Big Jack Read Online Free Page B

and the progress of plans for the acquisition of the Eton Group, the rehab of the residential complex in Frankfurt and the restructuring of the nanotech division in Chicago?”
    “Okay, enough about you.” She lifted her arm to make room when Galahad, their enormous cat, landed on the cushion beside her with a thump.
    “I thought so.” Roarke toyed with Eve’s hair as she stroked the cat. “How is our new detective?”
    “She’s fine. She’s loaded down with paperwork yet. Clearing up old business so she can start on the new. I wanted to give her a few days as a desk jockey before she takes her shiny new detective’s badge out on the street.”
    He glanced down at the bloodstain on Eve’s pants. “But you’ve caught a case.”
    “Mmm.” She sipped the wine, let it smooth out the edges of the day. “I handled the on-scene solo.”
    “Having a little trouble adjusting to having a partner rather than an aide, Lieutenant?”
    “No. Maybe. I don’t know.” She gave an irritable shrug. “I couldn’t just cut her loose, could I?”
    He flicked a finger down the shallow dent in her chin. “You didn’t want to cut her loose.”
    “Why should I? We work well together. We’ve got a rhythm. I might as well keep her around. She’s a good cop. Anyway, I didn’t tag her for this because she had this whole big night planned, and she was already gone. You get enough plans fucked in this job without me pulling her in and botching her big celebration.”
    He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Very sweet of you.”
    “It was not.” Her shoulders wanted to hunch. “It was easier than hearing her bitch and moan about losing reservations and wasting some fancy dress or something. I’ll fill her in tomorrow anyway.”
    “Why don’t you fill me in tonight?”
    “Planned on it.” She slid her gaze in his direction, smirked. “I think you could be useful.”
    “And we know I love being useful.” His fingers skimmed up her thigh.
    She set down her glass, then lifted the tonnage of Galahad, who’d sprawled his girth over her lap. “Come along with me then, pal. I got a use for you.”
    “That sounds . . . interesting.”
    He started out with her, then cocked his head when she stopped halfway up the stairs. “Problem?”
    “I had this thought. You know how Summerset took that header down the steps?”
    “I could hardly forget.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m sorry he busted his pin and so on, even over and above the fact that it delayed his getting the hell out of the house for several days.”
    “You’re entirely too sensitive, darling Eve. It can’t be good for you to take on the weight of the world this way.”
    “Ha-ha. So it’s like bad luck. The stairs, I mean. We need to fix that or one of us could be next.”
    “How do you propose to—”
    It was impossible to finish the question, and difficult to remember what that question was when her mouth was hot on his, and her hands already busy tugging at his belt.
    He all but felt his eyes roll up in his skull and out the back of his head.
    “Can’t have enough good luck, to my mind,” he managed, and spun her around so her back hit the wall and he could yank off her jacket.
    “If we don’t fall and kill ourselves, then we’ve broken the curse. This is a really good suit, right?”
    “I have others.”
    She laughed, pulled at his jacket, bit his throat. He hit the release on the weapon harness, shoved at the straps so it and the weapon thudded down the steps.
    Restraints followed, and pocket ’links, a raw-silk tie, a single boot. He had her pinned to the wall, not quite naked, when she came. Her nails bit into his back, then slid down so she could squeeze his butt. “I think it’s working.”
    With a breathless laugh, he pulled her down to the steps. They bumped and rolled. Thumped down, climbed up. In self-defense, she flung out a hand and gripped one of the spindles of the banister, hooked her legs around him like a vise to keep them both from