going to let that happen. They could find a way where she didn’t have to give up her career. “She wants me.”
“She’d give it up?” Carmine was incredulous.
“Yeah,” Kade said, lifted his glass, and added, “I’d give it all up for her.”
Those words rendered his lifelong friend speechless but not for long. “Well, then it’s time you introduce your woman to your family.”
Kade didn’t miss a beat. “Why do you think you’re here?”
The doorbell turned Carmine’s head. “You sneaky bastard.”
Kade knew there was a good chance Carmine wouldn’t show if he knew Molly was coming. He was a crime lord, after all, and she was a cop, so he took the option off the table.
Benson appeared and right behind him was Molly. He hadn’t told her either, but she took one look at Carmine, smiled, and crossed the patio to him. “I guess he told you,” she said, in way of greeting.
“You do realize the last time we met you had me under surveillance,” Carmine said.
“Yeah, but I was moonlighting. I work with the dead, not the living.”
“Moonlighting?”
“To keep myself distracted.”
“Really?” he said and moved closer. “Why?”
“I think you know why,” she countered.
“I think I do, too, which begs the question why Kade was out with a Victoria Secret’s model that night,” Carmine said, both of them turning their attention to Kade.
He stood, crossed the patio, pulled Molly close and kissed her, and long enough that when he broke the kiss, she didn’t remember what they were discussing.
Carmine laughed. “That won’t work on me, Brother.”
Benson appeared. “Dinner is served.”
After dinner, Kade watched Molly and Carmine and wasn’t surprised how easily they got along. She was