“I guess I could stay...for a while.”
Reese leaned down and scooped her up into his arms. “We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.” Striding down the hall, he carried her into his bedroom. “In the meantime, we deserve a little time to forget.”
Reese made sure that happened.
The night was jet-black, no stars, no moon as Troy Graves turned into a deserted street in the warehouse district. Driving through the gate of an empty metal building surrounded by a chain-link fence, he braked his silver Porsche, slowed to a stop in the shadows, and turned off the engine.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been there. He’d met the same man in the same deserted spot before. He cracked open the car door, eased out, and started walking, his thousand-dollar Balenciaga sneakers crunching on the gravel.
Up ahead, he could just make out the man’s shadowy figure, and rage burned through him. Reaching into the pocket of his windbreaker, he wrapped his fingers around the ivory grip of his Glock 19 semiauto. The gun felt good in his hand.
He’d inherited the weapon from his dad, just like the power he held as half owner of Black Sand Oil and Gas. His father had never fired the weapon, but Troy had. You never knew when you might need to protect yourself.
Just like tonight.
The shadowy figure came into focus as the man came closer. “You bring the money?”
His jaw tightened. “You bring the recording?”
“I said I would, didn’t I? You get the flash drive, I get the cash, and no one’s the wiser.”
“You were well paid for what you did. Now you expect to get paid again, just to keep your mouth shut.”
In the thin rays of moonlight shifting through the clouds, Troy saw the man shrug.
“Things heated up. I had to leave town, start over somewhere else. That takes money, more than you paid me the first time.”
“How do I know the conversation we had hasn’t been copied onto more than one flash drive?”
Another shrug. “Guess that’s just a chance you’ll have to take.”
“Put the flash drive on the ground and back away.”
The man set the flash drive on the asphalt. “Now the money,” he said.
Troy pulled the pistol out of his pocket. “Sorry, I don’t think so.” They were standing about ten feet apart, the perfect kill zone, even for a guy with his lack of experience.
“What the hell?” The clouds parted and more light streamed down, illuminating the white circles of the man’s dark eyes.
“You shouldn’t have come to Dallas,” Troy said. “You should have stayed wherever the hell you went.” Troy pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times. The guy hit the ground before the shots finished echoing off the metal walls of the buildings.
In seconds he had the flash drive in hand and was driving his car back through the gate. The night closed around him as he continued along the roadway back to the city. He wondered how long it would take before the man’s body was found. It didn’t matter. There was no way to connect him to any of this.
Troy smiled. Maybe he’d stop by Heather’s place, celebrate a little. Heather was a good piece of ass, and after the way he’d handled things tonight, he deserved a reward. Troy stepped on the gas.
TWENTY-ONE
There was a shift in the mood at the office when Reese walked in the next morning a few minutes later than usual after so little sleep last night. Stepping out of the executive-floor elevator, he couldn’t stop a faint smile as he thought of Kenzie.
They were good together in bed, their sexual appetites, likes, and dislikes pretty much the same. It was one more reason they seemed to fit.
“Good morning, Louise.” He paused next to her desk. “You remember Kenzie won’t be in today. She’s going to her ex-husband’s funeral.”
“I know. I feel sorry for Griff. Kenzie told me he’s taking it pretty hard.” The older, gray-haired woman was an asset to the company. She was reliable, did her job well, and never complained.
“I guess they weren’t very close,” he said. “But your dad’s your dad. You only get one.”
“I don’t know about that,” Louise disagreed. “My dad ran out on us when I was a baby. The man who adopted me? He’s the best father I ever could have wanted.”
