Page 1 of His Sweet Torment
Part One
Harpa Malhotra shrieked with joy as she threw her arms around Padme. “You came! Here I thought you’d be too locked into your first assignment to show up.”
Padme Kaur hugged her friend. “Miss your restaurant opening? Never, baby, never.”
Harpa grinned at her. “Youarea good friend…let’s get really drunk and check out all the handsome boys I hired as wait staff.”
Padme laughed. “What will Mikah say?” Mikah Ray was Harpa’s long-time boyfriend, a sweet, serene African-American whom Padme adored. Harpa grinned.
“Oh, I hired some pretty girls too, I’m not stupid.”
She dragged Padme into the main room of Harpa’s new Seattle-based restaurant,Bedi. Bedi had been Harpa’s pseudonym when she had switched from fashion styling to her passion, cooking, a few years ago, and now she had become one of the most sought-after chefs in the world. Padme had met Harpa soon after she had gone through a traumatic time with her lovely older sister, Cosima. Cosima had been shot and nearly killed by her own F.B.I. Agent protector, Jack Hampton and it had been that almost-murder that had inspired Padme to go into training at Quantico. Padme, at twenty-eight, knew all about betrayal. Her birth mother had given her up, and she had spent years in the family services system, alone and vulnerable. When she was thirteen, a carer, a kind-faced man called Robert, had assaulted her then threatened her if she told anyone. Padme never forgot the feeling of having her trust wrenched away from her. She had worked three jobs to pay for college and had been headhunted by a man called Henry Jones to enter the program at Quantico. Padme had been top of her class, and now, she was three days away from her first assignment. She was nervous, but excited about the job, but now, on this Friday night, she wanted to kick-back and relax.
Harpa returned with some drinks, a violently bright cocktail which looked lethal. Padme chuckled at the mischievous expression on Harpa’s face. The cocktailwaspotent, but delicious, and Padme felt any tension slide away.
She spotted Cosima and went to say hi to her. Cosima glowed with health and pregnancy – herfifth, Harpa had told Padme with an astonished shake of her head. Cosima and her husband, the gloriously handsome Arlo Forrester, were as inseparable as ever. Cosima kissed Padme’s cheek.
“Girl did good, Pad. We’re all so, so proud of you.”
Padme flushed with pleasure. Cosima was the big sister Padme had always wanted: kind, sweet and generous. She smiled at her now. “Number five, eh?”
Cosima nodded at Arlo. “The Spermanator.”
Padme giggled as Arlo rolled his eyes. “How are your other offspring?”
“Tilly and Fen are in Paris on a school trip – delighted to be away from their nagging parents.”
“Typical eight-year-olds.”
“Yep. Mina is at her first sleep-over and loving it, and Bear is at home with the babysitter. They’reexhausting,”Cosima said, with an exaggerated groan, but Padme knew she loved being a mother as much as she loved being an architect. Cosima was a force of nature, managing to fit more in a day than most people in a lifetime. She nodded to Padme.
“Excited about your first real assignment?”
Padme nodded. “Nervous excitement. Dale – that’s my partner – and I are to protect an Italian businessman who has pissed off the wrong people. He’s going to testify against the Ingles.”
Arlo whistled. “Brave dude – they are some nasty,nastypeople.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve seen the photos of some of their victims – and worse, their victim’s wives and children. So, I’m being thrown in the deep end here.”
Cosima was frowning now. “It sounds dangerous, Pad. You will be careful, won’t you?”
Padme smiled at her friend gratefully. “I will.”
“Did Severin make it tonight?”
Severin was Padme’s sort-of-adopted-mother if it was possible to be sort of adopted at eighteen. Severin had come into Padme’s life at a time when she needed guidance, a mentor, someone to help steer her away from the life of misery and degradation that had been beckoning. Severin Banks was one of Seattle’s most prominent activists. At age sixty-four, she showed no signs of stopping, her campaigns for equal pay for women, for the LGBT community, for the advancement of her own black community kept her in the headlines. When she had seen the young, lost, half-Indian girl almost destitute, she had taken her under her wing, inspired her to be the change she wanted to see.
Padme shook her head. “She has a date.”
Cosima chuckled. “With the same guy as last time?”
“Nah, that fizzled out. This guy is nice, a lot younger. Severin says it’s a good thing, he’ll have enough stamina to keep up with her.”
Cosima and Arlo laughed, and they chatted a little longer before Cosima was stolen away by her sister as Harpa made a small speech, thanking everyone for coming.
Padme refueled her drink and circulated, people-watching, her finely tuned observation skills in play. It was just after midnight when she felt someone staring at her. She glanced up, and her inside went to mush. Across the room, the mostgorgeousman was smiling at her. He was tall, casually dressed in t-shirt and jeans, leaning back against the wall. His dark hair was shaggy and wild about his head, his smile sensual and confident.
Padme felt that smileeverywhere. She sipped her drink, unable to tear her gaze away from him. He pushed himself away from the wall and walked slowly to her. Padme’s heart began to pound.
