Page 87 of The Hardest Hit

Evan hit send on the wire transfer and went back to the table. Olivia was sipping her wine and watching him. Evan slid the pendent across the table to her. She made the sameoohnoise she’d made the first time he’d given it to her and seized it off the table.

“How did you…” She looked from him to the door.

“Mr. Tanazashi specializes in retrieving things,” said Evan. “I thought he’d move faster than the police.”

She flung herself at him and, unprepared, he ended up catching her, but toppling onto the rug in front of the fireplace. She kissed him, the pendant clutched in one hand and he kissed her back and began to unbutton the shirt she was wearing. He realized part of the way through that matters were going to be hampered if she continued to hold the necklace in her hand.

“Hold on,” he said getting up. He took the chain off the pendant from the insurance company and strung it on hers, discarding the broken chain.

Her breasts peeked from the shirt as he knelt down to slide the necklace around her neck. “Thought you might want to wear it.” She sucked in a little air as the necklace made contact with her skin and he saw her nipples visibly rise.

“It’s cold,” she said.

“I’m warm,” he offered and she giggled and then tackled him again. Eventually, she stopped kissing him. Straddling him, she reached up to the table for the bottle of wine while he finished the unbuttoning process. The pendant hung above her breasts, twinkling in the firelight as she drank straight from the bottle. A little wine trickled from the bottle and onto her breast, and he sat up to lick it off. As he did, he caught sight of the rejected pendant on his desk.

He lay back down and looked at his Dark Phoenix, perched on his stomach.

She wasn’t turned on by gifts. Money didn’t matter to her.

She was turned on by giving. She was turned on by him. She liked it whenhegave her things. Evan laughed, and she looked down at him with a questioning expression.

“By the way, what are you going to do with all your money?” he asked.

“What money?”

“The hundred thousand dollars you won at the casino.”

She choked on the wine and a large blob dropped down on his chest.

“What?”

“They issued you a cashier’s check. You put it in your purse.”

“It’s still in my purse,” she said, looking pale. “It’s in Yen. I didn’t bother to look at it.”

“Yeah, but at the current market exchange rate, it’s about a hundred thousand US.”

“Holy shit, Evan. How much were those chips worth?”

“The green ones were a thousand each.”

“Holy shit. I just thought… You said not to think about money. So I just played Blackjack because I’m good at it.”

“And you cleaned up at backgammon too. Nice job.”

“Fuck me. Can I even put that much money in my account? How do you cash something that big? I don’t even have an investment person.”

He raised his hand. “I can probably help with that.”

She laughed. “Shoot. This boyfriend thing really is coming in handy.” She looked up, squinting at the clock on the wall, then smiled down at him with a wicked grin and leaned down and licked the wine off his chest. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Deveraux.”

31

Evan – Christmas Re-Do

Evan bounced up the stairs to Deveraux House and as usual, Theo managed to open the door before he could either knock or reach for his key.

“Good morning, Mr. Deveraux,” said Theo.