I picked up my fork in order to dive into my crab cake.
I had the succulent-looking crab halfway to my mouth whenMarcus asked, “Where did you grow up?”
I braced but answered, deciding that was an innocent enoughquestion, and if he pressed for more, I’d shut it down.
He didn’t press for more.
He scooped out some of his oysters Rockefeller.
And we ate.
Marcus
Marcus got her drunk.
He did this without remorse.
It bought him a good deal of her amazing laughter.
It also got him the bonus of her passing out in his car,this meaning he didn’t have to have words with her about where he fullyintended to spend the night that night.
He carried her to her apartment and took off her shoes, hernecklace, her bracelets, and carefully slid out her earrings but left her inher dress when he tucked her into bed.
He left her room, closing the door behind him at the sametime sliding his phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
He flipped it open and made the call.
“Boss,” Brady answered, sounding mostly alert, somewhatdrowsy.
Within a minute, he’d issued his order.
He finished with, “Hopefully that pawn shop will still beopen.If it isn’t, maybe someone who ran it will be around and they keptrecords.But I don’t care what it takes, Brady.Even if you have to pullNightingale into it.Find those pearls and get them to me.”
“You got it, Mr.Sloan.”
“Goodnight,” Marcus said and hung up.
Then he took off his suit jacket, his tie, shirt, shoes, andsocks and he stretched out on Daisy’s couch, tucking a toss pillow under hishead and pulling one of her throws over his body.
He closed his eyes, and within seconds, with Daisy restingsafe in the next room, Marcus was asleep.
Chapter Seven
Deal
Daisy
I opened my eyes and saw daisies.
Then I realized I was hungover.
On this realization, and the others that bounded in afterit, in a tizzy, I pushed the covers down and saw I was in my dress from lastnight.
I touched my naked earlobe, felt my necklace gone, andlooked back to the daisies to see my jewelry sitting at the base of the vase.
Then I turned, saw the other side of the bed was empty,stared at the fluffed pillows I hadn’t slept on but grabbed one of them andpulled it to me to take a whiff.
It still smelled of Marcus, but this morning, only faintly.
