just how long he’d gone without a woman in his life.
And now she was here. In Alexandria and invading his space.
Putting the shot glass aside, he poured an ample amount of scotch into a whiskey glass. He then moved toward the family room and eased down on the sofa that faced the fireplace. This time, instead of gulping the liquor down, he would savor it the way he should, rolling it around in his mouth before easing it down his throat.
The bottle had been a housewarming gift from Locke, who had known scotch was his drink of choice when he needed to drown out whatever bothered him. Right now, it was Toni.
How was he supposed to work with her every day, knowing what they’d once shared? What they had once meant to each other? In a way, that was the crux of the problem. To her, they hadn’t meant anything to each other. Nothing had changed since that day she declared they were sex-buddies and nothing more. He got just what he deserved for thinking there could be more.
Forcing Toni from his mind, he switched his thoughts to someone else. Natalie. He hadn’t been surprised to see her when he’d gotten off work, waiting by his car. Of course, she had wanted to ask him about the Tindal case. Natalie was always looking for an inside scoop.
He soon discovered the Tindal case hadn’t been the only thing she was interested in. She had heard about his new partner and had seen Toni for herself at the crime site. She wanted to know all about her. Unfortunately, Natalie quickly found out that he wasn’t the person to ask about Toni.
Throughout Natalie’s interrogation, Andrew had played dumb. He had no problem lying, saying he knew little about Toni. However, he did tell Natalie that Toni wasn’t the talkative kind. He hoped she’d take the hint, but wasn’t surprised when she didn’t.
Natalie was still pissed that he’d been in his home for more than a year now and hadn’t invited her over. Of course, he had no intention of doing that. But that hadn’t stopped her from trying to invite herself over tonight.
Natalie had been a one-night stand a couple of years ago—and that one time had been enough.
He was about to take another swallow of scotch when his phone rang. Recognizing the ring tone, he picked it up. “Yeah, Locke?”
“You are going to Shep’s party, right?”
He leaned back against the cushions. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it. What about you guys?” His former inmates, Locke, Shogun, and Macayle, were attorneys and partners in their law firm of Dangerfield, Duke, and Wasilla. Their choice of vocation didn’t surprise Andrew—they were nothing if not argumentative.
“Yes, we’ll be there. It will be good to see everyone. Only Sheppard could get me back down south.”
He knew what Locke meant. Although he was a native of Atlanta, he had joined Shogun and Macayle in Portland, Oregon. That’s where their law office was located.
“How are things going at work, Drew?”
Andrew didn’t say anything for a minute. He’d never mentioned his affair with Toni to anyone other than Norm, and that was only after Norm had met her. They had decided at the beginning of their relationship not to get family and friends involved, since theirs would not be that sort of relationship. As a result, she had never met any of his friends, and he had not met any of hers…except for Joy. He had still never met her grandparents, even though he’d known how close she was to them. Still, in the past few years, some of his friends had figured it out, and he’d had to admit what an idiot he’d been for letting a woman get too close. Then eight months ago they had officially met his mystery woman at Stonewall’s wedding.
“Drew? You still there?”
“Yeah, man, sorry. I’ve got a new partner,” he finally said. “She started today.”
“She? You’ve never had a female partner before.”
“She transferred in from another state. After working with her today, I could tell she’s competent, observant, attentive to detail, and patient. So far, she’s everything I expect in a good detective. But…”
“Umm, let me guess,” Locke said. “She’s a looker and you don’t like mixing business with pleasure.”
“I don’t?”
“Well, I assume you don’t, but then again, I don’t think you’ve ever been tested. At least you’ve never mentioned dating anyone at work before.”