18

CONNOR POLISHED OFF THE LAST OF HIS CHICKEN/PEPPER/MUSHROOM stir-fry and put his wok in the sink to soak. He stretched and let out a contented sigh. Time for the evening e-mail check and a phone call before turning on the movie Netflix had just sent him. He was a little suspicious of the film because it was French and billed as “a powerful drama,” but Netflix insisted that he would “ it!” Well, maybe. He checked to see whether the Giants were playing tonight—just in case.

He walked into the spare bedroom that served as a combination home gym and home office. He plopped his laptop onto the small oak desk beneath the window and plugged it into its power cord and the Bose speakers on the corners of the desk. Classical music from KDFC streamed out of the speakers as he went through the two dozen e-mails that had come since he left the office an hour and a half ago.

Then it was time for the call. He turned down the music, sat up a little straighter, and dialed.

Allie’s voice appeared a few seconds later. “Hi, Connor. What’s up?”

“Just checking in. I’m having lunch with Max tomorrow, and I was wondering if you had any news about that new prospect—Blue Sea, right?”

“Oh, I’m not actually there anymore. I’m at a new place now: Deep Seven Maritime Engineering. Just started.”

“We’ll do some backgrounding on them. What happened at Blue Sea? I thought your assignment was going to last two months.”

“Um, nothing in particular. They just didn’t… my part of the assignment wrapped up early.”

Connor frowned and drummed his fingers on his desk. “Think they suspected you?”

“No, no, no. Not at all. They even talked about having me come back sometime.”

“Let’s talk if they ever offer you another job. I don’t like the fact that they just let you go like that with no explanation.”

“Uh, yeah. Absolutely. I was thinking the same thing. So, what’s up with you—other than lunch with Max tomorrow?”

“Oh, not much. Just keeping busy at work.”

“And going to some very fancy parties. You were dancing with the governor’s wife at something not too long ago, right? How did he feel about that? Did he have some guys beat you up in the parking lot afterward?”

Connor laughed. “He was the one who asked me to dance with her, so the guys in the parking lot let me off with a warning. How did you know about that?”

“I was just clicking through pictures on some news website and came across one of you two together. You looked great in your tux, by the way. Very dashing.”

Connor’s face warmed at the compliment. “Thanks.”

“Hey, I could use an excuse to buy myself a new dress. How do I get myself invited to one of these things?”

It was on the tip of his tongue: Do me a favor and go to one with me. But he swallowed it back. “Easy. Buy a ticket to the ball put on by the governor’s favorite charity. They start around five hundred and go as high as ten thousand if you want to sit at his table. You could probably even get your picture taken dancing with him. Just make sure to wear steel-toed shoes.”

“Which would go great with the new dress. No thanks, I can think of better things to do with ten big ones than spend the evening dancing with clumsy politicians. Still, it would be fun. I’ve never been to a real ball.”

“I’ll take you to one sometime. And you won’t have to dance with anyone but me.” He felt his face flush and shook his head. Can’t believe I just said that.

She laughed. “As if I’d want to dance with anyone else.”