Page 78 of Lure

Excellent.

By the time Grace came back in, we had the suitcases lined up and open in the dining room. We removed various pieces of my computer so I could rebuild it. Yes, I had a laptop, but I wanted a more powerful machine. The hard drive was in my backpack. The motherboard had been in Grace’s.

“It’s a lovely place,” Grace said as she moved to help us with the unpacking.

“It’s definitely colorful.” Lunchbox glanced at his watch and I got it. Bones and Voodoo were running late. “Why don’t you get a swim?”

There was a swimming pool visible right through the glass doors. It was definitely warm enough for it.

“I didn’t pack a suit,” she said as she pulled out another plastic wrapped piece for the computer’s fan. After she handed it to me, she studied Lunchbox. “If you guys need to talk, you can just tell me you need some time and I can go find a room.”

“We’re not trying to get rid of you,” I told her. The ease around her eyes relaxed me some. She believed me. I’d meant what I said about telling her I couldn’t answer something rather than lying about it. “But I have to build my comp. Lunchbox is going to want to check what’s in the kitchen and he may have to do a supply run. The guys are late, and you’ve been traveling all day. A swim might be nice. You don’t need a suit, or you canswim in your bra and panties. I promise to only peek a little when I’m not working.”

The corners of her mouth twitched and somewhere in the villa, the air conditioning hummed to life. Good, I didn’t see the need to sweat our way through anything. When she flicked a look at Lunchbox, he nodded almost solemnly.

“I don’t promise not to peek or stare as long as you don’t mind us seeing.” It was the absolute right response to take with her, the curve at the corners of her mouth deepened.

She scraped her teeth over her lower lip, head tilting from side to side as if she were in silent debate with herself. “You’re both sure I can’t do anything right now?”

“For the moment,” I told her. “Once I have my system set up and the guys are here, we’ll go over the plan again.” I straightened and stretched. At the moment, a swim actually did sound good.

“Okay.” She grabbed her carry-on and headed upstairs. “I’m going to pick the best room.”

Lunchbox chuckled at the declaration, then slid a look at me. “You’re good with her.”

“Told her no more lies.” It wasn’t about being good. “It’s about being honest. She’s dealing with a lot. Too much. I’ve been there.”

Between the physical and emotional damage, there was also the mental. She needed to be able to trust us and the only way to do that was to be a part of the solution.

“Yeah.” He sighed then raked a hand through his hair. “They’re late.”

“I noticed. Then again, it’s France. Voodoo had to source a few things and if they ended up driving further, then they did. Not worrying about it unless they miss check-in.”

That was midnight and still—I checked my watch—another three and a half hours away.

“I might head into town and get us food…” He trailed off as the chine went off indicating a door opened. I glanced toward the back wall of windows and the now open door where a slim Grace dove right into the pool. “Fuck.”

“Put it back in your pants,” I advised, even if a pulse of interest had bounced right to my dick at the vision of her slim body, unbroken by anything as prosaic as underwear. “We told her she didn’t need a suit.”

“Yeah, there’s telling then there’s seeing.” He blew out a breath. Goblin was sprawled on the tile near the door, keeping watch on her and me. “Right. You want anything specific to eat?”

“Nah, just whatever. I want to get the machine built. Then we need to get eyes on this jackass.”

“Agreed.”

Voodoo and Bonesarrived near eleven, gear and supplies with them. Grace looked relieved when Lunchbox said they were at the gate. After her swim, she’d showered and changed then came down to eat with us.

Instead of going to bed, despite how tired she was, she stayed up as we worked and kept watch. Her presence helped soothe me and Goblin. I wasn’t that worried, but the last thing we needed was something to go wrong right now.

We could and would handle anything, but that didn’t mean I wanted her in the middle of another clusterfuck. Voodoo’s arrival pulled a real smile out of her, one that didn’t quite dim when she glanced at Bones.

After offloading, Lunchbox brought out more food and Bones said, “It’s a little late to get started tonight. We can scout tomorrow, do the pickup in the evening.”

“Pickup?” Grace asked from where she sat cross legged on the floor with Goblin snoring against her lap. Lucky little shit had settled right in with her. “I thought we’d all be going.”

We had discussed that. But the plan also required some refining, including getting into Gallo’s security.

“If we were just planning on killing him,” Lunchbox said. “Then we could all go, but it wouldn’t be that much of a trip. Right now, we need answers—youneed answers. If you’re there and he’s stupid, his chances of survival are nil and then we’re out the answers. Better plan all around for us to scoop him up and bring him back.”

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