Page 26 of Last Shot

Frankie snorted again but flopped down on Grey’s two-seater and started scrolling through her phone, eyes flickering to the screen when she thought no one was looking.

Grey didn’t think he’d ever had this many people in his house before.

‘So what happened to the rest of your clothes, Max?’ Nella asked. Apparently Max’sBachelortrick was a single-use Nella distraction.

Max glanced sideways at Grey. He nodded, a little surprised she’d checked.

‘My bag got lost at the terminal,’ she said, stretching her legs out. On. His. Coffee. Table. Lord, this woman.Criminal.Thiscriminal.

‘Your whole bag?’ Nella lifted her brows in that lawyer way.

‘The whole thing.’ Max nodded in that cop way.

‘No undies?’ Nella breathed. Grey did not miss the sideways glance she gave him. It would be bad manners to throw the vase Nella bought him at her, wouldn’t it?

‘None.’ Max swallowed.

‘I didn’t bring undies.’ Nella looked at the pile of clothes she’d dumped on the kitchen bench. ‘I didn’t actually think Grey was serious. I felt for sure Jett had got the message wrong. I have some though if you want – I get sent stuff all the time. I haven’t opened them. They’re from some sex shop in Adelaide but—’

‘They’ll be fine! Thanks.’

Grey knew Nella was completely capable of making conversations like this discreet. Her courtroom opponents never had any idea what she was going to pull to make her clients come out on top. But whether she was baiting him or Max was unclear.

‘I’ll send them down later. Unless you need them now?’

‘I’m good,’ Max said, clearly uncomfortable. Which made Grey feel more comfortable.Yes, you should feel weird being here in my home, talking to Nella and Frankie Barbarani like you’ve known them since kindergarten, wearing no underwear and ...

She said she’s good, Greyson. That obviously means she’s wearing under ...

Oh. Shut. Up.

He glared at Max to get the image out of his head that she’d unknowingly put there. Hell, who was he kidding? She probably knew exactly what she was doing.

‘Are the other security guards staying with you, Grey?’ Nella asked in what she probably thought was a sweet voice.

Nice try.

‘Most are arriving tomorrow. Max offered to come earlier to assist with the initial preparations.’

‘Well, don’t let us hold you up,’ Nella said. ‘It looks like you’re run off your feet. Nice to meet you, Max.’ She waved and then snuck Grey a look that suggested she’d just cracked all the nuclear codes.

Frankie gave Max a quick wiggle of her fingers, half-heartedly kissed Grey on the cheek and followed her sister out the door with one last glare at the silk dress.

When the door shut behind them, Grey felt like they’d been air-locked into a pressurised space shuttle. ‘Was that everything you’d ever dreamed it would be?’ he asked. ‘Meeting the Barbarani sisters?’

Max switched off the TV and stuck her hand through the hole in a pair of Nella’s ripped jeans. ‘Oh yes,’ she breathed. ‘I stole a piece of Nella’s hair and Frankie lost a toenail. I’m going to grind them up and make a perfume so I can always remember this moment.’

‘They only talked to you like that because you’re with me.’

‘And you’re their favourite hit man.’

‘I’m not a hit man!’

‘But you are their favourite?’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Question is – can you trust them? Any of them?’

‘More than I trust you.’

‘You’re avoiding the question.’

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