Yet you were always the one he asked to watch the place when he was gone?
She nodded. I guess that does seem weird, doesnt it? But actually, he really didnt have women at the apartment all that often. Or if he did, they didnt tend to stay the night. She suddenly tensed up. Not that I was watching his every move-
I didnt mean to suggest you were. Im just trying to understand anything I can, about his life, about what happened to him. Anything you could tell me would help.
She relaxed again. Well, as odd as this soundsI dont think your brother particularly trusted the women he got involved with. I mean, he never seemed to turn down a party. Always seemed to have a good time. But almost no one came back to the apartment more than once. He was kind of like Caviar. Go out and howl in the night, but come back to nest someplace alone when he was tired.
But he trusted you, Cord pressed.
I believe he didbut I think for obvious reasons. He looked at me and just didnt see anyone particularlyinteresting. Not for him. So we made good neighbors. Seriously good neighbors, actually.
Cord stared at her. She didnt see herself as interesting or sexually appealing to Jon? Or interesting to a man in general, her tone had implied. With that skin, those eyes, that soft red mouth?
For Petes sake, was she a fabulous fake or the real thing? An award-winning actress or just what she seemed like-the genuine article?
A complex, interesting, and damn beautiful woman.
He spun that word beautiful in his mind for a moment. God knew, it wasnt his first impression of her. At first sight, hed summed her up as frumpy. Lumpy. Dorky.
What? she asked warily, when she realized he was staring at her.
You took off your glasses, he said.
Oh. I just forget sometimes. Immediately, she popped them back on her nose.
But now he peered closer. They sure as hell looked like clear lenses to him. A disguise. To hide those damn incredible eyes.
Cord resisted the urge to pull out his hair. Whether or not he could trust Sophie should have been clear by now. In the ultraquiet work hed done for the government, no one had ever doubted his judgment. But then came Zoe, of course. Life-and-death decisions seemed a whole lot easier than any conclusions he could draw about women.
And in the meantime, shed finished her tea; hed sure as hell finished his beer, and he had no more answers now than when hed taken this break.
When he reached for the bill, Sophie leaped to her feet as fast as he did. I need to get back, too, she said swiftly.
I never meant to steal this much of your Sunday afternoon.
I offered to help, she reminded him.
I know you did. And to tell the truth He hesitated. When we get back, could I ask for a couple more minutes of your time? Not a ton. Id just appreciate your running through the place, see if youre familiar with any more of my brothers fancy gadgets. Id just as soon not set off any unintentional alarms.
She smiled. Sure. In factif no one showed you Jons security setup already, I can do that, too.
A frisky breeze nipped at their cheeks on the walk back. Sophie kept up with his brisk stride, as if she liked a fast pace as much as he did, but Cord noted that she stayed a few inches apart, her hands tucked in her pockets, as if making a point not to encourage any physical contact. Still, she kept shooting him quiet glances.
Both of them were probably doing the same thing. Cord suspected she had her own reasons for sizing him up, measuring who he was-especially because she obviously didnt have too high an opinion of his brother.
Once back at the Foggy Bottom brownstone, she came in, as asked, but she made a point of not shedding her jacket-just started a free-flow information spill. It wasnt babbling. She really knew a lot about Jons apartment.
The thing is, Cord, a hundred years ago, this building was a single-family residence-so my half of the upstairs isnt a mimic of your brothers. Jons side is bigger. But its more than that. The odd shape of Jons kitchen is probably because it was once a bedroom
Hed been through the place before, obviously, but Sophie made him see the layout with new eyes. Jon may have picked an old place because architecturally, there were more ways to hide things. The kitchen may have once been a bedroom, but it was predictably stuffed with new appliances and gadgets. The red-and-black bathroom had been outfitted with a towel warmer, a disappearing steam machine, a cupboard that revealed a chilled square-for drinks? Food? God knew.
Still, past the living room and kitchen and bedroom was the only beyond-weird room in the flat. Cord stood in the doorway, hands on hips, feeling as if hed just stepped into a sci-fi setting. Sophie ambled right in. I never saw Jons bedroom, so I dont know whats in there. But this was your brotherssandbox, so to speak. The room where he played. And its the room he told me most about, because when he was gone for a night or two, he worried about the security in here.
Cord knew computers and security setups, but nothing remotely like this. Not for a private citizen, anyway. A square platform desk took up the rooms center, covered with four functioning computers and symbiotic hardware. Writhing snakes of electric cords tangled every which way. Beneath the single window was a long bench table, obviously a worktable of some kind.
No, Sophie said suddenly.
What?
You dont want to touch that picture, she warned him.
Why? For some insane reason, Jon had hung an incongruous and tasteless picture of a naked Mona Lisa on the inside wall. Sophie suddenly showed up beside him, touched the smile-and all the computers abruptly when blank.
She touched the eyes in the painting, and throughout the room, locks turned on all the desk and file drawers.
And then she chuckled at Cords expression. I know. I cant imagine why Jon did it, either. He just seemed to have fun with this kind of thing. He was always afraid Id come in to feed Caviar when he was gone and Id touch something by mistake.
She motioned to a specific tile in the checkerboard floor. If you step on that square, youll set off an alarm in the kitchen. Caviars done it a few times, although I think Cavs figured out most of Jons booby traps by now. You see that weird little square quilt on the wall? It really is a quilt, but if you poke it, it opens up to a mini bar, with drinks and glasses. It shares the same wall as the kitchen, and he put this in so he didnt have to walk all the way around the hall to get a drink and put in his dirty dishes. Jon was on the lazy side. And then
She shifted past him, leading him back toward the kitchen. I know youve already seen this room, but this drawer here- She pulled at the latch, revealing the usual catchall utensil drawer everybody had, the one that held a hammer and screwdriver and flashlight and all the junk that refused to belong anywhere else. The drawer doesnt have a false bottom, but see? Theres a row of three buttons here. The first shoots the dead bolts on the front and back doors. The middle one shuts off all the lights in the house. Pretty silly, if you ask me. Why would you want to be standing in the kitchen in a dark house? Anyway. The third oneum, shoot. Your brother only told me about this stuff once, and I never thought about it again. I forgot what Jon told me the third button was for.
She glanced up with an impish smile, clearly wanting to share humor at his brothers idiosyncratic ideas.
Cord was inches away from her at that second. Inches away from that smile, those silly glasses. Inches away from the woman whod been confounding him from the minute he met her. From the very beginning, he was uncertain whether she was saint or sinnerangel or thiefa truly fascinating woman or a manipulative sociopath.
But it was about time he found out.
So maybe a kiss wasnt alchemy. Maybe there was no miracle test to definitively separate the truth from the lies. But he knew something definitive the instant his mouth dropped on hers.
He lifted his head with a frown. She lifted her head with the same perplexed frown.
Some instinct made him pluck the glasses from her nose, set them on the counter, then go back for another kiss. This one involved tongues and teeth and pressure. This one involved framing her head in his hands and closing his eyes.
Her mouth was softer than butter. The way she stilled reminded him of a doe in a bucks sights. She went soft-still, worried-stillyet she didnt bolt. Cautiously, carefully, her lips returned the pressure, as if she were sampling him no differently than he, as he was getting a serious, deep taste of her.
And then her arms reached out, reached up, the bulk of her jacket making a whiskery sound when her hands locked behind his neck. A groan, helpless and vulnerable, shuddered from the very back of her throat. Suddenly she was up on tiptoe, kissing him back, offering her mouth, her tongue. She was likea firecracker. It was as if a fuse suddenly lit, a spark that suddenly flared into a female combustible firestorm in three seconds flat.
Or maybe that was ten seconds.
And maybe six or seven kisses had passed by then, because he seemed to have hooked his arms around her waist and lifted her up to the counter. She was too damn short to bend down to kiss-at least to kiss the right way-for very long.
He told himself he had outstanding reasons to be suspicious. She was trouble. To the bone.
And God knew, he had a hard one by then.
Only, she kissed with the wild winsomeness of an untried virgin. Expressing yearning. Need. And hunger-the shaking-out-of-control kind, the vulnerable kind, the kind you never unlocked your doors for unless you were damned sure what kind of partner you were dealing with.
Finally he tore his mouth free from hers. Needing oxygen. Needing sanity. Frowning at her with even deeper, darker frustration than when theyd first started this. What the hell was that? he muttered.
She was breathing hard, too, her face flushed and her mouth wet-and she glowered at him with the same impatience. Dont you mess with me, Cord.
Me?
Im not a player. If youre like your brother, just move on. There are many super women out there. Lots of women looking for fun. Or just a good game. Thats not me. Leave me alone if thats what youre looking for.
I wasnt looking for anything.
Well, I wasnt, either, she said grumpily, and slid off the counter. She moved past him, called out, Caviar!