The latest crisis with Lance had certainly proved that. Twenty-four seven with Jake meant sharing things about her personal life that she didn’t particularly care to share.
Even if she did have to admit that he’d been decent about the whole thing. He hadn’t pried. He hadn’t tried to shove his opinion down her throat. He’d helped.
Chalk one up for Jake Trinity.
Which in no way, shape or form translated into wanting to keep the man around permanently. It was bad enough that he’d thrown her a curve and now she had her dad to deal with, too. If Mallory actually believed in luck, she might entertain that she was having a bad run of it.
“Today’s your lucky day,” she said dryly while pulling into the driveway. “You’re going to meet Opal.”
“Your former foster mother and the surveillance specialist.”
“Very good. You remembered.”
He shot her a grin that made her sex give a needy little clench with a reminder of what that mouth felt like between her thighs. Picket fence, indeed.
“Missing a trick around you might be fatal,” he said.
“You seem to enjoy a good challenge.”
“I do.”
Now it was her turn to laugh. She reached for her door but, he said, “Hang on. I’ll get it.”
She let him do his knight-in-shining armor routine, still smiling. “Do you know you made fatal sound like a compliment?”
“I intended to. I was hoping you’d find it charming.”
She met his gaze as she slid off the seat and found those warm brown eyes sparkling. “I do.”
Then he shifted his gaze above her head. “Do you and all of your father’s crew swap keys to each others’ houses?”
Mallory glanced around to find Opal watching them from the glass cutout of her front door. She opened the door a moment later and said, “So this is the man of the hour. I’ve heard all about you, Jake Trinity.”
Jake escorted Mallory up the stairs while his sharp gaze took in Opal, who was a sight even on the days when she wasn’t showcased on the portico above her audience.
She looked especially together in a pale-blue silk pant-suit designed to make men drool over her assets. She was a glamorous woman, and to Jake’s credit his gaze didn’t snag on her chest, even when he was eye level as they climbed the stairs.
He was very gallant, in fact, when he took Opal’s hand and brought it to his lips. “I’ve heard about you, too. You’ve been a very important part of Mallory’s life.”
Opal visibly melted and her platinum bob swung across her shoulders when she slanted her gaze toward Mallory. “Oh, honey, this one’s a keeper. No wonder your daddy’s all worked up.”
Mallory rolled her eyes. Great. “He sent you?”
“Of course. He doesn’t want to be obvious.” Hooking her arm through Jake’s, she escorted him inside, leaving Mallory to close the door. “Duke wants Mallory to settle down,” she explained. “He’s got his heart set on grandchildren. Getting old, I think. Don’t you, honey?”
“Senile, definitely. And I’d appreciate a little help running interference, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m trying. I keep telling him that you’re young and need to be having a good time. Don’t you think so, Jake?”
“I wouldn’t give a statement without your attorney.” Mallory cautioned him. “It might come back to haunt you.”
Jake just laughed. “I don’t see that having a good time and commitment are exclusive.”
Mallory scowled, refusing to dwell on the subtext of that statement, but Opal looked delighted.
“I’m getting a good idea why your daddy likes him so much.”
“So what’s up, Opal?” she tried to swerve the conversation onto a different course. “Are you only here because Daddy asked you to spy on me?”
“Actually no. It so happens that Eddie was feeling lonely today. He’s been working the floor all morning to socialize with the customers and hear himself talk. I figured it was the perfect time to sneak away and wrap up your quarterly reports. I promised to bring him back sushi from Ichiban. Your treat.”
As Mallory tried to figure out a way to suggest tactfully that Opal go pick up the brown rice and sesame balls right now, Jake asked, “Eddie, the friend who was also the alarm specialist?”
Opal grabbed the question. “Oh yes. He’s been like an uncle to Mallory ever since she was born.”
“And you work for him?”
“I’m his office manager and right-hand man. A stockholder in his company, too.” She guided Jake through the foyer and into the living room, where she sat beside him on the sofa. “I do some work for Mallory, too. She’s been so successful that she hasn’t had a chance to keep up with her paperwork.”
“Don’t let her fool you, Jake,” Mallory said from the doorway. “She’s a spy.”
Opal sniffed haughtily. “She doesn’t like to admit that she needs help. Never has, even as a child.”
“Mallory told me who you are,” Jake said to Opal. “But she hasn’t told me much else.”
“What is it you want to know?”
“Everything.”
Opal’s grin revealed she’d be more than happy to fill in the blanks. “I’ve been a friend of the family since before Mallory was born. I was very young myself, of course. But I have the distinction of being her only constant female influence all her life. Her mother died tragically when she was only an infant, you know.”
“Mallory hasn’t been very forthcoming about her early life even though I’ve expressed an interest.”
That was all it took to send Opal off and running on a biography lesson, and Mallory listened, knowing nothing short of a tornado would divert Opal from her course.
This didn’t surprise her. She had, after all, known Opal all her life.
But Jake’s determination to find out about her did surprise her, and Mallory couldn’t quite figure out why. Perhaps she’d thought that a man who’d been involved with as many women as he’d been shouldn’t be so focused on her. She was one woman in a long line of many, and he should have had a much better grasp on how to conduct a fling by now. Digging into personal histories was against all the fling rules.
It’s not me, Mallory. It’s us. Together.
His words echoed in her memory, a reminder that no matter how many flings this man had enjoyed in his past, he still liked to play the knight in shining armor.
Exactly what she didn’t want to play with.
With a sigh, she said, “While you two get acquainted, I’m going to work. I’ll be in the workshop if you need me.”
If they heard her, neither acknowledged her when she left.
DUKE GLANCED at the number flashing on his cell phone display and depressed the power button to take the call. “Well, how’d it go?”
“Hello to you, too,” Opal shot back.
“Hello, gorgeous. Forgive me. I’m too damned excited about Mallory and her affair. I can’t think straight.”
“Too excited?” She issued a sultry laugh that made his pulse spike hard. “That has definite promise.”
“So it does.” Duke smiled, unwilling to resist this opportunity to further his own cause. He had so much lost time to make up for and had the nagging feeling that time was slipping away. He’d never been the most patient of men—especially when dealing with his own deficiencies. “Spend the night with me again tonight, and I promise you won’t be sorry.”
“Actually, you read my mind, Duke. I do want to see you tonight. We need to talk.”
“Then talk to me, gorgeous.”
“Not now. In person. The only reason I called is because Mallory asked me to run interference with you.”
“She wants me to lay off, I know. But I won’t, so don’t waste your breath.”
“Hmph.” Opal sniffed over the line. “If you’re sure then, I’ll just say good-bye right now.”
There was something in her voice…he knew this woman too well. She was stringing him along. “Don’t
say good-bye yet. It’s been hours since I’ve seen you. Too long.” A nice recovery. Of course, Opal wouldn’t buy it, but it should be good enough to get him back in the game.
“I wasn’t telling you to lay off, obstinate man.” She was clearly undecided if he was worthy of a second chance.
“I’m listening, gorgeous. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than hearing the sound of your voice.”
Overkill? Duke didn’t think so. Not when he could practically hear Opal’s smile when she said, “I thought you might want to know that Mallory and her man of the hour are heading for the Vertical Playground right now.”
Duke blew a kiss over the receiver. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
And heard her sigh on the other end.
JAKE STEPPED into the shower spray of the gym locker room, closed his eyes and let the hot water wash away the last two hours of his life. Talented on a wrestling mat he was. Talented with rappel lines he wasn’t.
Mallory had arranged for them to use a private room at a rock-climbing gym to practice his control while scaling down walls on a line. He hadn’t had much. Despite her patient and proficient instruction, he’d slammed into her and the wall so many times that he wasn’t sure what was worse—the bruises to his body or his pride.
Mallory had assured him he’d get better with practice, but Jake, painfully unused to being inept—especially in front of a woman he was trying to win—wasn’t sure he could believe her.
“At this point I’m wondering if I’ll ever see you dressed,” a familiar voice jarred him from his waterlogged reverie.
Opening his eyes, Jake came face to face with Duke Hunt as the man stepped inside the gym’s community shower and pulled off his towel. Sweaty, as if he’d been climbing, he raked a dark gaze over Jake then shot a grin that was pure Mallory bravado.
“I suppose it’s some consolation to know you can service my daughter properly.” He stepped beneath a showerhead, placed a bar of soap in a dish and turned the water on.
Jake stared, but to his credit, he did manage to keep his mouth from hanging open.
Duke must have noticed because he said, “I’m impressed. Did I stun you speechless or are you consciously choosing not to antagonize a convicted felon?”
“Actually sir, I was more concerned that you’re the father of the woman I’m involved with.”
“Not speechless then?”
“It factored.” Jake had to be honest.
That seemed to please the man because he nodded approvingly and stepped beneath the shower spray. Soon he reemerged and reached for the bar of soap. “Tell me about your involvement with my daughter. I want to know what your intentions are.”
Jake reached for his soap, buying himself time to consider his response. There were several ways to approach Duke Hunt, and dealing with Mallory gave him a definite leg up because she was a chip off the old block. Duke Hunt’s attitude screamed Challenge with a capital C, so Jake would handle the man the same way he handled his daughter—honestly and with no glaring weaknesses.
“I’m not sure what I want from your daughter yet. I’ve been trying to figure that out. You’ll be among the first to know when I do.”
With a narrowed gaze, Duke considered him from beneath a headful of soapy lather, and Jake waited, amazed at how interminable the waiting seemed.
“Fair enough. Been there. But a word of caution. Don’t tell me you’re having a fling with her. That’s not what I want to hear.”
Inside information was good, Jake decided before soaping his hair, a reprieve from the unreadable gaze currently staring holes through him.
“And since I’m willing to wait for you to make up your mind,” Duke said, crushing any hope that Jake was off the hook yet. “Satisfy my curiosity about something else.”
“Shoot, sir.”
“When and where did you first meet her?”
Great. The questions he couldn’t answer without disregarding Mallory’s wishes not to let her father know he’d been present at Innovative Engineering.
What was that old adage about everything going wrong that could? Jake knew he was out of his element here. Way out. Mallory and her father operated on a level that he was wholly unfamiliar with, one that made every word out of his mouth feel as if he was tossing the dice with a large bet riding on the roll.
“Honesty usually works for me, sir, but today it’s placing me in an awkward situation with you.”
“How awkward?”
“Very. I met Mallory a long time ago. Unfortunately, when you showed up at her place, she asked me not to mention the details. She wanted to explain herself. I agreed to respect her wishes. I’m guessing she hasn’t had a chance to talk with you yet.”
“You haven’t let her out of your sight since you walked through her door. That might have something to do with it, don’t you think?”
Not a casual statement. The man was clearly very well informed of his daughter’s comings and goings, a fact Jake made a mental note to remember. “Most likely.”
Duke stared through him with a look he could have used in prison to scare off fellow inmates. A hard-edged, inscrutable look that could have meant he was contemplating murder as easily as he considered changing a TV channel.
But Duke Hunt apparently recognized and respected the truth when he stared it in the face, and to Jake’s surprise—and yes, relief—the man inclined his soapy head and said, “Well, I suppose it’s also something that you’re keeping your word to her. And I’m glad to know she isn’t losing her mind and jumping into bed with a strange man.”
Jake thought he was getting a bead on what the trouble was. “If it’s any reassurance, I met Mallory a very long time ago. Unfortunately we had a miscommunication that prevented us from getting together again before now.”
“Interesting. Is that why you pursued her through TSS?”
“Yes.”
Jake might not have recognized it at the time, might have told himself that contacting her was about the job and her owing him a favor, but he now knew he’d been waiting to see her again. Waiting for a very long time.
He couldn’t share that information with Duke Hunt, though, and the conversation obviously wasn’t over yet. Duke followed him when he returned to the locker room and toweled off on a nearby bench.
“Let me give you some advice,” he said. “My daughter doesn’t let a lot of people into her life and on the off chance you make the cut, I want you to know I’m going to need some sort of guarantee you’re worthy of her. She’s very loyal to the people she loves, which is why there are so few of them.”
Jake remembered her rushing out to help a young kid in trouble. “I do understand. May I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“What does Mallory have against soul mates?”
Duke tossed aside the towel and opened a locker. He withdrew his clothing but didn’t answer as he shrugged on his shirt.
“I don’t know what Mallory would tell you, but since you’re asking me, I’ll give you my spin,” he finally said, lifting his gaze and meeting Jake’s head-on. “My daughter isn’t white bread, and I don’t think I need to tell you that our lives haven’t exactly been mainstream. It takes an effort to help someone understand our circumstances. The same goes for her trying to fit into someone’s quote-unquote normal lifestyle. I don’t think she’s met many people worth making the effort for.”
The reasoning certainly fit the bill and again Jake was impressed by how well Duke Hunt knew his daughter. “I appreciate the opinion.”
“So now that we understand each other, Trinity, tell me how the training’s going.”
“I’m getting a feel for why so many criminals prefer armed robbery to burglary.”
Duke smiled. “Not too many people want to put forth the extra effort it takes to be good. Says something about our society, don’t you think?”
“It does.”
And the fact that Duke Hunt had put forth the extra effort to make sure Jak
e understood the parameters of dealing with his daughter meant Mallory had been right about his approval rating. And if the people who knew her best were on his side then he just might stand a chance.
They finished dressing in silence and as Jake was returning his soiled workout clothes to his duffel, Duke said, “Before you go, Jake, there’s something else.”
He lifted his gaze to find the man completely dressed and tossing his own bag over his shoulder.
“A friend of mine asked me to thank you for helping Mallory get his son home.” He extended his hand and Jake shook it.
“Glad I could help.”
Couldn’t hurt to have this man owe him one.
11
“WHERE HAVE you been?” Duke asked Opal when she walked through the door of his house a full two hours after leaving work at Eddie’s place. “You couldn’t call to let me know you were going to be late? Or at least keep your cell phone on so I could get through to you?”
Her strappy heels ringing out on the marble foyer, she sauntered right up to him, raised up on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Worried, were you? I’m flattered.”
He scowled to conceal the fact that he was pleased. Very pleased. Opal apparently liked that he’d noticed her absence, that he’d made the effort to call and track her down.
Small wonder. She deserved to be treated as if she mattered, and it was his new quest in life to prove to her that she did. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“That’s it, Duke?” she asked, her mouth pursing in a deliciously pouty moue. “It hasn’t been long since you professed your intention of wanting something more than sex with me, and already you’re taking me for granted. No ‘How was your day, dear?’ Or ‘Can I fix you a drink?”’
“Martinis have been waiting to be poured for over an hour.” Slipping a hand on her elbow, he motioned to the lanai at the back of the house. He’d play her game. Not only had she earned his cooperation, but also he wanted to win her as the prize.
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