The Rebel King (All the King's Men Duet #2) - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,59
supposed to go over a few things with him on the ride home,” I say. “but he looks as tired as I am. Maybe it can wait till the morning.”
“The nanny’s been with Darcy and Elijah all day.” Millicent glances at her watch. “I’d like to send her home.”
“I’m all for a quick exit.” I glance down at my phone, at Maxim’s last text, before tucking it back into my evening bag. “The faster the better.”
Owen’s listening intently to an older woman asking about the future of social security when Millie approaches.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she says, smiling kindly at the woman. “But I’m going to start back home, O, for the kids.”
“Of course,” Owen says. “You still need to chat, Lennix?”
“I don’t think so,” I say. “My car’s at your place so I’ll catch a ride with Millie and head on home. We can touch base tomorrow.”
“Good. Get some rest,” he says, looking back to Millie. “You take Kevin and I’ll keep Bob. I’m right behind you.”
She reaches up to kiss his cheek, gives the woman a parting smile, and we head toward her car.
“Now we can talk about your secret relationship with my brother-in-law,” she says.
I glance around to see who’s within earshot. “Um, yeah, and maybe we can discuss the ins and outs of what it means to be secret while we’re at it.”
She grins, loops her arm through mine and starts toward the private back entrance of the country club hosting the fundraiser. A group of red-jacketed valets scramble to get the cars pulled up. Bob takes the keys from the tallest of the young men and holds open the door of Millie’s SUV.
“Thanks, Bob,” Millie says and climbs in.
I settle into the back seat, facing her. “And since when are you Maxim’s spy?”
“You mean the pic I sent him?” She grins and reaches into the little cooler between us, pulling out a Peroni and offering one to me. “That wine tonight may as well have been dishwater. Who organized that menu? Lucky for us, Owen stocks these for me.”
I never would have pegged Millie as a beer girl, but that’s where we usually mess up, thinking we have people pegged. I shake my head to refuse as the car pulls away from the curb.
“It was just a little fun,” she says mischievously. “You two have heated up a lot, huh?”
“Look, I know you guys are close, but I need to keep this discreet and separate from the campaign. I don’t want people thinking I got this job because I’m sleeping with the candidate’s little brother.”
“I think the only time anyone thinks of Maxim as the ‘little brother’ is when Owen reminds them.” She laughs and takes a swig of her beer.
“Maxim’s not anyone’s little anything.”
“Hung, is he?” Millie asks wickedly.
“Not going there with you, Mrs. Cade.” I pull an imaginary zip over twitching lips.
“I’ll just say,” Millie persists, giving me a wink, “it runs in the family.”
Our bawdy laughter is so loud I check to make sure the privacy partition is up all the way.
“Would you lookie there,” Millie says, glancing through the SUV’s back window. “Senator Cade managed to extract himself from a conversation in record time. I should’ve waited a little longer. I really wanted to ride home together.”
I look, too, and see Owen’s SUV is already behind us.
“At the next light,” I say, feeling lighthearted and happy for how genuinely they love each other, “you could hop out and go ride with him. I’ll be fine here by myself.”
“You sure?”
“Of course.”
I’m already thinking about calling Maxim as soon as Millie hits the pavement. We both peer again through the back window. They got caught at a light and are a little farther back, but still within easy sprinting distance if Millie wants to make it happen.
She gives me a conspiratorial glance when we stop at the next light. “I think I’m gonna go for it.”
“We should probably let Bob know first.”
I roll the privacy partition down to tell him Millie’s plan, of which he’ll probably disapprove. “Hey, Bob. Millie’s gonna—”
But the words, the sound of my voice, and every thought is absorbed by a bone-rattling boom that shakes the car. A sonic nightmare of sound rings a gong in my head and fills my ears, blocks all other noise until Millie’s tortured scream pierces the wall holding sound at bay. I lift my head dazedly and through the rear window see bright, angry flames devouring the car behind us.