Page 10 of Silver Fire

“I bet you do,” Beth answered derisively. “You’ll ruin her reputation.”

“Good god, woman, you make me sound like I’m a man of gross moral turpitude,” Derek said in mock indignation. He probably was morally depraved, but Sophie couldn’t possibly know all the sordid details.

“Um, newsflash, Lockwood. You’ve got three women on alternating days on any given week,” Beth declared, a gleam of triumph in her voice.

Derek clenched his jaw.How the hell did she know that?

“I do my research on whoever does business with my friend,” Beth answered the question in his eyes.

“You promised you would stop doing that.” Sophie scowled at her friend before spearing Derek with a disdainful look. “Seriously. Three women, Mr. Lockwood? It’s surprising that nothing has, er, fallen off.”

Derek’s brow shot up in amusement at the first sexual barb the usually serious Sophie Leroux had made. “You can call me, Derek,” he told Sophie softly, then looking at Beth Turner. “If you’ve done your research thoroughly, Ms. Turner, then you should know that I could effectively keep Sophie safe, for tonight at least.”

“He’s right,” Maia agreed, walking up to the group, Jack at her heels, clearly not willing to let his wife out of his sight.

“Derek is ex-Special Forces,” Maia continued. “You could stay with him tonight while I send in my recommendations to Viktor. I’ve also informed the Falls Church police department that AGS is taking the lead on this, so we don’t need to give them our statements regarding this incident. Our attackers had masks, but they were definitely dark-skinned. Whether they were African Americans or imports, we do not know. Their weapons were old-style AK-47s, and they attacked with Molotov cocktails. Not a well-funded group. Bottom line, they want you dead. You are a threat to them, we need to work on that angle.”

Sophie was coming home with him tonight, Derek thought with satisfaction, but her next words hacked through his ego like a machete hacking through a coconut.

“I’ll stay with Mr. Lockwood but only if Beth goes with me,” Sophie said, looking at the reporter beseechingly.

Maia smiled, Jack and Stephen were chuckling and Beth was smirking.

Derek had never regretted his sexual exploits as much as he did tonight. And, damn him, he could not resist saying, “Sure, could get interesting.”

“Sorry Lockwood, you’re not my type,” Beth retorted, then looking suggestively at Maia. “I’d do Ms. Pierce though.”

Turner: 1, Lockwood: 0.

“Beth!” Sophie admonished, but couldn’t repress the grin forming on her lips.

“There’ll be no one doing my wife,” Jack informed Beth blandly. “Except me.”

“All right, so now that we’ve confirmed sleeping arrangements, who’s riding with who?” Derek asked. He was quitting before he dug himself a deeper hole.

* * *

“I have two extra rooms,linens are in the closet,” Derek informed them when they got to his condominium. Sophie and Derek rode in Beth’s beat-up sedan and went to the reporter’s apartment so Sophie could take a shower as Beth packed their bags. While the women got ready, Derek went to the convenience store to buy a few essentials Sophie said she needed to get through the night. Most of her possessions were burned and what survived the fire sustained water damage. They picked up some Chinese take-out and made it to Derek’s condo by 9:00 p.m.

“Nice place,” Sophie remarked as she observed a surprisingly uncluttered space. The first thing she noticed was the wide expanse of windows that overlooked the New Park City skyline. The interior was decorated with modern masculine flair: sleek leather sofa, contemporary wood tables and diffused lighting. There were a couple of expensive metal sculptures and abstract blown glass figurines displayed strategically throughout the condo. “Fixed it up, yourself?”

“Hell no,” Derek laughed. “I was helping out a friend of mine who was breaking into interior design work. I have a lady who comes in to keep the place tidy.” He started taking the containers out of the paper bag. “Why don’t you ladies get yourself settled while I unpack our dinner?”

Sophie and Beth carried their overnight bags down the hallway. An open kitchen separated the bedrooms. The master bedroom was to the right of the kitchen, up two steps through a short hallway that flared wide and ended diagonally with Mahogany wood double-doors. A longer hallway started on the left of the kitchen that led to the two guest bedrooms.

“Hmm, I wonder which of the three ladies does his housework,” Beth whispered to Sophie.

“Beth, I really wish you’d stop baiting him,” Sophie sighed. “I always end up in the crossfire.”

“He’s interested in you.”

“He is not.” Sophie opened the first door on the left. The room had a queen-sized bed, and was decorated in the same minimalist style as the rest of the condo. “We can share this room.”

“Stop changing the subject,” Beth said. “You’re definitely on his radar. I see the way he watches you.”

“Stop making me feel self-conscious!” Sophie hissed. Her friend was beginning to annoy her. It had not escaped her attention how Derek’s melty chocolate eyes burned through her whenever he addressed her. She felt like she was getting unscrambled, like a puzzle he was trying to piece together and that unnerved her.

“All I’m saying is you need some fun,” Beth remarked. “And, I’m not really baiting him. I’m just cutting through the crap, and he shouldn’t even pretend he’s anything else than a quick lay.”

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