Hearts in Vegas. Colleen Collins
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into the water unless accompanied by adults. Which was like waving a red flag to ten-year-old Braxton. One early evening he sneaked down to the shore and waded in, only everything was different than it had been earlier in the day. The waves had churned, the skies had darkened. Then something pulled him underneath the water—later his dad said it had been a riptide—where he flailed in the dark, wet cold, fighting for air.
Strong arms jerked him out of the water. His father carried him back to shore, where they both fell onto the sand, gasping. After a few minutes, his dad had said, On the surface, the sea can look like a beautiful dream. Now you know what lies beneath it.
As good as Dmitri’s offer sounded, Braxton wasn’t sure he wanted to test what lay underneath it. The guy could be as straight-up as they came, but this was still Vegas, the sin capital of the world.
“Appreciate your thinking of me,” he said into the phone, “but to be honest, I like my life right now. It’s calmer, more predictable.”
After a beat, Dmitri said, “I admire a cautious man. Before you make up your mind, I invite you to conduct a due-diligence check on my holdings and other business projects, because you will not find a single black mark. Better yet, I will save you the work and forward a recent due-diligence report conducted by The Dayden Group. Have you heard of them?”
“Yes.” He had sometimes used The Dayden Group, a business-assessment service, to conduct corporate background checks.
“My associate will drop off their report along with the retainer check tomorrow morning.”
After ending the call, he looked at Grams, who raised her eyebrows. “That sounded like a job offer.”
“It was. But...I don’t know. I’ve never met this guy, except by phone, but at least he’s giving me some information to review.”
“He’s Russian, I take it.”
“How’d you know?”
“That troubled look. You only get it when Yuri’s name comes up.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, as though he could wipe off any remaining trace.
“I used to make snap decisions all the time, Grams, rarely second-guessed myself. But these days—” he gave his head a shake “—I overthink everything to the point of wearing out the idea before it gets a chance.”
“My darling—” the rings on her hand sparkled as she gestured toward the shaker “—let’s make those martinis and talk.”
* * *
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Braxton arrived early for work at Morgan-LeRoy Investigations. Dmitri had said the retainer check would be delivered at nine o’clock and Brax didn’t want to be late.
After turning on the lights and starting the coffee, he sat at his desk in the waiting room and checked email on his smartphone. At his old place, he liked to crank up the tunes first thing in the morning, his favorite bands being Green Day, Florence and the Machine, and anything by Maroon 5 and its lead singer, Adam Levine. Although sometimes nothing soothed his soul like an old country classic by George Jones.
But lately, he’d been keeping the noise down in the mornings so Drake and Val, who lived in the back apartment, could get some rest. His brother had recently been working some late-night surveillances, and Val, in the last trimester of her pregnancy, had been having trouble sleeping. Instead of blasting the office, Brax plugged in his earbuds and bobbed his head to the beat of “Moves Like Jagger.”
A text message from his grandmother popped up on his smartphone.
We forgot to talk last night about the Magic Dream Date Auction on Valentine’s Day!
Last night over martinis, they’d talked about everything but the auction—Dmitri’s job offer; Braxton’s dilemma over possibly leaving Morgan-LeRoy Investigations; Grams’s crazy cat Maxine’s bladder infection; and Gram’s boyfriend, Richmond, whom she called her boy toy, although he was only six years younger.
But they’d forgotten to discuss the auction. Or maybe, subconsciously, he hadn’t wanted to burst her bubble. Grams loved volunteering at Keep ’Em Rolling and made it a point to stay in contact with people who had received wheelchairs from the organization. Several times he’d driven her to people’s homes so she could visit them in person. He wanted to support her.
It was just...he wasn’t up for playing stud boy, especially on Valentine’s Day at an auction catering to lonely hearts waving fistfuls of money as he sashayed down a runway in tight jeans and no shirt.
Somebody shoot me now.
Couldn’t avoid the topic much longer, though. The auction was next Friday, February 14.
“Hello?”
He looked up, yanked the buds from his ears.
A woman, late twenties, stood in front of his desk. American accent, so he doubted she was Dima’s associate; he’d mentioned something about having only a few Russian friends in the area. She wore a sophisticated gray pantsuit, lipstick the color of raspberry gelato and a bun knotted at the base of her neck. He glanced out the front window and saw a shiny lemon-yellow Mercedes Benz parked next to his Volvo.
Irked him that he drove that piece of junk.
Irked him more that she drove a Mercedes.
Pantsuit. Bun. Benz.
Oh, yeah, he got her number. Probably read The Economist cover to cover, or pretended to, wore sensible pumps and followed Hillary Clinton on Twitter. Her idea of a good time was to shop at Ikea, followed by brunch, where she ordered lettuce with a side of lemon.
“Are you Braxton Morgan?” she asked.
“Are you looking for a security consultant?”
Her eyes rounded in puzzlement. “No.”
“Then why are you asking for Braxton?”
She stared at him for a long moment, as though he were a bauble she was thinking about acquiring.
That was when he noticed the color of her eyes. A light purple, like amethyst. Yet so clear, he could see into them, catch glints of gold in their depths. And something more, too. A wistfulness that didn’t match the resolute lines of that pantsuit, the slick knot of that bun.
But it was more than what he saw. He felt her. A restlessness that swept over him like winds off the Mojave, as warm as they were unsettling. At the same time he sensed her vulnerability, which clashed with her business-power packaging, but fit right in with her flowery scent.
Distant yet close. Seductive yet standoffish.
He didn’t think he’d ever met a woman who gave off more conflicting signals.
“Because,” she finally said, “I have something for him.”
He forgot what he’d asked her. Or why he was here, the day of the week, the current president of the United States. Oh, right, he’d asked why she wanted to see Braxton. Whoever that was.
A corner of her mouth lifted slightly, as though amused by his caginess. Although he preferred to think it was inspired by his overwhelming manliness. Anyway, it was a nice mouth. Soft, curvy lips. Their color so light and ripe, he could almost taste their raspberry sweetness.
He realized he was smiling back.
“So,” she said, her voice turning husky, “do you know where I can find Braxton?”
Oh, now she’d done it.
He’d always been a sucker for women’s smoky, raspy voices, and she’d just given it to him twofold. She was a young Lauren Bacall. Cool, unflappable, smooth. And he was Sam Spade, private eye, ready and willing to help the damsel in distress.
Ka-boom.
He straightened, laughing as he realized what he’d just fallen for.
“Oh,