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But I’m dying of curiosity as to who the hell is here. So after dousing my flushed cheeks with cold water for the tenth time, I decide to chance it. I can hear a rumble of male voices coming from the kitchen. I pause just outside to survey the room.
There’s a man languidly leaning against the counter while Nick drains the pasta. He’s very polished, almost to the point of being slippery, even by New York standards. Emerald green eyes turn my way and narrow in speculation. I raise my eyebrows. He is in my home, after all. Okay, Nick technically paid for it, but everything else is me.
“Hi, I’m Candace. Who are you?”
“This is Javier.” Nick answers for him. Javier smirks slightly and nods in my direction.
I slant an inquiring look toward Nick, but he just shrugs and hands me three bowls while nodding towards the kitchen table.
I notice a few boxes by the door that weren’t there earlier. “Oh! Did you bring Nick’s things?”
“Yes. I have my fingers in all sorts of pies. Delivery being just one of the more interesting ones.” He’s eyeing my bare legs with disdain. Apparently, he’s joining us for lunch. I scoot my chair a little nearer to Nick. I’m not sure if it’s for his protection or mine, or maybe I just need to declare my affiliation. I’m team Nick always, even when I thought he wasn’t interested.
“Javier was telling me he might be able to find out information on my background. Says I look like a friend of his who came from a Russian orphanage,” Nick says quietly.
I stare at the newcomer curiously. He’s not as old as Nick, more mid thirties if I had to guess. “Do you have a picture with you?” I ask Javier, not quite prepared to trust him. He puts his fork down to slide his phone out, taps a few things, and then extends it across the table.
“There, that’s William and his wife.”
I stare down at a man who does indeed look remarkably like Nick, same thick brow, heavy eyebrows. The nose and lips are very similar, but this man’s are curved up like happiness is his natural state, unlike Nick’s current scowl. “But you didn’t grow up in an orphanage, did you?” I ask Nick, trying to think back to the stories I remember him telling when I was young.
“No. But I have no memories of my childhood before the age of about five or six. And then I was living with an old couple who said they had no children. So that puts them out of the running for being grandparents, but then who knows if they were even telling the truth? People that asked nosy questions in that neighborhood didn’t live there for long.” Nick shrugs and goes back to his spaghetti. Both he and Javier are managing to eat it elegantly without a drip of sauce moving where it isn’t intended. I, on the other hand, have small splatters of reddish-orange decorating my t-shirt already. I sigh with wistfulness for the graceful Candace that will never exist.
“Do you want to know?” I ask quietly, turning my thoughts back to the topic at hand.
“I’m starting to think it might be important,” Nick rumbles and I try to follow his reasoning but come up empty.
“Simple matter of a cheek swab DNA test,” Javier interjects cheerfully. “Have the results back in a couple of days.”
Now I know from my university classes that nothing comes back from a lab that fast unless someone has some almighty pull. “Who do you work for?” I ask, trying to not sound suspicious.
I think I failed at that because Javier just smirks at me again. “Myself. Like I said, lots of pies.”
“And you own a lab?”
“No. It’s a government lab. I have lots of friends.” He smiles sunnily while Nick and I exchange glances. I’m getting a deeper, queasy feeling.
“Maybe you should think about this, Nick. Get some more information first,” I say quietly, but Nick frowns at me, not Javier, which leaves me feeling disgruntled.
“Later, little mouse.”
Javier lingers. Overstaying his welcome in my opinion, but Nick keeps him talking. I excuse myself in a huff because I feel like they’re both talking over my head intentionally. I head back to the shed behind the greenhouses that was never cleared so that I can bang things around without looking like I’m throwing a tantrum.
When I’ve finally cooled down — metaphorically — as it’s still hot as fuck outside, I return to the house via the back entry making it possible to slip upstairs and grab a shower without being seen. I’ve got cobwebs in my hair and dirt streaks mixed in with the sweat. Femme fatale I am not.
But I clean up nice. Since it’s dinner time and I’m sort of assuming we’ll have to go out, I put on a pretty sundress I found in the local thrift store. It’s nothing fancy but bright and cheerful. I leave my wet hair combed but hanging damply down my back. Nick is in the kitchen unpacking takeout boxes. Okay. Guess we’re not leaving the house after all. Works for me.
“Your new friend staying for dinner, too?” I inquire, nabbing one of the fortune cookies.
“He’s not a friend, and he left a couple of hours ago. Don’t spoil your dinner.”
“Yes, Mr. Savage.” I grin at the glare coming my way and sidle up to him so that I can casually brush against his hip. I bite off the end of the cookie and slip the little piece of paper out. I almost fall over backward laughing when I read it.Your plan will be successful. Nick tries to pluck it from my fingers, but I fold it up and slip it down my cleavage, then wiggle my eyebrows at him. We can skip a few steps if he’s willing to go there. Of course he isn’t. Instead, he sighs and takes the cartons into the dining room.
“Bring some plates, would you, Candace?” he calls.
I grab plates and chopsticks, then come back for the ice tea in the fridge.
When both our plates are full and I’ve taken the first few bites of sweet and sour pork, I look over at Nick. “Are you sure you want to trust Javier with your DNA? What if he fakes the results?”
