“It’s such a beautiful afternoon; let’s sit outside,” Ava suggested.
“If there’s an outdoor bar, that’ll work,” he responded.
“Hmm, I haven’t seen one, but tell you what, I’ll go get us all something to drink and bring it out.”
“Perfect,” their father said, pulling out his wallet.
“I got it, Daddy,” said Ava, heading inside, and instead, bumping straight into a wall of hard-as-rock muscle.
“Whoa, where are you hurrying off to?” asked Tabon, putting a hand on each of her arms.
“Um…to get some drinks for…um, our dad.” She motioned with her head to where he sat with her sister.
“I see. I’m guessing you know your mother is inside.”
Ava nodded.
“I’ll walk you in.”
“That’s okay. I can handle it.”
Tabon raised an eyebrow. “I’ll help. By the way, what did the girls decide?”
“We’re in,” she said, waving at her mother and Paul before going up to the bar.
Tabon leaned forward and brushed her forehead with his lips. “I’m so glad,” he murmured. “I have another suggestion.”
“Here we go.”
Tabon laughed.
“How about if I take the drinks out to your father and sister while you spend a couple of minutes with your mom. That way she won’t wonder why you ran off so fast.”
“She’s probably too drunk to notice,” she mumbled.
Tabon leaned forward again. “You may be right, but if you do as I suggest, you’ll be more apt to avoid a possible confrontation.”
Ava nodded. “Thank you.”
He kept his hand on the small of her back as they waited for the bartender to make their drinks.
“Are you sure you can take all three?” she asked, since he’d ordered one too.
“No problem. I got this.”
“I won’t be far behind. If she thinks I’m with you, she won’t want to keep me.”
Tabon brushed her forehead with his lips a second time. “You are with me.”
—:—
Razor had no trouble juggling the two gin and tonics since Aine had ordered a glass of wine. He slipped his sunglasses on, picked up the drinks, and followed Ava over to where her mother sat.
“Hey, Mom. I just came to say goodbye.”
“Mom?”
“Sorry. I mean, Peggy. Anyway, Tabon and I were just leaving.”
“I’ll be outside, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a minute,” Tabon said, motioning with his head in that direction.
Ava nodded, and Razor walked toward the door.
His suggestion that he take the drinks out to her sister and father wasn’t exactly selfless. It would give him an opportunity to talk with her father when he was least expecting it.
“Hello, Aine,” he said, approaching them. He handed her the glass of wine, and then turned to her father who had been sitting with his back turned when Razor approached.
“Hello, sir,” he said. “You must be Mr. McNamara. Tabon Sharp, I was one of the groomsmen, and I believe this is yours.”
The man stood, Razor handed him the drink, and they shook hands.
“Nice to meet you. Where is Ava?”
“Dad, I have to be honest with you. We didn’t want you to go inside because Mom is in there.”
“I see,” he said, brushing his finger over his upper and lower lip and studying Razor.
“She shouldn’t be long. I think she was going to say goodbye and that’s it,” Razor told him.
McNamara nodded; his eyes hadn’t left Razor’s face.
“Who are you again?” he asked.
“Dad, he’s one of the groomsmen. He and Mercer—”
“Go way back. We served in the Marines together and have been best friends ever since.”
Aine nodded behind her father’s back and mouthed, “Sorry.”
“Hey, Daddy,” said Ava, joining them. “I see you’ve met Tabon.”
“How drunk is your mother?”
Ava sighed. “Very.”
“I’m not surprised.”
Razor downed the rest of his drink, that was, by request, all tonic and no gin.
“It was nice meeting you, sir,” he said. “Sorry to run, but I’ll be leaving in about a half hour and still need to pack and check in with the other groomsmen to see if there’s anything we need to help with before we go.”
His eyes met Ava’s, and she nodded, checking the time on her phone.
“When do you have to leave for the airport, Daddy?” she asked, seemingly jarring him out of a deep thought.
“I need to be going as well.” He stood and kissed each of his daughters.
“Did you say your name was Tabon?” he asked, offering his hand to shake.
“That’s right.”
“Interesting name.”
“It’s a family thing. I’m the fifth.”
McNamara nodded, as though he’d stopped listening to Razor, and hugged first Ava, and then Aine.
“Let me know when you plan to be back in the city. We’ll have dinner,” he said.
“Interesting man,” Razor commented once he was certain their father was far enough away not to hear him.
“Our dad has always been…intense,” said Ava.
“He works a lot,” added Aine. “But you probably know that, don’t you?”
Razor shook his head. “No.”
He looked at Ava who had an odd look on her face.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “So, are we following you, or are you planning to give me the address?”
There was an odd tone to her voice, almost as if she was annoyed with him.
“Why don’t you ride with me, and Gunner can take Aine and the other two girls?”
“No. That won’t be necessary. We have our own car.”
Her voice remained clipped, which worried him.
“Yes, I know. And I don’t. I rode here with Gunner. If I ride with you and the rest ride with him, you won’t get lost.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, folding her arms again.
He wished she would hurry up and change out of the damn dress that sent his blood rushing to his groin.
“I’ll go with you and Razor,” offered Aine. “Pen and Tara can ride with Gunner.”
Ava nodded, but she sure didn’t look very happy about it.
—:—
“See you shortly,” Ava said to Tabon, but didn’t look in his direction.
“What’s wrong?” Aine asked after he walked away.
“He’s lying.”
“What about?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but my guess is, about not knowing anything about Dad.”
“How do you know he’s lying?”
“It’s a thing he does. I can’t really explain it, but it’s the set of his mouth. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but then I remembered he’d done the same thing when I met him last summer on Fire Island.”
“You thought he was lying about something then?”
“He was lying. He was pretending to be Quinn’s boss, when really, he was her bodyguard.”
Aine shrugged with a skeptical look on her face. “I hope you’re wrong,” she murmured. “For your sake.”
—:—
“Fill us in on meeting the twins’ father,” said Doc, when he and Merrigan joined Razor and Gunner in their cottage.
“Every nerve ending tells me that man is dangerous. He definitely suspects that I’m not on the up-and-up, maybe just with his daughter, but he watched me closely.”
“We’ll know soon enough if he’s Petrov, but whether he is or not, he’s the head of CRM Allied, and that is who we’re officially investigating. It’s CRM that Ava will indirectly testify against at Finnegan’s trial. In the meantime, I can guarantee the agency is making a deal with him to take down the company he works for,” said Merrigan.
“What’s the status of the dau
ghter?” asked Doc.
“Ava, her sister, and their two friends will be staying in one half of my duplex in Cambria.”
“For how long?”
“As long as necessary.”
“And if she insists on leaving?”
“I’ll handle it, Doc. You do your part of the job, and I’ll do mine.”
Razor was getting sick and tired of Doc treating him like an employee rather than an equal partner. Sure, he’d always assumed the role of leader, but they’d managed without him when he’d disappeared for two years.
He met Gunner’s eyes, which conveyed both that he understood Razor’s irritation, but also that he was equally concerned about him being able to handle this assignment.
“Penelope and Tara are riding with you. I’ll ride with Ava and Aine,” he said to Gunner, who rubbed his hands together.
“Behave,” said Doc.
Razor looked at him to see who he was talking to, but Doc’s eyes went back and forth between him and Gunner.
Once this assignment ended, Razor planned to have a sit down with him, Merrigan, Gunner, and Mercer, if he was back, and set Doc straight about how decisions were going to be made in the future.
“We have to get going,” Razor said to Gunner, rolling his eyes when his teammate rubbed his hands together a second time.
“I’m tellin’ you, you need to settle down, my friend. You’re gonna scare all of ’em off.” Not that Razor would actually think that was a bad idea. It might even be considered public service if he warned them about Gunner.
Razor walked to the girls’ cottage while Gunner drove the car closer. He would’ve preferred having Ava all to himself, but at least she’d agreed to let him ride with her after Aine offered to join them.
“Hey,” she said, opening the door when he knocked.
“Ready?”
“Yeah,” she answered, “although there’s been a slight change of plans.”
Razor felt a pang in his chest, was he actually disappointed? Wow, some of these emotions were beyond surprising. Hoping the way he felt wasn’t evident to Ava, he merely raised an eyebrow.
“Aine has decided to go with Pen and Tara too. I guess Gunner offered to take them wine tasting on the way to Cambria.”
“Would you like to join them?”
“Would you?”
Razor stepped forward and bent down to look in Ava’s eyes. “I asked what you’d like to do.”
“Honestly, I’d rather not, which is why my sister said she’d ride with them.
“Hungry?” he asked once they were on the road.
“I guess. Although I don’t have much of an appetite.”
She was back to not looking at him, and keeping her arms crossed in front of her.
“Mind if we stop?”
“Do I have a choice?”
And…the brat was back. What the hell had happened after they’d talked to her father that pissed her off?
“I guess you don’t,” he teased.
“Then why ask?”
“How old are you?”
“Why do you want to know? Just to humiliate me? You know exactly how old I am. You probably know my bra size and when I had my last menstrual cycle.”
“Nah, but I do know when you lost your virginity.” He’d meant it as a joke, but the look on her face indicated she didn’t take it that way.
“That subject is off-limits for you. Understand?”
“I was kidding.”
“How old are you, Razor?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Don’t call you an old man?”
Who was crossing the line now? Although she did have a point. He was lusting after a nubile young woman ten years younger than him.
“Don’t call me Razor. I haven’t told you how old I am.”
“Why not? Everyone calls you that.”
“Because I want you to call me Tabon.”
He pulled off the road when he saw the sign for Marchants. The brewery had a café that was one of his favorite places to eat.
“Maybe I should call you Mr. Sharp. Or, how about Sir? Is that what you’re into?”
“That’s enough,” he muttered.
“Sorry, Sir.” She looked down, but with a smirk he wanted to wipe off her face.
“Knock it off.”
“Oh, wait. Maybe you want me to call you Master instead.”
“You aren’t funny,” he said, but he felt the heat rising in his cheeks.
“Wait a minute,” she said, studying him. “Is that really what you’re into?”
Razor was so tempted to spin her around and let her know exactly what he was into, and if she didn’t shut up, that’s precisely what he’d do.
“Don’t play with sharp objects, little girl. You’re likely to get cut.”
“You remind me of my father sometimes.”
Those words hurt far worse than if she’d slapped his face. Instead of reacting, which was what she was after, he pretended to ignore her.
He held the door open, and she shimmied her tight little ass inside. While what she’d suggested wasn’t at all what he was into, her bringing up sex of any kind was too much for him.
She seemed puzzled, though, that her comment about her father hadn’t elicited the response she’d been going for. Sure, it reminded him that he’d kill the bastard if he laid a hand on either of his daughters, but if she was suggesting they were similar in age, that hadn’t bothered him.
Age didn’t make a damn bit of difference to him. Older, younger, didn’t matter. If two people were attracted to each other, wanted each other, that was all that was important. And right now, he wanted her about a thousand times more than the ice-cold beer he was about to order.
He set a beer menu in front of Ava. “What do you like?”
“I’ll have the Mirror Pond Pale Ale, please,” she said directly to the bartender.
“Can I see some ID?”
When she pulled it out of her purse and handed it to him, the bartender gave Razor a once over.
“What the fuck?” he said under his breath. Did he really look that much older than her?
Razor looked at the smug look on Ava’s face and decided he needed to do something about it.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.
She smirked and motioned toward the man now pouring their glasses of beer. “Clearly, he thinks you’re too old for me.”
“Do you think I’m too old for you?”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away from him.
“You’d be right,” he told her.
Since they were near the end of the bar, it was easy for him to twist her around so her back was to the wall in the hallway. He held her face with one hand while he circled her waist with his other arm. His lips came crashing down on hers with all the heat and passion he’d kept bottled up since he saw her in that bikini a year ago, and had come raging to the surface when he saw her walking down the aisle at their friends’ wedding.
Her lips opened to his, and she kissed him back with the same amount of fervor. She whimpered, grinding her pelvis against his hardness, and Razor thought he might lose it. And then she made it so much worse.
“Tabon,” she breathed. He could feel her nipples harden against his chest and her pulse speed up. The look she gave him could melt the polar icecaps.
Where he’d been ready to explode a moment ago, now all he could think about was getting Avarie out of her clothes and under him. His blood throbbed through his veins at the thought of being inside her, her warmth wrapped around him.
But they were in a bar, at the end of the day, at least two hours away from where they were headed.
Razor groaned and took a step back from her.
“Was that just to teach me a lesson?” she asked with hooded eyes.
“What do you think, Ava? Do you think I’m playing games with you?”
She shook her head.
“That’s right. I sure as hell am not.” He took her hand an
d led her back to the bar where their beers were waiting.
“Sure you’re not hungry?” he asked, pushing the food menu toward her.
“Not really,” she answered.
“Eat anyway.”
When the bartender came back Ava asked for the bar pretzel appetizer with beer cheese, and then ordered two prime rib sliders with a side of loaded tater tots.
Razor ordered the fish tacos.
“I thought you weren’t hungry,” he said when the bartender walked away.
“Changed my mind. I do that a lot.”
“Yeah, what else have you changed your mind about?”
Ava leaned forward so her mouth was next to his ear. “I no longer think you’re too old for me.”
“What do you think now?”
She took a long drink of her beer, and then plopped it on the bar. “I think you’re hotter than shit, Tabon.”
7
“This is your duplex?” she asked when he pulled through the gate after it opened.
Razor had to admit the place was beautiful, and not necessarily what one might expect from the word she emphasized.
A lush Japanese garden surrounded the two connected structures, with koi ponds outside each of their decks. The exterior of the house was dark wood with a clay roof.
“This is yours?” she asked.
“Don’t sound surprised.”
“It’s just so…big.”
Razor wiggled his eyebrows.
“The house is big. I really…I mean, it’s nothing at all the way I pictured it. Is this where Quinn stayed when she was here?”
“No, that was a rental. I hadn’t bought this place yet. And full disclosure, Gunner owns half of it.”
Ava’s cheeks turned pink. “The half we’re staying in?” she gasped. “Will he be here too?”
Razor laughed. “He isn’t supposed to be. His plan was to head back east to see his folks, who live on Chesapeake Bay. Although, after spending a few hours with three beautiful women, he may change his mind.”
Ava’s eyes opened wide.
“I’m kidding. He won’t change his mind, and even if he does, K19 has another house not far from here where he can sleep.”
“Why can’t he stay in your side of the house?”
Razor (K19 Security Solutions) Page 5