When I asked how he and his family were doing, he brought out his phone to show me pictures of his kids and their spouses and their grandkids. His smile was wide as he bragged on his son and daughter, scrolling through to a picture of them with gorgeous coils of black hair and tall bodies pressed in suits in front of an office building that read Gordon Family Lawyers.
Even though Henry’s kids had gone to elementary school with me, we hadn’t hung out together. Carson was right; I’d hung out with a group of skaters. Mini societal rebels. People I probably would have raised hell with and gotten in trouble with if I’d stayed at the public high school here in town. Henry’s kids had been scholastic all-stars, and I had a vague recollection of them ending up at Ivy League schools and setting records. Now, they obviously owned a law practice and bled success.
After the discussion of families was over, Carson and Henry went to work on their plans for increasing distribution channels, adding on to the online store, developing more health products, and sourcing new plants for the new lines. I just listened but realized their strategy was complex, complicated like any other strategy Carson engaged in.
At nine-thirty, I got a text from Dani.
ATHENA: We have the video meeting with the FBI and Brady’s team in thirty minutes. Are you going to be here, or should we hold it without you?
A stab of guilt flew through me. I’d left flowers for her and then not been back to enforce their meaning with a kiss. I certainly didn’t want her to think the flowers had been a goodbye token. Quite the opposite.
“I have to go,” I said, standing in the middle of Henry’s sentence. “Sorry.” I stuck out my hand, shaking his as I added, “It was really good to see you again.”
I turned to my uncle, a mix of old and new emotions flowing through me. “See you back at the house later?”
He nodded, and I left, texting Dani back with a brief I’m on my way.
I jogged out of the building, hopped into the golf cart, and sped off toward the house with my history trying to right itself. With my future trying to take shape. I pushed it all aside to concentrate on the one thing I knew for sure: I needed Dani in my life.
She was set up in the library at Carson’s desk in a top that showed every delightful curve. She smiled up at me from the huge chair. I swirled it around, leaned on the arms, and kissed her, hoping I was sending all the right messages about us. I was in unchartered oceans. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find my footing on the seafloor with all the swells that were hitting me unless she stood and helped me carry the boat.
We were both breathless when I left her lips to touch our foreheads together. “Good morning.”
“It certainly is,” she said smiling, and my heart leaped for joy. I could make her happy. I could make her happy with just a kiss.
I looked at the work she had sprawled out on the desk, and my eyes caught on a bud vase with the two camellias I’d given her. They were no longer alone. An iris had been added to them. Hope… My breath got stuck in my chest. The word was surrounding me today. Hope for Carson. Hope for me. Hope for Dani and me together.
Her phone buzzed, and she tore her eyes away from my face to turn it over.
“It’s just my reminder. Grab a chair.”
“What I really want to do is sit in that one with you on my lap, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t let me get away with it.”
“No. You’re right. I wouldn’t, but we can talk about sharing a chair later.” She winked at me, and I went right back to kissing her.
She pulled away, laughing. “Go get a chair.”
I did as she wished, grabbing a chair from the other side of the desk. I slid it so that we were sitting close together, knees bumping, as she pulled up the video meeting software and logged in.
There were several other faces in the meeting. Tanner, Brady, and Lee were on one screen together with Garner in the second. On the last screen was the FBI agent, a huge, dark man in a black suit with a straight face and an aura of pissed about him. Tanner had his perpetual look of dissatisfaction on his face, and Lee appeared slightly disheveled as if he’d been playing referee.
Garner was the first to speak. “Thank God you’ve joined us; perhaps you can talk some logic into this lunacy of a plan.”
“What plan?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
“Dani, Nash, this is FBI agent, Cruz Malone. He’s been assigned to us with the situation crossing so many jurisdictions,” Lee told us.
Malone asked, “You’re the SEAL?”
My arms crossed over my chest, and I nodded.
Malone kept talking. “As I was explaining, this isn’t my normal detail. I’m in the middle of an investigation that’s requiring my coordination with CIA, NSA, and DEA. I don’t have time to sit around and just wait for this Fiona woman to strike.”
“We’re so sorry our little attempted-murder situation is getting in the way of your career,” Tanner said snidely. For the first time, I had to agree with something he’d said.
Malone didn’t let it rile him up. “I’ve been requested to handle this situation because of my knowledge of the music business, and like you, I just want it to be over and done with
