Page 70 of Lawbreaker

There was aLol.And then a pause. Then the phone rang. She answered it.

“I think the hands on my clock are stuck. They aren’t moving.”

“I have the same problem,” she said.

“Where do you want to eat tomorrow?” he asked.

She thought for a minute. “Sushi?”

There was another laugh. “My favorite. Next to Italian,” he added.

“Except they don’t have dessert at the sushi place.”

“We can have dessert anywhere you like.”

Her heart was racing. She felt on fire with a renewed joy of life. It was an exhilaration she’d never known. New, exciting. Dangerous. Tony wasn’t a forever-after sort of guy.

“French pastry,” she said finally.

“Bigot,” he said. “Italians invented dessert.”

“Okay. Italian pastry.” She laughed softly.

“Better.”

“Don’t you have a meeting in the morning?”

“Yeah. But I can’t sleep. I’ll send Ben. You can come over and sing me a lullaby. That might do it.”

“There would be a scandal. Stasia would miss me.”

Another laugh. “Okay. Better not, then. See you in the morning.”

“See you.”

“Sleep good.”

“Ha, ha.”

He sent an emoji of rolling eyes.

She sent him a kiss before she thought it might be too much, too soon.

But he sent one back. The phone went quiet.

She stared at the screen with her breath caught in her throat. She wondered if he could possibly be as excited about what was happening to them as she was. He’d fought it for ages, but now he seemed resigned to getting involved with her.

She wasn’t sure how it would end, but she knew she was too weak to try and cut it off before there were complications. In the end, she put the phone away and pulled the covers up and closed her eyes, hoping for the best. Amazingly, she was asleep in seconds.

The next morning, Stasia slept late while Odalie riffled through her closet for what seemed forever, looking for just the right thing to wear on her date with Tony. Because that’s what it was. A date. The first date that had ever really mattered to her.

She pulled out a pretty long-sleeved beige dress that clung to her waist and flared out into a skirt. She paired it with a wide belt and suede boots.

The car was outside right on time. Ben grinned at her as he opened the door and let her slide in beside Tony.

He was wearing a suit with a blue striped tie and a matching handkerchief in his vest pocket. He looked expensive and handsome.

They smiled at each other.