Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,89

out for sure would be our next challenge. After Sam had taken Tabby back home and the plane was tucked safely back in its hangar, I slumped onto the couch in my living room with Ana and poured myself a large gin and tonic. Fuck knows I needed it.

“Now what?” she asked.

“I’m thinking of becoming an alcoholic.”

She took my glass, opened the window, and poured the contents into a bush outside.

“Nyet.”

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

“We need to either prove or disprove our theory.”

“No shit, Sherlock. How?”

“You said Black used a friend of his as an alibi. Pale? We should talk to him.”

I laughed and laughed and then I laughed some more. “Not even you could persuade Pale to talk. He’s part of Black’s posse, not mine. He, Black, and Nate will always cover for each other.”

Pale looked like a beach bum, but if you fell for the act and crossed him, you’d soon find out the error of your ways. I hadn’t worked a job with him before, but Black and I had joined him for a morning of surfing a year or two ago in California, and we were hanging out on the beach—which made Black twitchy because he hated doing nothing—when some perma-tanned prick in budgie smugglers with muscles bigger than his brain accused Pale of ogling his girlfriend. Probably that was true, but there was no need to start a fight over it. First, we ignored him, but the asshole wanted to look like a big deal in front of the bunch of ladies lying out nearby, so he shoved Pale. Big mistake. Black and Pale both caught the guy under the chin with synchronised uppercuts and knocked him out cold. Then Pale turned around and asked if any of the girls wanted to go out for dinner. A perky blonde young enough to be his daughter gave him her number because under the Hawaiian shirt and baggy shorts, he still kept in shape and he had one of those faces that only got better with age. And Black was happy because Pale went home to take a shower so we didn’t have to sit on the beach anymore.

“If we can’t crack Pale, there’s only one option left,” Ana told me.

“I know.”

Fuck, I knew. And I hated it.

I hated it because I’d have to confront the man I loved. I’d have to look him in the eye and ask him if he’d lied to me. Would he tell the truth or lie again? If he lied, it was over. I only hoped that after eighteen years of knowing him, I could tell the difference.

CHAPTER 36 - EMMY

WORK NEVER STOPPED, and no matter how much I longed to curl up under my duvet and hide from the world, I still had to go to the office for a late meeting. Some government guy wanted me to do a job. I wanted to sit at home in yoga pants and eat ice cream, so I quoted him an outrageous fee and he bloody agreed to it. See? My life was jinxed.

I finally got around to checking my messages and found one from Sky, asking if she could come home yet. She’d sent it at eight p.m. last night. Shit. I fired off a quick apology, deleted a text offering me free casino chips, then ignored everything else. Finally, I headed for the gym at headquarters. Punching something would help.

By the time I got home, Black was already there, complete with takeout from Claude’s, Richmond’s best French restaurant. Usually, that was a cause for celebration, but my appetite had deserted me.

“Dinner?” he asked.

“I’m not hungry right now.”

He closed the distance behind me and dug his thumbs into the knot of tension in my shoulders. Mmm. That felt good. I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying one last moment of bliss.

“How about we take a swim instead?”

In our own home, swimming didn’t tend to involve clothing and usually led to other things. But I couldn’t afford to get sidetracked, not tonight.

“I thought we could watch a movie.”

“A movie? Sure.”

I headed for the movie theatre before I chickened out, but Black caught my hand.

“Don’t you want to change first?”

I looked down at myself. Okay, so a tailored pinstripe dress and stilettos weren’t exactly typical moviegoing attire, but it was now or never. No distractions.

“I’m fine in this.”

“Okay.” His tone said he wasn’t convinced. “Do you want snacks? A drink?”

A bottle of wine would be nice, but I’d promised Ana