Page 83 of No More Secrets
Carter offered Mary Beth his hand. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a fellow gardener.”
“Summer,” Katherine said, pulling her aside. “Would you mind taking care of something for me?”
Carter and Mary Beth talked fertilizer and irrigation for nearly twenty minutes before she had to take a phone call. He was debating the merits of another beer when he saw Alexi strut his way into the men’s bathroom.
It was an opportunity he wasn’t going to pass up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
On the hunt, Carter stalked into the men’s room after Alexi. The room was tiled from floor to ceiling in iridescent glass squares. The stall doors were murals of old Hollywood stars. Instead of urinals, a single long trough ran along the far wall.
Carter waited patiently for Alexi to finish at the trough.
When the man tried to get around him to the sinks, Carter simply got in his way.
“Do you have a problem?” His accent was heavily Slavic.
“Summer Lentz.” Carter said, his legs braced apart.
“I do not know who this is,” Alexi sneered.
“The woman whose ass you thought it was okay to grab tonight.”
Recognition began to dawn in Alexi’s eyes. “Summer, you say. She had no complaints at the time.”
Carter felt his ire start to bubble over. “As a matter of fact she did, and she expressed those complaints to you.”
Alexi shrugged. “Women play hard to get. It is what they do.”
Carter’s hands flexed on his hips, begging to be used. “You ever touch her or any other woman without her permission again, and I will ruin your career.” His tone was low, even, but the rage was there.
Alexi swallowed. “You are no one. You cannot touch my career.” He drew himself up to his full height, still an inch or two shy of Carter’s. “I touch who I want when I want.” He drilled a long finger into Carter’s chest.
“Wrong thing to say, asshole.” Carter gripped the man’s wrist and twisted. Spinning Alexi around, he shoved him up against Marilyn Monroe’s bee-stung pout. He had Alexi’s arm pinned behind his back at an angle that had the man whimpering.
“You ever touch Summer again, besides a polite handshake, and I will go to work on your face. First I’ll break your nose. Then I’ll shatter your jaw. And while your broken, mangled face is healing, who do you think will get all your jobs? All those campaigns?” Carter’s grip tightened and he gave Alexi enough of a shove that his forehead knocked against the stall door. “Do you understand me?”
Alexi was sweating and keening against the partition.
Carter gave his forearm an extra tweak. “I said, do you understand me?”
“Yes, yes!” Alexi gasped, spit flying from his mouth.
“Now, I want you to go out there and apologize to Summer. And if it’s not done to my satisfaction, I will find you and I will hurt you.”
The man gave a little whimper. “Okay. Okay. I will do so.”
Carter released him. “Now, go wash your fucking hands,” he ordered.
Alexi bolted for the sink, hands shaking.
“Well you certainly picked the right place for a pissing contest,” Quincy said mildly from just inside the door.
Alexi ran past him, bursting through the door as if it were an escape hatch.
Carter straightened his jacket. “Quincy,” he nodded, and strolled out of the restroom.
His mood improved significantly when he spotted a sweaty and shaky Alexi in polite conversation with Summer.
