Page 97 of Near Miss

Stone got out of his wet clothes, and she held the sheet up to make room for him, and to give him a better view of her body, the beauty of which exceeded his suppositions.

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” he said, kissing her on a nipple.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” she said, reaching for him.

“That speaks volumes,” Stone said, giving himself to the moment.

A little later, Stone lay on his back, taking deep breaths.

“Are you going to need resuscitation?” Carly asked.

“Whatever that was worked just fine.”

Carly laughed, something she did not do a lot of. “You can have a rest, and we can resume after dinner.”

“No need to wait,” he said, turning toward her. “It’s my turn, anyway.”

“You won’t get an argument from me,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, steering him home.

Chapter 47

Stone woke to find Carly gone from the bed, then she emerged from the bathroom, toweling herself.

“Awake at last!” she said.

“Sort of,” he replied, kicking off the covers.

“I like the two of everything idea,” she said, indicating the baths and dressing rooms. “No waiting.”

Stone shaved and showered. And when he had dried his hair and toweled off, he came back to the bedroom and found Carly gone, and her clothes in the female’s dressing room.

So much for staking out her territory, he thought. He changed into fresh khakis and a clean shirt and slipped into a pair of alligator loafers and a blue blazer, with New York Yacht Club brass buttons, then went downstairs. Everyone was there, except Carly.

“Where’s the girl?” Dino asked.

“Beats me,” Stone replied, and it did. “Kidnapped, perhaps?”

“I doubt it,” Viv said.

Stone fixed himself a drink. “Anybody for a refill?” he asked the room.

“We’re good,” Dino said.

Stone sat down and switched on the evening news.

“Reputed Russian mob boss Alexei Gromyko was laid to rest today after being shot on the street in broad daylight,” the news reader said. The camera panned the group at graveside from a distance.

“Hey,” Dino remarked. “Who’s the babe sitting next to Peter?”

“That must be the widow,” Stone replied. “Though I’ve never seen a widow at graveside sporting that sort of cleavage.”

The TV moved on to the next story.

Dino answered a knock at the door and let Ed Rawls in. “You know where the bar is.”

“I have a special, inbuilt range finder that seeks out the bar in every location,” Rawls said, helping himself to the Scotch.

Carly appeared at the top of the stairs and made her way to Rawls’s side. “Me, too, Ed.”

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