Page 59 of Lone Star

“Axelle’s room is next to ours,” she said by way of good morning.

His hum managed to sound both inquiring and bored. The ass.

“Axelle’s room is next to ours, and we didn’t hear anything last night.”

A beat passed. He lifted his head, face scrunched up and pillow creased, and cracked one blue eye. “Did youwantto hear something?”

“No. But I expected to.”

He pushed up on both elbows, and blinked a moment, gaze clearing – sharpening. He was a good actor; she’d give him that. “Is that your thing, then? Listening to other people shag?”

She smacked his shoulder. Not gently.

His reaction was a grin. “I always knew there was a secret kinky side of you. It’s alright, love, you can let it out.”

“It’s not secret, and I do let it out, frequently,” she deadpanned. “I meant: your brother still hasn’t moved in on Axelle yet.”

“Ah. That.” He slipped back down, arms under the pillow, chin propped on it so he looked like a little kid, mussed hair and all. It was a cute picture, but she wasn’t going to tell him that and swell his head even further. “So youwantmy brother to shag your friend.”

“Stop trying to play psychiatrist on me and take this seriously for a moment, would you?”

“Why? What does it matter?”

“Well…” She hated when he had a point. Another thing she wasn’t going to tell him. “I’m worried about Axelle. I want her to be happy.”

He chuckled. “And you think my idiot brother is what will make her happy?”

“I think maybe you could be supportive of your brother – who’s a gentleman, and not an idiot – for once, and that you might actually give a damn abouthishappiness. Though that’s probably beyond you.”

His face smoothed to blankness, and he pushed up on his elbows again, no longer feigning that he’d just awakened. On guard, now. “I don’t need advice about my own family,” he said, perfectly calm, smooth as glass. But it was a tone that sent a shiver down her back. “Thanks, but no thanks.” He rolled over and sat up.

Eden stared at the ceiling a moment, feeling…not trapped. Not angry.

Restless.

~*~

Eden had met Michelle Calloway years before, when she and Charlie were…doing whatever it was they’d done while she was still with the government. Notdating; never call itthat. It had been a chance encounter, her sitting at a café table in her favorite tucked-away shop, having a latte and a slice of sinful chocolate cake, using caffeine and sugar to soothe the internal shaking that had been haunting her for days about a particular case. The bell had jangled, and she’d glanced up, surprised to find Fox walking in, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair – hair she was already thinking about running her fingers through, glossy-thick and lovely. Caffeine and sugar were fine, but there was nothing better than sex to ease her heartache over the terrors of the world.

She’d started to speak, lift a hand and catch his attention, almost thinking he’d known this was her favorite spot, and that he’d come here hoping to find her. Then she’d realized he wasn’t alone.

Her first thought, when she saw the girl trailing in his wake, wasguess I should have known.Was there a man alive who could resist a beautiful blonde ingenue with cold-nipped cheeks and cornflower eyes, half his age and dressed in a leather jacket so oversized it could only have been his? Her coffee had turned sour in her stomach, and she’d felt her mouth twist into an uncontrollable grimace. She’d wanted to leave. Slide her novel back into her bag, turn pointedly away from them, and just – flee. She wasn’t proud of it, but that was the case. She and Charlie hadn’t promised one another exclusivity, but here she was, stung and jealous.

She hadn’t left, though. Had watched them, though she shouldn’t have. And the agent in her had picked out the details, against her will.

The way they’d settled in on opposite sides of a table. The way they spoke to one another easily, too low to hear, without eye contact, the girl glancing over the menu board while Charlie observed the patrons with a trained eye; the way they swapped, then, the girl scanning while Charlie had a look at the offerings. There was affection on the girl’s face, but not adoration; no batting of lashes and biting of lips and angling herself to her best advantage.

They weren’t lovers, she’d thought with a start, a vivid impression. Then Charlie had spotted her.

“Eden?”

She’d known a moment’s panic, and hoped it didn’t show on her face. Then she’d stood and gone over to their table, keenly aware of the girl’s eyes on her, a blue that managed to be both darker and lighter than she’d originally thought. Eyes that…were familiar, she realized. Charlie’s eyes – a version of them.

My niece, Michelle, he’d introduced.

A girl with a firm handshake, and a direct bearing, and a frank, un-shy scrutiny as she looked Eden up and down, cataloguing her, taking her measure.

Michelle was young, and decidedly not carrying a badge of any kind, but Eden had recognized the professional in her. This was someone who slunk through shadows, and pulled triggers, and made hard decisions, same as her.

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