Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [79]
I finished putting away the groceries and said, “Was it hard work for you to convince Napoli to ease off?”
“Yes.” He tilted his head and looked at me through dark lashes. “So come over here and make it worth my while.”
“Ah, so there’s a price attached to my freedom?”
“Hey, I got Napoli off your back and I brought you lox,” he said. “What more do you want?”
“Actually . . .” It took me only a few steps to come toe to toe with him. “I want plenty more.”
“Oh?” He slid his arms around me. “So just how long will it take to satisfy you?”
“All night.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Damn, and it’s still only daytime,” he murmured, lowering his head to mine. “I can see there’s an awful lot of work ahead of me.”
“You bet.”
After a few minutes of long, slow, hot kisses, my head was reeling and my legs were shaky. Breathing hard and feeling mindless, I leaned against him while he leaned back against the wall.
“You look so good in this dress,” he whispered, his rapid breaths mingling with mine. “Now take it off.”
“Don’t be so lazy,” I whispered back. “You take it off.”
“Mmmm.” He started pulling up the hem, stroking my legs while he tugged at the soft material. I caressed his hair and then started unbuttoning his shirt.
The phone rang.
We both stiffened in surprise for a moment, since the phone ringing on the wall was so close to us, then we went back to kissing feverishly.
By the third ring, though, I realized who might be calling. So I turned a little in Lopez’s arms, reaching for the nearby phone.
He pulled my hand back to his body. “Ignore it,” he whispered.
“No, I . . .” I moaned a little when he kissed me again. “I have to . . . to . . .” The phone kept ringing. “This’ll just take—”
“Not now.” He pulled my dress up around my hips.
“It might be my agent,” I said, evading another head-spinning kiss. I had left more messages for Thack today. “It’s important.”
“So is this.” He kissed my neck and nuzzled my hair.
“I’ve been trying to talk to him about—Oh!” I gasped when I felt Lopez’s touch in a brand new place. “It’s an aud . . . aud . . . Mmmm. An audition.” When I reached for the phone again, I accidentally knocked the receiver off the wall and sent it clattering to the floor.
A male voice on the other end of the line squawked, “Hello? Hello! Hello?”
Lopez sighed, leaned his head against the wall, and let me go.
“This will be quick,” I promised breathlessly, stooping down to pick up the phone.
“Yes, it will,” he vowed, sliding his arms around me from behind as I put the receiver to my ear.
He kissed my neck while I said, “Hello?”
“Esther? Esther Diamond? Is that you?”
I frowned, realizing it wasn’t Thack. “Yes, this is Esther.”
Lopez nibbled on my earlobe and slid his hand slowly across my stomach.
“Did you send this thing after me?” the caller demanded shrilly.
“Huh?”
“Is this your doing?”
“What?” I closed my eyes, torn between my caller’s obvious distress and what Lopez was doing. “Oooh.”
“I saw it! I just saw my perfect double!”
I stiffened and gasped, but not, alas, because of the delicious way Lopez was trying to regain my full attention.
“What did you say?” I said, realizing who was on the other end of the line.
“You heard me, you bitch!” shouted Danny the Doctor. “Did you send this thing after me?”
Lopez raised his head, having heard the agitated volume, if not the specific words.
“No, of course not,” I said. “I tried to warn you. To help you.”
“In that case, what the fuck do I do now?” Danny shouted.
Well aware of the arms that were still wrapped around me, and the cop ears that I could tell were now listening to my half of the conversation, I said carefully, “Am I the first person you’ve called?”
“No! You think I’d call a girl first?” Danny said contemptuously. “But Lucky’s line is busy and the Doc ain’t answering his phone!”
Max couldn’t hear his phone from his laboratory, which was where he probably was