Page 115 of The Cinderella Secret
“Yes,” said Ella. “I’m the opposing counsel. That’s my job.”
“No,” he said and pulled her close. “Not anymore.”
“Oh, well, then maybe I just like arguing with you.”
“Argue with this,” he said, and he leaned down to kiss her.
She pulled back after a minute and looked up at him with a wide grin. “OK,” she said. “Here’s my counter argument.” She kissed along his neck with delicate lips that made him shiver.
“Your counter argument is so persuasive,” he murmured, nibbling along her ear, “that we might not make it to dinner.”
“I have a granola bar and a change of clothes in my purse,” said Ella. She leaned back to look him in the eye. “We don’t have to go anywhere until tomorrow.”
“Ella,” he said, laughing, “you are the easiest person in the world to fall in love with.”
“So, I win then?” she asked, lifting her chin.
“Yes,” he agreed, going back to her lips.
“I’m not easy,” she said between kisses with a giggle. “You’re easy.”
“I think I’m being misquoted,” said Aiden.
“I want to see the rest of your house,” said Ella, and she pushed him through the nearest doorway, her hands finding their way under his t-shirt.
“Right,” he said, trying to kiss her while moving backward into the living room. “Living room, couch.” He waved blindly.
“Mmm, lovely couch,” she said, pulling his shirt over his head and pushing him down onto said couch. She landed on top of him and grinned at him, her black hair falling like a curtain around him. “I suppose we might actually be crazy, but I don’t think so,” she said, kissing him gently. “I have actually given this careful thought. And I’m fully convinced that this”—she slid her hands down his chest and stomach and found the button on his jeans—“is the right decision.”
“Ella,” he said seriously, “you are always the right decision.” Then he did exactly what he knew he should do and kissed her.
The Deveraux Children
Jackson Deveraux
“Hey,” said Nowitsky as he looked up from his pie. “How’s the Deveraux household? Sunshine, lollipops, and balloons?”
“More or less,” said Jackson, taking his seat next to him at the diner counter. “Aiden’s pretty pleased with himself. He’s managed to divest DevEntier of Charlie without too much of Charlie’s bullshit bouncing back on the company. There’s a new joint venture with Zhao Industries in the works and Bai Zhao even invited Aiden to dinner.”
“The kid’s too bright to be that heavy of a hitter,” said Nowitsky, shaking his head.
“Tell me about it,” said Jackson. “What’s up? I would have thought we could be meeting at the station.”
Nowitsky grimaced. “We probably could, but I’m about to be more open than I suppose my co-workers would approve of.”
“Intriguing,” said Jackson, waving at Priscilla and pointing to the pie.
“Yeah, that’s one word for it. So we took the screws to Foss with some of the stuff you turned up for us. They rolled on MacKentier as predicted. But here’s where it gets weird—sorry, intriguing. Foss said that they werenotresponsible for the bank robbery or the bank robbers. Said they didn’t hire them. Foss even went so far as to say MacKentier did it himself—that he got a contact from an associate, and that he did all the hiring and, ahem, firing. Foss says he recommended against the plan, but that MacKentier went ahead with it anyway.”
“That’s four counts of murder if you can get him on it,” said Jackson thoughtfully. “Not to mention conspiracy on the actual bank robbery.”
“We’ll see. CSI is chasing down some angles. We might or we might not be able to connect him. Foss is not exactly an all-star witness, and he has no first-hand knowledge, so…” Nowitsky made a shrug gesture with his hands. “The recordings you guys got are more sure-fire and gets us straight to Federal time. Anyway, the point was, Foss wasn’t the connection, but that made us wonder who was. So we took a stroll through MacKentier’s phone records during the time Foss says the bank robbers were hired. There was only one name that has a history of suspected criminal activity on the list.”
“Now I’m dying to know,” said Jackson, accepting the pie and a smile from Priscilla.
“J.P. Granger.”
Jackson looked sharply into Nowitsky’s face.
