Page 81 of Danger Close

“Is there something you want?” I went the direct route.

“Yes,” she said, her expression reptilian and cold. Her canine teeth were a little crooked, giving the impression that she had fangs. “I need a word with Mr. Cobra Guerro. Let him know I’m here to give him what he wants.”

She looked down at her nails. Each one was painted the color of blood.

“In fact, I haveeverythingthat he wants, right now, in my back pocket.” The way she said it was so seductive that it dripped with innuendo. “I’m offering the usual trade.”

I narrowed my eyes.

I despised her voice. I despised how husky it was. Too smooth, too contrived. Too sensual.

“Don’t worry, it won’t cost him one of his precious coins.” She raised a single shoulder as she went from staring at her nails with her hand flat, to curling it, flipping her hand, palm up, to continue examining the sanguine hues. “I’m looking for a position much… closer.”

Then she smiled from one side of her mouth, her teeth flashing a wolfish grin.

“I’m overqualified, highly competent, and an asset to any place I work. He’d be making out like a bandit.” She bit her lower lip in a gesture so seductive that I wanted to tear her hair out like a jealous teenager.

Did she have to purr with every single word?

“Oh, I’m Sonia, by the way.” She dusted off her black pants that hugged her backside like it was painted on. “Let him know I can’t wait to know him more… intimately.”

Chapter 37

I’ll Kill her

Cobra

“Riding boots, huh?” My daughter was climbing down the fire escape in her wedding dress to get out of the loft apartment without going through the inside of the barn where they were waiting for her grand reveal.

She’d literallygirded her loinswith the long tail of her lace dress. She jumped down the last three steps, landing on the dirt with anoomph.

“Hi Daddy,” she said with a laugh. “My God, dresses are inconvenient.”

She walked with me to the now closed barn doors, untying the lace at her hips.

“I don’t think anyone picks a wedding dress based on its utility,” I chuckled.

“If they did, they’d have more pockets,” she sighed.

As she tossed out her train, her bouquet fell out of the mass of fabric. She bent down to pick it up, dusting off dirt from some of the leaves of the autumn flowers.

Daria was at the door, her arms crossed. “Really?”

She looked disapprovingly at the lines Trinity's excursion down the ladder had made.

“I swear to God, Wifey, if you ruin this day for me, I will… I will…” She huffed out a breath. “To be honest, I’ll probably just give Griff shit about it on our next mission, then forget all about it. But I will be very, very mad!”

The music started, and Daria headed for the doors, bouquet in hand. She opened the doors, then closed them behind her as she made her entrance into the hall.

Trinity and I exchanged a look, then burst out laughing.

“My God, she’s more into this wedding than I am.” Trinity grabbed onto my arm as two Secret Service agents came out of nowhere, and stood at the door, their hands up, ready to open it for the bride’s big entrance.

“The Maid of Honor recruited us,” one of them said, when I lifted a brow in question. “She’s pretty persistent.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Trinity laughed. We waited for the music to change, cueing us in.

As we waited, she leaned to me and asked, “How’s Mom?”