Page 84 of Sinful Seduction
“He’s not a puppy! He’s a human being, and he has a tick of approval from his cardiothoracic surgeon that says he’s allowed,nay, encouraged,” she exclaims enthusiastically, “to return to basic mobility. He’s fine.” She gestures toward the rumpled old man. “You’re fine, right?”
He nods, slumping in his seat. “Fit as a fiddle.”
Don’t die. Don’t die. Please don’t die. “And none of this helps me figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do tonight. I can’t make him climb four flights of stairs to my apartment. And even if I could, where would he sleep? On the freakin’ floor?”
“You have an entire house on the hills,” Cato singsongs. “Ya know, in case you forgot.”
“Shut up. Having more space solves nothing, because I still need a nurse. What do you suggest I do? Tear Doctor Fielder out of the hospital against her will and force her to…” Wide-eyed, I swing my gaze back to Aubree. “What if we nab Doctor Fielder and force her to?—”
“Ah, actually.” Our driver clears his throat again. “Mr. Malone instructed I was to discourage you from breaking the law, Doctor Mayet. I believe kidnapping would fall into this category.”
Frustrated, I scrunch my nose and fold my arms, but Cato’s eyes alight, shooting straight across to my…voluptuousness. “Gah!” I drop my arms again and growl. “What am I supposed to do? Retire and become his nurse? You think I should sleep on his floor?”
“You’re not sleeping on my floor,” Steve grumbles. “Not an acceptable solution.”
“Exactly! It’s not an acceptable solution.”
“You’re making thisfarmore complicated than it needs to be.” Aubree sits forward as we turn a corner and into a large, circular driveway, then she takes out a small mirror and checks her makeup: flawless, of course. “I could tell you how this is gonna go.” She uses her nail to perfect her lipstick, carving a precise line around her bow lips. “I’ve known since the moment we saw him in the hospital.”
“You know?” Desperation is like a vine, growing and stretching inside my belly. “You’d tell me?”
“I could.” She snaps her mirror closed and grins. “But it’s gonna piss you off.”
“You could tell me if he’s going to die, too, right?” I snag her arm as the car comes to a stop outside the church, and security guards—a lot of them—surround our SUV. “Like, if I said I was going to leave him in the car for a bit, you’d know right away if that was a bad plan?”
“I could answer that,” Cato giggles. “It’s a bad plan. People are charged for leaving their dogs and babies in the car, Chief. Abandoning your elderly neighbor while he’s recovering from a heart attack would fall under the committing a crime banner Archer forbade you from.”
“Shut up! Nobody asked you.” When a guard outside our car steps forward and opens the door, I surge across Aubree’s lap and pull it shut again, digging my elbow into her thigh and eliciting her yelp of pain as I flip the lock and keep the Men In Black out. “Tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do, Aubs. You know the answers. This is an exam, and you have the books open on your desk. Just tell me already.”
“Doctor Emeri?” The guard outside taps on the tinted window. “Everything alright in there?”
“You’re spilling outta your dress, Chief.” Cato’s glittering green eyes latch onto my tits. “I like it.”
I kick out at his face, determined to impale his eye socket with my heel. But youth and athleticism make him fast, his hand parrying my leg easily to the side. “Saucy.”
“Aubree!”
“You’re cramping my wedding day, Chief Mayet.” She unfastens her belt and does the same for Steve, then she peels my fingers off the door handle. “Get out of the car, be my maid of honor, as is your job. Cato will stay with Steve, and both will attend my wedding and enjoy celebrating love. Also, note how Cato taunts me less than he taunts you?” She taps her window and draws a deep breath, dropping her gaze and twisting when the door opens and guards surround us. She slides off the tall seat and onto elegant heels, fixing her dress and tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Satisfied with how she looks, she turns and offers a hand to Steve, though her bright blue eyes pity me. “I’m not more protected than you, Chief. Tim is not scarier. I don’t have a force field surrounding me, keeping the gnat away.”
“Hey.” Cato unsnaps his seatbelt. “Did you just call me a gnat?”
“Maybe it’s because I grew up with seven other siblings,” she murmurs, her biceps bulging as she helps Steve out of the car. “I learned long ago to stop feeding into the drama.”
“I’m not feeding into it! I just want him to stop.”
“He won’t stop, because your reactions are entirely ridiculous. They’re over the top, they’re loud, they’re kinda funny for those of us watching on.”
“My reactions are not funny! I just want him to stop being a dick.”
“Is it working out for you?” She passes Steve off to the closest set of hands, only to turn back and take her veil, carefully tugging the six-foot fabric out of the car and placing it in Mary’s waiting hands. Because this Mary is like Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins worked for the mafia and knew how to handle a pistol. “Thank you. I’m thrilled you could attend this weekend.”
“I’m honored to be here, Doctor Emeri.” The woman is old. Not Steve old, but old enough to be my mother’s… older sister. She wears an elegant knee-length dress of silver and black, a trio of bracelets, and a glittering ring on three of the five fingers of her left hand. She reaches up with the veil and carefully perches it in Aubree’s hair. “Christabelle’s doing a wonderful job with the baby. Such a beautiful, well-behaved, sweet little thing. But Felix was adamant that I attend, anyway. He wouldn’t say so to Ms. Cannon,” she murmurs, a playful smile teasing her lips. “But he wanted me to come, to provide Ms. Cannon a break from the baby if she needed it.”
“Wait!” With a brilliant idea sparking in my mind, I shuffle across the seat and study Mary with a brand-new appreciation. “You nursed T2 when he was unwell, didn’t you?”
Aubree drops her gaze, snickering.
