Page 54 of Edge of Secrets

So he felt vulnerable, too. That eased my ambivalence somehow.

We swayed in a clinch for a long time. He looked up. “There’s a private attached bathroom with a shower right off my office,” he told me, pointing at the door.

I widened my eyes. “How luxurious and elitist of you. What, you can’t bear to pee with the hoi polloi?”

His teeth flashed in the twilight. “There have to be some perks for being the boss,” he said. “I like to run to work sometimes, and I also like to smell good. I keep a few sets of fresh clothes here. So we can clean up. If you want to.”

“You ripped my panties,” I scolded. “Beast. I don’t have another pair with me. I’ll be walking around with my naked lady-bits catching a breeze under my skirt.”

He gave me a look of mock contrition. “And I’ll be walking around with a huge hard-on every time I think about that,” he said. “Sorry, but I was afraid that if I stopped to peel them all the way down your legs, you’d wimp out on me. It was a delicate moment and I just couldn’t risk it. Too much was at stake.” He caressed my ass through my skirt. “If we hurry, we’ve got time for dinner before we meet your sisters in Queens.”

“What about the texts that I have to write for the game? I have to have something for Bruce tomorrow!”

He shrugged. “It’s more important that you eat. Come on.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a small but luxurious bathroom.

“I thought we were in a hurry,” I protested.

He grabbed a fluffy white towel off a pile on a shelf, and dropped it in my arms, with a devilish grin. “Everything’s relative. And I’m guessing they’ll wait for you.”

He shrugged off his suit jacket, and I froze at the sight of the gun strapped onto his shoulder. “Um, Duncan? What on earth are you doing with that thing?”

He slanted me an “are you kidding” look. “Just being careful.”

“But … carrying a gun? To work?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah,” he said. “Last night, those guys were armed, and I wasn’t. It was just blind luck and timing that they didn’t kill me and take you, because I wouldn’t have been able to stop them if they’d been even a little more organized. They weren’t expecting any resistance. They will be next time. Don’t worry. I have a lot of experience with ‘this thing.’” He unbuttoned my blouse and peeled my stretch lace chemise off over my head, then unhooked my bra.

“That’s, um, not all that reassuring, actually,” I told him. “What experience?”

“Afghanistan, mostly,” he said. “Just trust me. Will you trust me? Please?”

I gazed at him through the wild mess of curly hair that had fallen over my face when he pulled off my lacy undershirt. “Yes,” I said, with absolute sincerity. “I have no doubt about your ability to handle just about anything.”

He herded me into the shower, pinned me against the wall, and proceeded to live up to my faith in him, to the absolute fullest.

Chapter Nineteen

Duncan

I looked around Malloy’s, and concluded that there were too many people crowded together in the place. It wasn’t safe for Nell here. Good thing I’d had jeans and a sweater to change into at the office, because I would’ve felt like a clown in the suit in a place like this.

I’d never been in an Irish pub. The loud, fast, noodling melodies played by the table of musicians made my brain pound, but I could deal with it as long as Nell’s fingers were twined with mine. I would accompany Nell D’Onofrio into the bowels of hell if I had to. Complaining bitterly about hell’s shitty security all the way down, no doubt, but I’d be there to the end, stuck to her like glue.

My attention had divided itself into independently functioning units. One unit was constantly scanning for attackers. Another was intensely anxious about meeting Nell’s sisters, who might or might not want to toss my entrails into the gutter if I failed to adhere to some incomprehensible code of behavior toward her. A third was intensely aware that, thanks to my uncivilized sexual excesses, Nell D’Onofrio was wearing no panties. She looked decorous and ladylike, her tidy blouse stretching slightly across her tits, her long sweater skirt reaching to her ankles—but paradoxically, that made it even worse. It was her little sexy secret. If I slipped my hand under that skirt and slid it up over her stockings, I’d find just hot, velvety skin between her legs. Warm fuzz. Damp ringlets. Tender, moist pink folds inside her pussy lips. That hot, tight, slick well. If I stroked my hand up the petal-soft skin of her upper thighs, I could just pet her tender involuted folds, feeling that hot, silken inside flesh clinging tenderly to my finger.

Talk about distracting.

We were the last to arrive, since I’d insisted on stopping at a good steak and burger joint that I knew near the Midtown Tunnel, to get some serious protein into her. When we walked into the bar, two women leaped up and went straight for Nell, sneaking fascinated peeks at me.

I was grateful for the noise level, so I didn’t have to hear what they were whispering to her, but whatever it was, it made her blush.

“Duncan, this is my sister Vivi,” Nell spoke loudly into my ear, indicating the smaller of the two women, a slender girl with long red hair and big gray eyes. “And this is Nancy.” She touched the shoulder of the other woman, a pale beauty with hazel eyes and curly auburn hair that reached her ass. “This is Duncan, my friend,” she told them. “And that tall guy at the table playing the fiddle is Liam, Nancy’s fiancé.”

The tune ended with a flourish and a burst of hoots and hollers. The guy Nell had pointed at glanced over at us, laid his fiddle on the table, and excused himself, to unanimous cries of protest. He came toward us, sizing me up with sharp green eyes.

He had a strong grip and a clear, unwavering gaze. Nell had told me the story of how Liam had defended her sister Nancy from Snake Eyes. I was a good judge of men, after all those years as a field agent, and this Liam seemed okay to me. A guy I’d want at my back. That was good. Alliances were good.

The musicians launched into a new tune, louder than the one before. “Let’s go sit at a table in the back!” Liam shouted over the din.

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