I was sparkling clean, sexually sated, and filling my stomach with bacon. Was there a better way to start the week?
Well, some financial security wouldn’t suck.
Right, there was the wholejobthing, which led me right back to his comment.
So I swallowed. “Which dream job?”
Brakkor grinned without looking up from where he was sawing up his pancakes. “The one you get when you convince Mr. Frapp that he needs to fund an excavation of the Eastshore Lighthouse, rather than just shoring it up.”
I blinked, not sure of what I was hearing. “What?” I breathed.
Finally, he met my eyes. “The lighthouse. You said yourself that by dumping a bunch of concrete around thefoundation, we’re covering up a bunch of archeological evidence, and only buying the building another handful of years.”
I’d paused with a forkful of pancake halfway to my mouth. Now I bit into it and nodded mutely.
Brakkor shrugged. “So let’s go see Mr. Frapp. Maybe he’s got a good reason, ormaybehe doesn’t realize what he’s doing. Maybe the light needs to be moved—like you were talking about doing last night. The guy’s got the money for it.”
The thought—thepossibility—had my heart thumping faster than usual, and I slowly lowered my fork to my plate. “You know where he lives? Is he here on Eastshore?”
“Yeah—Korrad had to meet with him a few times. Says he’s a nice guy, a little eccentric. It wouldn’t hurt to visit him, right?” He inclined his head toward the window. “Last night’s storm bogged the project down, anyhow. Maybe he’ll want to nix it entirely, and you can talk him into doing the right thing.”
The right thing.
I stared at Brakkor. Did he haveanyidea of the gift he’d just handed me?
Even if Mr. Frapp didn’t jump at my suggestion, and even if this didn’t have anything to do with my future, Brakkor hadlistened. He’d listened to me, and he’d connected my past to what was happening on Eastshore, and he’dunderstood.
Brakkor was watching me, waiting for an answer, as if hehadn’tjust surprised me speechless with his casual offer. As if he hadn’t just shifted my worldview just slightly.
So I managed to nod. “Yeah.” I pretended great interest in my plate of pancakes, blinking to keep my eyes from tearing up. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. Let’s do that, if you think it’s okay.”
I heard him grin. “It’s a date.”
A date. With Brakkor.
Not a hookup, not a one-night stand, not a few hours in a hotel room…but a day together, just the two of us.
And he’d suggested we spend it doing something that would makemehappy.
I wondered if maybe I had misjudged him.
Chapter Ten
Brakkor
Cairo textedto let me know he’d towed Jocelyn’s car to his shop, popped the hood, and realized he couldn’t fix the starter. While she was getting ready, I had a conversation with him and Dravik about the pros and cons of ordering a completely new part versus scrapping the car.
“I dunno, man, I can’t make that call without asking her.”
Her scent hit me before I heard her. “Ask me what?” She poked her head out of the second bathroom.
I waggled the phone. “Talking to Cairo about your car.”
Her expression darkened, and on the other end of the line, Dravik blurted, “She’s there?”at the same time Cairo grunted, “It’s like that, huh? Good luck, you poor bastard. Text me what you want to do.”
When he hung up, I barely heard. Hells, I barely remembered I was holding the phone, because Jocelyn stepped out of the bathroom still pulling her hair up in a simple ponytail. With her hands over her head, her waist and tits were accentuated, and I’d stood up before I realized that I was intending on grabbing her and carrying her to my bed.
Hunt. Catch. Fuck.
