“Not on your life. My mister from Friday night took care of it.” She waved a finger at Jacquie like she was spiraling in on a target. “Delivery, so we didn’t have to even get dressed. Mmm. He was fine.” She rolled her eyes, looking both playful and wicked, and Jacquie laughed at her.
And since she was in the files anyway, Jacquie surrendered to temptation and looked up Pierce.
“Nate!” Sonia called as she flung herself out of the office. She didn’t really want to know what Katia had done, but she had to find out in order to fix it.
He turned to look back, his expression wary, and Sonia felt new fury at her sister.
“I have a twin,” she confessed when she reached him. “I’m sorry for whatever she did.”
“It was kind of strange,” he said. “You being all over me.” He smiled and Sonia felt even worse. “But hey, I was up for it.”
“Let me guess. She said something about your arm.”
“No, we never got to that. We were, uh, getting better acquainted.” His smile was quick, giving him a surprisingly wicked look. Sonia always thought of Nate as the nice guy or the boy next door but that grin made him look like trouble.
She liked it.
“Nice apartment, by the way. I mean, I assume it’s yours.”
“Yes.”
“It’s cozy. Good location. Nice building. Kind of what I’m looking for in town.” Nate’s hopeful expression told Sonia what he wanted.
“I can ask the landlady if anyone’s moving out.” Sonia wished he’d get on with the story. She wanted to know the worst of it.
“So, she was getting undressed.” Nate raised his brows. “And I—stupidly as it turned out—asked her how she’d covered up the new tattoo. How you’d covered it up. How—”
“I know what you mean.”
“I thought there was some kind of make-up or something that would cover it.”
“There probably is,” Sonia said, folding her arms across her chest.
“I thought she’d laugh and show me, maybe take off something else.” Nate couldn’t suppress his smile. “But she went *boom*!” He flung up his hands. “She totally lost it. She started to swear and tossed me out the door. She threw something after me that broke.”
“A mug,” Sonia said. “I wondered what had happened to it.”
Nate watched her closely. “Didn’t she tell you?”
Sonia shook her head. “Katia was gone when I got home and isn’t answering my calls today.”
“So you knew something was wrong.”
“Something is always wrong when Katia has a scheme.”
Nate grinned at her. “Does that mean you went to a party pretending to be Katia?”
“Yes. Her idea and as bad of one as ever. I should have known better.”
Nate got that wicked smile again and Sonia found herself staring. “Did you get lucky at least?”
“No!” Sonia flushed. “He knew I wasn’t her! Nick could always tell us apart.” She sank down onto a bench in the lobby. “Friday was a complete disaster.”
“Nick? Who’s Nick?” Nate sat down beside her.
“A guy we knew in high school. I always had a crush on him, but he married someone else.”
“Bad plan on his part,” Nate said.
Sonia smiled at him for being a good friend. “Thanks. You’re sweet.”
Nate rolled his eyes and looked away, but Sonia was thinking of Tobias’ party.
“She said Nick was divorced and would be at this party, that I should go and meet up with him.” Sonia grimaced. “But he wasn’t interested once he realized I wasn’t Katia.” She sighed. “It’s just one of her games. She was playing with Nick as much as she was playing with me. I should have known better.”
Nate was studying her. “Do you two switch places often?”
“When we were little, we did it more. Katia thinks it’s funny. I think it’s dumb, but she won’t be convincing me to play along anytime soon. I’ve learned my lesson.” She forced a smile. “Again. Thanks for not being angry with me.”
“You shouldn’t have been embarrassed,” Nate said.
“Well, I was. I felt like a stupid teenager with a crush again.”
“The last thing you are is a stupid teenager,” Nate insisted. “If you want to get a bite sometime or go dancing, let me know.”
Sonia blinked and looked at him.
He stood up and gave her a fingertip salute, looking cocky and more than a little hot. “Any time.” Then he headed for the weight room, whistling under his breath. Sonia watched him go, wondering whether she’d overlooked a golden opportunity.
Or was Nate just being nice?
Mack had been right about Jimmy and his family coming to the city and Pierce met them for lunch on Monday. He brought half a dozen oranges as both gift and penance for losing touch. Jimmy’s wife was charming and their two daughters were adorable. Adela obviously realized the two men wanted to catch up and had booked to go skating with the girls at Rockefeller Plaza after lunch. Pierce and Jimmy watched from the sidelines.
“How’s your job?” Pierce asked after they’d exhausted all the small talk.
Jimmy made a face. “Boring compared to what we did before. It pays the bills and all that but it’s not that interesting. What are you doing these days?”
“I’m retired.”
“For good?” Jimmy seemed to be expectant.
Pierce cleared his throat. “I have this idea and wanted to know what you’d think.”
“If you’re ever going to pull the team together again, I’m in,” Jimmy said quickly.
Pierce blinked. “I forgot how smart you are.”
Jimmy laughed. “Best job of my career was in Greater Alghenia and it wasn’t just the work. It was the team we had there. We worked together so well and anticipated each other perfectly.”
“Yes,” Pierce agreed. “I was offered the chance to provide bodyguard services to Farah again.”
“The princess? Your princess?”
“My princess,” he admitted with a smile. “I turned Rodrigo down because I don’t have a team anymore. It’s not a one-person job.”
“It wasn’t a one-person job to keep watch over Farah when she was ten. What is she
