Mockingbird (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(21)

"Um. No."

He scowls at me. "Lucas, I told you to track her down and flirt with her a little to keep our options open, not follow her home and feel her up. It's a good thing we arrived when we did or her mother would have walked in on you fingerbanging her daughter. You're going to put the whole operation in jeopardy."

"What's the big deal? It's not like-"

He slams his fist on the wheel.

"I told you how important this job is," he snaps, his face turning red. "You don't realize what's at stake here. We could lose everything."

I sit there in shocked silence while he starts it up and we pull out. His head shakes and he mutters to himself for half the drive, until I work up the courage to say something.

"The mom likes you."

"She's supposed to," he sighs. "Apollo, don't forget this is just a job."

"Do you like her?"

He looks at me like I've just sprouted a third arm. "What? I'll admit, she's more fun than she seems. The sex is good-"

"Jesus Christ!"

"What?"

"Too much detail. Keep it general."

"I'm setting the hook. I need to get the passcode and a fresh encryption key out of her." He drums his fingers on the wheel. "The only woman I've ever loved or ever will love was your mother. This is just a job, son."

"What about-"

"A man has needs. That's all. Don't tell me you don't understand. Or are you pining for what's her face from the necklace job?"

"Her name was Brenda. I hope she's okay but I don't-"

"You'll get over this one, too. Trust me. Look, I'm old, I'm not dead. She's a very attractive girl, but you need to be thinking with this head." He taps my forehead. "Do I need to spell it out? We're working for a difficult client. I want to make it out of this alive as much as I want to hit it big and retire."

"Right," I mutter.

He is right, though. I mean, I've known her for what, a day? And by known I mean I met her twice. Sure, there's a spark…

A spark. Nobody I've ever met has made me feel like this. Just the sight of her. It's more than the lush curves of her body and the sparkle in her eyes. She's bold and smart, she takes charge and stands up to people. I like that. I like it a lot. Still, it's only a backup plan, and I have an excuse to avoid her. How much longer will it take for Dad to work his magic, a week? A month?

All I have to do is hang back and watch, and go over the plans to extract the merchandise. I'm already thinking about that. We could replace it with a dummy crate, buy us a little more time. Getting onto the compound will be easy, but getting inside… some kind of distraction would be needed. If I can figure out what, I know he'll be impressed with me.

When we arrive back at the house, I feel like I'm dragging bags of sand behind me. I ache with unfulfilled want, and I can't shake the image of Diana's face filling my vision as she leans in for a kiss. There's a kind of purity about her, innocence. She's like some kind of rare and beautiful creature from another world, a world I'm not welcome in.

I stand on the porch for a while, look around, watch the other houses. It's three in the morning. I'm used to cities, where there really is no difference between three in the A.M. or in the P.M., except the color of the sky. Here it's quiet at night, like a soft blanket layered all over everything. The only sound is the creaking of trees and the soft voice of the wind.

I could get used to this.

"I've never taken you horseback riding, have I?"

The sound of his voice makes me jump. He snuck up on me. I think my father is the only one who can.

"No." I choke out.

"Might get a chance, when this is done. So many things I've missed, moving from place to place, always on the run. It'd be nice to stay in one place, wouldn't it?"

I nod. It's all I can do. Lightning bugs flicker in and out of sight in the distance, and the low overcast sky catches street lamps and traffic lights and spreads the glow everywhere. It's not hot at night, but it's muggy and buggy. I sweep a mosquito away from my ear.

"You ever think about what it would be like if you weren't with me? If it was different?"

"Yeah. I guess I missed out. Going to that place with Diana was so strange. I felt like I was wandering on another planet."

True. I never attended a wild high school party, or any high school at all after my mother passed. I barely remember it. Sometimes I confuse the way it was with things I've seen on television. So much has happened since then, a whole lifetime packed into a few short years.

"You've never talked about Mom."

"No."

He motions his hands like he's got a cigarette pinched between his fingers. He does that a lot, in quieter moments. He quit after he picked me up. I couldn't abide seeing anyone smoke after what happened. I was so lost when she was lying in the hospital withering away. The disease stole everything about her, turned her into a pale, gaunt shade of her former self. At the end she was so thin I could see her ribs through the hospital gown and blankets, and the bones of her hips jutting out. The memory comes back to me hard and I squeeze the railing to stop my hands from shaking.

"I met her on a job," he says, very softly. "She wasn't involved, I just ran into her a few times while I was casing the place and working up my plan."