Page 36 of An Indecent Longing

“Am I supposed to tell you everything?”

“Well, yeah. Of course.”

Dorrie laughed. “And when was the last time you got laid?”

“Way too long ago.” Risa’s dry tone held a note of sadness. “But you know that.”

“We’re pitiful.”

“No.” Risa’s sigh rang loud and clear through the phone. “Okay, maybe a little. But there’s hope. You have an actual date tonight.”

“And what if I shouldn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if Dad doesn’t—”

“Stop. Right there.” The command in Risa’s voice made Dorrie’s teeth snap together. “We agreed. He’s not allowed to dictate decisions like this. It’s the only way we’ll have a normal life.”

“I don’t seem to be having much of a normal life anyway. And neither do you.”

“Then consider this your first step.” Unsurprisingly, Risa didn’t include herself in that statement. “Go out tonight. Have a good time. Get laid if that’s what you want to do. Don’t stress for a night.”

“You know that won’t happen. The stressing part.” And probably not the getting laid part either, although Ben had seemed interested.

And what about Ian?

He didn’t want her and the sooner she learned to live with that, the better.

“I know. At least try not to stress, okay?”

“I’ll try. Hey, I’m at the office, I gotta go. I’ll let you know about Blank.”

“Please do. Love you, Dorrie.”

“Love you too.”

* * * * *

“Hey, Ian. Didn’t expect to see you here. Everything okay?”

Ian turned to find Adam Oleksy leaning against the door frame of Ian’s office.

Dammit, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard Adam. Then again, the guy was almost as good at Ian at not being seen when he didn’t want to be.

How Adam managed that when he looked like a Russian mob enforcer straight out of Central Casting was pretty fucking amazing.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

Adam nodded but showed no sign of moving, pale blue gaze sharp. “Good to hear. Got a complaint from the client last night and…” He held up a hand to stop Ian’s immediate response. “Before you respond, let me say I would’ve done the exact same thing. My only question is, how do you know Dorrie?”

Not for the first time since he’d started working with Adam and Tristan did Ian wonder how the hell Adam had managed not to fall into the same life as his father. The life that had sent his father back to Russia after his father and his uncle had given up control of the Philly Russian mob to Karel Antonoff.

“We met months ago at a hospital fund-raiser.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Nothing more to the story?”

He liked his new business partner, trusted him with his life. But he didn’t feel he owed Adam his entire life story. Adam probably knew more than Ian wanted him to, anyway.

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