Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(115)

Gus kissed her cheek and then reached out to shake Gemma White’s hand. “Special Agent, thank you. Any assignment you want. You tell me and I’ll force Roman to make it happen.”

Roman’s head shook. “You’re going to kill me one of these days, Gus.” He turned to Dax. “Your sister is a menace. I have absolutely zero idea why I don’t fire her ten goddamn times a day.”

Connor looked at Dax and smiled. “I’m sure you’re just lazy, Roman. That’s the only explanation.”

How had he not seen it? There was a crackling energy between Roman and Gus. He probably hadn’t acknowledged it because he hadn’t wanted to know one of his best friends had fallen for his sister. Did Roman know she’d slept with Mad a few years back?

Probably. Gus didn’t hide her past. She didn’t apologize and she had no reason to. She was a force of nature. If Roman couldn’t see how amazing his sister was, then Roman didn’t deserve her.

And that was his great loss.

Roman put a hand on his arm. “Come on, buddy. I’ve got some ridiculously good Scotch waiting for us. I think we all could use it. Zack brought a date to the ball tonight. A very pretty lawyer.”

Shit. When they’d realized how dangerous his situation could be, Zack had decided to pull away from Liz. The White House Press Secretary had been the woman in his life for years, but he’d never made a move. Liz had been his wife in every way except the bedroom. Dax was fairly certain Zack was in love with the woman, and dating someone else was a sacrifice.

“A total bimbo law whore,” Gus hissed. “You tell Zack he can bite my ass and he’s lucky, and I mean lucky, that he got Liz to sign that contract or he would be looking at a complete turnover in the press office because he sucks. He’s the president of sucking.” Gus grabbed Holland’s hand. “Come on, girls. We’re not drinking with the boys this evening. Liz is really excited to see you again, Holland.”

Holland gave Dax a glance before she followed after his sister.

“Well, we know which side Gus is on,” Connor said acerbically as he waved good-bye to his wife.

Roman frowned as he watched the women move down the hall. “The wives won’t tell Gus about why Zack is suddenly dating someone he doesn’t love, right? Because Gus can’t keep a secret to save her life.”

Gus could keep a secret. She’d done it for years but he plainly saw that she was still in love with Roman. But Dax knew Roman was right in one way. She wouldn’t keep any secret about Zack’s feelings for Liz. Under her shark exterior, she was a romantic. “Holland won’t tell.”

“Neither will Lara,” Connor said. “They both know what this game is. If Zack wants it quiet, they’ll stay quiet.”

Roman was watching the women as they moved down the hall. “Good, because she is a pain in my ass. If she understood what was really going on, I wouldn’t be able to stop her.”

Dax couldn’t help but note that Roman watched Gus until she turned and disappeared. Then his friend shook it off.

“Come on. Zack will join us when he can. I want to know everything you found out,” Roman said. “I’m going to London in a few weeks. Zack has a summit with the prime minister. I’ll contact the hospital and start looking into Constance’s death. I also have some contacts there with Interpol who can brief me on the Krylov syndicate.”

“Good,” Dax said. “I think I might back you up.”

Roman slid him a long look as they started down the hall. “Really? Because I thought you would be busy with your new girlfriend. I snuck a peek at Gemma White’s reports once I realized what Gus had done. Have I mentioned what trouble your sister can cause? Gemma was one of our best agents. I thought we lost her over pay.”

His sister was a schemer. She’d also watched over Holland when he’d been too stupid to. “I don’t think she’s my girlfriend. She told me she would walk away at the end of this.”

They headed past uniformed guards and into the president’s personal apartments.

“You should really make sure she doesn’t do that,” Zack said as they entered. He had a crystal decanter in his hand and he poured out what looked like a couple of fingers of Scotch.

Gabe Bond, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood and crossed the space between them. “Dax, I’m so glad you’re alive. I thought you were going to get eaten by a reptile.”

Such a city boy. “Yeah, the gators aren’t so bad.”

Gabe shook his head. “I was talking about the cops in New Orleans.”

Funny, some of them had turned out pretty good. They’d taken Chad into custody and promised a full investigation. He believed them. They would get to the bottom of what had gone wrong with their department. Unfortunately, even the good guys sometimes went bad. “We survived. I wish we’d taken Beau Kirk alive, though.”

Zack passed him a glass. “All that matters is you’re safe, Dax. Let Roman and me take it from here.”

Connor snorted. “Hell, no. I promised Lara a London honeymoon.”

“Already bought my tickets,” Gabe agreed. “Everly is very interested in seeing the local sights.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” It wasn’t like he would have anything better to do. “After all, who’s going to chauffeur all you taken men around?”