Page 33 of Assassin's Heart
I choked on the swallow of tea I’d just taken.
“Remi, huh?” Charlotte grinned. “He’s a handsome one.”
“Handsome.” Abby nodded. “And big.” One eyebrow arched.
You have no idea.The visceral memory of him between my legs, of exactly howbighe was, sent heat rushing to places I really didn’t want to think about right now.
“Look at that blush!” Abby threw back her head, her laughter filling the room. “We must know all!”
“Dish, girl,” Charlotte said teasingly.
“I—” Oh boy. I didn’t want to talk about this. “There’s nothing between me and Remi.”
“That’s not what Eli told me,” Abby said.
I groaned. Charlotte snorted. “He gossips more than a gaggle of women in a hair salon.”
I dropped my head into my hands. I didn’t even want to know…
“You know, if you don’t tell details,” Charlotte said, “that just means we get to speculate more.”
“And isn’t that fun?” Abby laughed.
Oh hell.
I peeked up from my hand, then straightened, giving them both a little smile. “I’m just…uh…” I shook my head. Did I really want to admit this out loud? “I don’t think Remi and I are the best idea,” I said, throwing Abby a significant look. She of all people should understand why I felt that way.
A sympathetic look said she did.
Charlotte was nodding too. “I thought that for a long time with King.” She eased forward to settle her cup on the low table between us, then eased back to the cushions with a sigh. “Stupid gunshot,” she muttered, voice husky with pain. “We go way back, King and I. But for the longest time I thought we weren’t good for each other. Or he thought we weren’t.” She shrugged carefully. “Sometimes what you thought you wanted is what kept you dead inside all along. Only taking a chance can change that. It was a lesson we had to learn together.”
I stared into my now lukewarm tea as Charlotte’s words sank into my heart. Was that really what this was? A chance to come alive? I’d been trudging along for so many years, treading water, Brooke the only real light in my life. Earlier, in Remi’s arms, I’d felt more alive than I had since Angelo’s death.
But was it worth it? When this was over, Remi would be gone. Did I want to feel alive now, only to go back to feeling numb? If I was lucky. Men like Angelo and Remi brought just as much pain as joy into your life. After Angelo had been killed, I’d wanted to die with him. Only the child growing inside me had kept me going. And now…
Thoughts whirled in my head as Abby and Charlotte moved on to talk about an upcoming charity event. It was a bit surreal, hearing them discuss thousand-dollar-a-plate dinners when, just downstairs, an assassins’ lair waited. Upstairs was civility; downstairs was danger, which only underscored the conflict in my own mind.
A conflict that got shoved aside when the phone in my pocket buzzed.
I jumped a good foot, like someone had goosed me in the ass. Abby frowned my way.
“I have to—” I fumbled the phone out of my jeans. “Please excuse me.” A glance told me the caller was a fellow nurse from work, Meredith. “I’ll be right back.”
Hurrying from the room, I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Meredith.”
“Hello, my dear.” The cultured greeting was typical of Meredith. An older nurse with a vast reserve of both knowledge and patience, she never lost her manners, her compassion, or her calm.
So why did she sound on the verge of frazzled?
“Is everything all right?” I asked carefully. It wasn’t unusual for us to chat at lunch or call each other on an off day, but her voice…
No, this wasn’t a casual phone call.
“Honestly, no. Or rather, I’m not sure. It could be nothing…”
“It’s all right.”Just tell me!“What’s up?”
“Your locker here at work was broken into.”
