I’ll bet you were.I wondered how he and Angela had met. Had he saved her from a fall too? Or had he simply walked into her restaurant, sat at the bar and ordered a drink? I decided to ask her, if we ever got around to being friends and discussing our deep dark secrets.
“Well, I appreciate it,” I said and turned to go. I didn’t need this guy memorizing my face, just in case I ran into him later on with Angela and things got weird. Or weirder.
“Sure, take care of yourself.” He walked over and sat down at an outside table just a few yards from where I’d fallen. I could smell garlic and butter coming from a cute little Italian restaurant where he was apparently having lunch.
With a young, blonde woman who looked just about Angela’s age.
No. Way.
She couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. She wasn’t as pretty as Angela, but she had enormous boobs and long legs and was gazing at him in adoration. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, and she smiled at him like there was no one else around.
Holy hell.Did the Congressman have more than one girlfriend? Was I supposed to be endingbothhis affairs? Grace hadn’t mentioned that, but maybe she didn’t know about this second side dish. Either way, it seemed too perfect an opportunity. According to the training scenarios I’d watched, sometimes affairs could be ended by showing one of the players they weren’t the only ones in the game. Looked like this guy was a prime example. I couldn’t believe he had the balls to meet up with another of his girlfriends right out in the open, but then again, some men were dumb.
Really dumb.
I casually strolled around the corner, then dug out my phone. I knew exactly what to do. I’d take a couple pictures of the blissfully happy couple, then figure out a way to show them to Angela the next time I saw her.
Look who I ran into! He’s so good-looking, right? I thought he was married but I guess not because…
I leaned against the brick wall, trying to play it cool even though my heart was racing. This was a pretty area, a popular neighborhood, with the trees starting to bud and a blue sky poking through. Tourists were forever snapping selfies. He probably wouldn’t even notice if I took a few pics of the street. I lifted my phone and peeked around the corner.
Still there.
Still laughing and smiling at each other.
Drinking wine and sharing a plate of calamari.
If I’d known Angela better, I might have felt sorry for her. But I had a job to do. Debts to pay. I couldn’t get personally attached to anyone involved. I framed the street, the restaurant, their table, got ready to snap away…
And then Rafe came out of nowhere and blocked my view.
7
“What are you doing?”I tried to step around him, but that was about as effective as stepping around an elephant.
“That’s not what you think it is.She’snot who you think she is.”
Oh, please. I knew people. I could read body language from a mile away. Congressman Reynolds and his little playboy bunny were sharing more than an appetizer.
“Victoria.”
I gave Rafe as evil a look as I could muster, but all I could see was my angry face reflected in his sunglasses. I wanted to rip them off and throw them in the gutter. “Please get out of my way.”
“That’s his daughter.”
My mouth fell open, and like a helium balloon losing its air I could feel all my excitement, all my plans, slip away. “Wait a minute. How do you know?” I’d studied all the details of both Angela and her lover. Congressman Reynolds had two children under the age of twelve. No way was that blonde either one of them.
“She’s from an earlier relationship. When he was in college. Before he got married.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
He held up his phone, and I could see the blonde’s face framed on the screen. “Facial recognition software. I thought I’d read something about him having another daughter. Called a buddy to scan her image and see what he could come up with.”
I couldn’t decide if I was angry that he’d meddled or glad that my bodyguard had connections. Still, this was supposed to bemyjob. Rafe was supposed to shadow me. Keep me safe. He wasn’t supposed to jump in the middle of my relationship plotting.
“Why didn’t you help me?” I asked. “When I fell?”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “Sorry. I would’ve. But the Congressman beat me to it.”
