by Liz Maverick
“Not yet. I’m looking forward to us moving in together, though. We’ll probably do that sooner rather than later.”
“Oh, god. The search for an apartment in New York City has broken up more than one couple. Get married first.”
“Well, actually, Shane’s going to move in here.” Cecily looked a little uncomfortable.
“What about Ally?” Jane asked, wincing. She remembered Rothgar’s comment about not subsidizing Ally’s rent anymore.
Cecily frowned. “I know. It sucks. But she has to move either way. It’s a lot of money for one person, and if Rothgar isn’t paying . . . anyway, I think she’s happy it’s me and Shane.” Jane’s friend shifted her weight to the opposite side and said in a whisper, “She wouldn’t come out and say it, but I think she’s relieved that if she has to go, someone her brother knows will still be at this address. In case.”
“In case of what?” Jane asked. “He’s dead.”
“I know that’s what she thinks she thinks. But some part of her still can’t bear it, Jane.” Cecily shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. It’s weird for me to try and imagine Ally as ever being part of the Hudson Kings.”
Especially given how much Ally wants to hate them, Jane thought.
“Did you see the photo on the bookcase of Ally, Missy, Apollo, and Graham?” Cecily asked. “I thought it was prom because the girls look so young, but it was only taken three years ago, right before the guys disappeared. Ally told me stories about doing missions with Missy. It sounded like Rothgar was always careful about what he let them do. Sometimes it doesn’t take much. Sometimes you just need someone to walk in front of another person at the right time or spill a wine glass or whatever.”
Cecily paused and cocked her head. “But you don’t even have to do anything except hang out with Nick, drink expensive cocktails, and eat expensive food. You’re just adding color.” She added, a little wickedly, “And camouflage. I think Nick would attract too much attention if he went as a single male. Don’t you?”
Jane looked at Cecily with narrowed eyes. “Don’t fish.”
“Isn’t that what this is all about? Fish?” she asked innocently.
Jane stuck out her tongue at her friend. “Who does he date, anyway? Normally.”
“Nobody.” Cecily searched her memory. “I mean, what I know, he used to go out and party with the finance boys on Wall Street. Money, models, and mayhem. But I haven’t known him that long.”
Ugh. “I haven’t seen that side of him,” Jane said.
“Sounds like he’s pulled back from that scene. Nobody ever used to talk about Nick getting serious with anyone. Maybe it’s not his style.” Cecily paused and smiled. “Or wasn’t. I don’t know the timing. I wonder if it stopped after he got himself into trouble with Sokolov.”
Sokolov. Jane bit her lip and looked out the window.
“Until now,” Cecily added. “Jane, I think he really likes you.”
Or maybe he just likes the idea of me. Although she wasn’t exactly sure what that idea might be. “You going to tell me about this Sokolov? I’ve heard him mentioned before.”
Cecily gave her a sorry look. “You know I won’t talk about anything like that. Details. People. Missions. Ally is Ally, and she’s a little mouthier because she’s obviously so conflicted, but Shane’s asked me to keep what I learn to myself.”
“And I guess Ally just got booted for not doing that,” Jane observed.
“Yeah, that was not expected. I think she’s still in shock,” Cecily said.
“I think Rothgar and Ally need to get a hotel room and fuck each other’s brains out for a couple of hours,” Jane said blithely.
Cecily shushed her and then stood there in shock. “Do not say that out loud to anybody.”
“What? It’s so obvious to me.”
“Please, Jane. Leave it. It’s too . . .” Cecily couldn’t even find the word. She probably meant something like “fraught.”
Jane let it go, reminding herself that all the animal attraction in the world didn’t necessarily make a relationship functional or even desirable.
“Hey, Jane, c’mere!” Missy yelled.
Jane and Cecily rejoined the other two, and they all clustered around the outfit styled on the living room sofa. “Try it all on,” Allison said.
“Yeah, let’s see how it works,” Missy said.
Jane stripped down in front of them all, while Cecily went to fetch a floor mirror, and Ally and Missy helped her into the dress. “This is odd,” Missy said, a funny look on her face as she looked around. “My close friends are all guys now.” She glanced sideways at Ally and then busied herself cataloguing Jane’s outfit in the binder, with a comment about how she was doing it so she wouldn’t accidentally duplicate the look on another mission.
Ally zipped up the dress, and then Jane looked at herself in the mirror Cecily had rolled in, and then she turned around. The women drew in a collective breath as Jane modeled the black and gold metallic Vera Wang. At least from her perspective, the deep vee stayed just this side of appropriate courtesy of a black translucent netted edge, and the fit and flare of the silhouette accentuated her curves in the best possible way.
“Wow,” Jane breathed more than said. She was not a small woman, and sometimes she had to do a little work to get her body to show off to what she felt was its best advantage, but somehow this dress made her voluptuousness look 100 percent like an asset.
“Hell, yeah.” Ally handed over a pair of black high heels with bows on the back. Missy helped her into Ally’s black satin trench coat with oversize rhinestone buttons, and then rummaged in her suitcase and drew out a plain black evening clutch with a single decorative bow that beautifully echoed the shoe bows.
Ally and Missy seemed to forget that they were on the outs as they analyzed the jewelry and finally fastened the winners around Jane’s neck, hands, and ears. It was almost like they were rediscovering the natural partnership they’d once had, before pain and loss drove them apart.
And Jane, basking in her reflection, seeing herself in a beautiful outfit, looking sexy and self-confident, wondered what Nick would see.
She was going on this mission because she wanted to be with him, even in a make-believe world. She looked like a girl going on a date with a man who cared about her. She looked like a girl going on a date with a man who thought she hung the moon. And she was willing to live out the fantasy just for pure enjoyment, even if her speeding heartbeat longed for more. She had to make peace with the fact that wishing couldn’t make it so, and that it was fine to eat whatever candy Nick offered tonight, even if she felt a little sick when she woke up tomorrow.
Sitting in the bathroom while Ally did her hair and makeup gave her the perfect opportunity to think. It was just as well. Jane had promised Nana she’d find her way. That she wouldn’t fall for another man who didn’t care for her heart. Hell, Jane had promised herself.
When Jane and Ally came out after makeup, the apartment was crowded with extremely large, superhot Hudson Kings men. Shane had his arm around Cecily’s shoulders; he gave a nod in Jane’s direction as if to say he approved of her look.
Nick stopped in the middle of a sentence of whatever conversation he was having with Flynn about the jagged piece of metal in his hand. He just stood there on the carpet runner, staring at Jane, his fingers playing with a money clip from his pocket. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo that Jane thought this must all be some elaborate joke, because it couldn’t be reality.
Nick finally walked over and said something, but it was under his breath. She couldn’t quite figure it out, though it sounded like he said, “My star.”
Jane cleared her throat. “Mr. Dawes, sir?”
Something flickered in his eyes. “Nick,” he said quietly.
“Nick,” she said. “Are you . . . is this . . . will this suit?”
“It will suit, Jane.” Still with the money clip, end over end, his eyes glued on her.
“It’s go ti
me,” Missy said, ushering everybody back out the door, once more rolling her suitcase, which she’d repacked, and clutching her binder. She stopped in the open doorway and adjusted an earpiece Jane hadn’t noticed she was wearing. “Hey, Roth, we’re leaving Cecily’s. Romeo’s picking up Law as we speak.”
Cecily and Ally were in the hall with Shane.
“Give us a sec,” Nick said, shutting Ally’s door on everybody until it was just Jane and Nick standing in the apartment. “I was just thinking,” he said. “I messed up with Sokolov because I lost my way. I didn’t have my eyes open. Or maybe I did, but I just could never tell the stars apart in the sky. The one star I was looking for. Started to get to me that I never would. Seemed like a lost cause. And I think I was giving up. I was giving up on a promise, and that’s where I made my mistake. And the crazy thing is that without the mistake, I wouldn’t have needed a fish sitter. But now I can see it in the sky. My star. Hell, Jane, there’s a lot going through my head right now. I’m putting all the pieces together, and—”
The door opened before Jane ever got a word in. Missy. “You really gotta get down here. We’re out of time.”
Jane looked at Nick. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re—”
“Now, guys,” Missy said.
Worst. Timing. Ever.
“Just as well,” Nick muttered to Jane. “I sound like a goddamn lunatic. Just . . . never mind.”
Never mind? Jane’s heart beat madly, her body responding to the simplest things: even Nick’s hand on the small of her back, steering her out the door. Oh, god, is this for real? Because it feels so real. Like nothing I’ve had before. It makes everything, everyone, in my past pale in comparison—look so small and so silly.
Nick Dawes, please be for real. If you are going to make me run toward you, you’d better not run away.
CHAPTER 25
Jane got her “mission briefing” sitting between Nick and Rothgar in the back of a town car. Rothgar’s primary advice boiled down to “Just have fun,” which he said in a completely serious voice and an expression absolutely focused on business.
“Fun with Nick and Jane,” Jane quipped.
Rothgar paused, letting on for only a fraction of a second that he might be surprised that Jane wasn’t quaking in her boots about the mission or about talking to him about the mission, and then continued as if she’d never spoken. “You might see something you don’t like or don’t understand. Whatever you do, don’t let it show. Ignore anything Nick or Romeo and his date do that seems out of the ordinary. Don’t stare at their hands. Do whatever you’d do at a normal party, and if you’re going to stare at Nick, look into his eyes and smile like a girlfriend.”
Thank god it was dark enough in the car that Jane doubted Nick could see the high color on her cheeks.
Rothgar then showed Nick three different pages with snapshots of three different women: two youngish, one older. Shane and Chase had done preparty reconnaissance, calling in the descriptions of their targets. They already had full dossiers back at Hudson Kings headquarters from all the long-term planning Roth and Missy had done, but these photos were clearly taken within the last couple of hours; the women were all in full party gear.
Rothgar had matched Romeo with “Codename: Beehive,” the assistant wearing a yellow dress with black accessories, and “Codename: Bunnicula,” the raven-haired assistant wearing a black dress with a white fur capelet much like the one Jane had nearly taken to a pet shelter for adoption.
Nick was responsible for the last assistant, “Codename: Flame,” the stylish graying assistant with the orange-and-red-patterned gown. He nodded, and Rothgar took the photos back.
Something told Jane that Missy was the one assigning code names, but this wasn’t the time to ask. Maybe later, because poking the big bear was fun, especially when he clearly wasn’t used to people who didn’t find him intimidating.
Nick turned to Jane and held up a small white square cube with a tiny plug that looked like it would fit into a phone-charging port. “We need to get our hands on three different phone targets. We get twenty seconds uninterrupted, we can download the content to Dex via secured wireless, and have that phone back in place without anybody being the wiser.”
“Don’t let on that anything is unusual,” Rothgar said, apparently unaware that he was sort of repeating himself. Between the lines, Jane was starting to hear Rothgar’s voice in her head saying, “Don’t screw up, newbie.”
Yeah, I got that. Was he regretting letting her in on the fun? “Check,” Jane said cheerfully. “This one time when I was a kid, there was a movie shoot at my school, and I got picked to work as an assistant to the cast and crew. If you have ever worked for actors and directors, you know that I’ve been prepared for pretty much any request. Smoothies, lice shampoo, you name it.”
Rothgar’s stare remained cold. “I’m going now,” he said. He knocked on the glass divider and requested a stop. The town car pulled over immediately. At which point Rothgar got out without a word, tapped his ear for Nick’s benefit, and walked off into the night.
Yeah, um, Rothgar has never worked as an assistant on a movie shoot. Pretty sure of that, now.
Nick took Jane’s hand. She stared at their linked fingers, delicious shivers moving down her spine. “I have one hundred percent confidence in you,” Nick said. “If anything I say about what to do or not to do sounds like I have doubts about your performance, that’s definitely not it. I just have to make sure that I say everything that needs to be said to cover all the bases. Protocol. This is a big night for me. They don’t usually let the white-collar guy out of the cage.”
“You like this,” Jane said, grinning.
“Yeah, I like this.”
“I’m a little nervous you’ll get caught,” Jane said.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would I get caught?”
“Okay, I’m nervous Romeo will get caught.”
“Romeo’s targets are female. He’s not going to get caught lifting data. If anything, he’ll get caught frenching someone else’s girlfriend.”
“Ah. That’s why Rothgar has you doing one and Romeo doing two.”
“Actually, Rothgar has me doing one and Romeo doing two because I’m with a civilian and he’s with an operative.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you weren’t good with women. You’re very good with women,” Jane said.
“I’m very good with you,” Nick said.
Yes, you are. Jane grinned and blushed.
“Man, you’re cute,” Nick said. He cleared his throat. “You ready to go?”
The car came to a stop at the entrance to a huge building. There were town cars, limos, and taxis blocking the street, and security details and photographers on the sidewalk blinding everybody with flash cameras. Nick helped Jane make a graceful exit from the car, making sure her skirts didn’t get tangled before handing over her purse and coat. He did a sudden double take and stopped in his tracks, staring into the face of an enormous lion statue. “Hits me now and then,” he said, appearing to struggle for a moment with his emotions.
Beautifully dressed guests streamed up the steps as Nick stayed motionless looking up at the entrance. And then Jane realized: the party was being held at the main branch of the New York Public Library. “You okay?” she asked, giving his hand a squeeze.
He turned around and gave her a brilliant smile, and still smiling, he searched the night like he was looking for the most elusive thing of all: stars in the city sky. “You know what? I’ll take it as a sign,” he said, tugging on her hand and almost dancing Jane up to the top of a flight of concrete stairs lined with candles and flower petals. The doors were wide open—but manned with a full complement of unsmiling security guards dressed in black. The female guests streamed into the library entrance in sequins and tulle, silk and jewels, like a field of butterflies against a sea of black and white.
The inside of the Public Library was decked out like a very rich eighties teenager. The ceiling was lit in deep
purple accented with twinkling white stars that made Nick laugh and shake his head. “Definitely a sign,” he said.
The gorgeous marble columns and carvings had been turned cobalt blue, framing a massive party scene anchored by bars and food stations on all four sides of the room, with tables lining a huge center dance floor. The multipiece band was arranged on an illuminated riser with a custom neon sign spelling a Russian word that Nick said meant “celebrate.”
The room was awash in pockets of shadow spliced with extravagant colored lights; it would be hard to find anyone on purpose; it would be hard to find Nick again if they separated.
They shared a platter of tiny bites and luscious seafood from the raw bar with absolutely no awkwardness. Nick seemed to be in a fantastic mood. Maybe it was what he’d said about getting out of the office and into the field for once. Maybe it had something to do with whatever he was talking about regarding “it’s a sign.” Maybe it was because he really did enjoy her company. Whatever it was, his mood was infectious, and Jane was having the time of her life with the one person in the world she really wanted to be with on a Saturday night.
After they’d licked the sauce off their fingers in totally undignified fashion and had another perfectly mixed drink from the bar, Nick gestured to the dance floor. “Chase would kill for a stage like this one. On the other hand, his moves would attract a lot of attention.”
Chase? Jane racked her brain to figure out which one of the Hudson Kings she’d met was Chase but couldn’t come up with anybody who seemed like a natural dancer. The guy she’d thought was Chase looked like a badass and sounded like a loudmouth. “The handsome one in the aggressive T-shirt and cowboy hat?” she asked.
Nick snorted in laughter. “I guess I don’t even notice his shirts anymore. Yeah, that sounds like him.”
“Wouldn’t have pegged him as particularly graceful,” Jane said. Insanely hot, yeah. Graceful, no.
“I think you need another drink,” Nick said.
“I really don’t—” she began, until she noticed his body had stiffened a little beneath her hold, although the expression on his face hadn’t changed. He had something important on his mind. The mission. Follow his lead. Just like dancing. “Yeah, actually, another drink would be great.”