Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [53]
“No.” Dennie folded her arms and set her chin. “I want the story.”
“What story?”
“I want to break the story of the arrest. I want you to tell me everything you know about this guy, and I want to write the story. In depth.”
“No,” Alec said. “We have to take him to court. I can’t—”
“No problem,” Dennie said. “This isn’t a newspaper story. I got fired, remember? This is a magazine article. An in-depth article I can peddle as a freelancer. It won’t see print until after the trial. You can tell me all about how you work. It’ll be great.”
“My boss would never go for it,” Alec said.
“Let me talk to him,” Dennie said. “I’m good with men.”
“Not with Harry.” Alec shook his head. “Harry doesn’t like women.”
“Harry never met me.”
“No.”
“Then I won’t do it.” Dennie picked up her sundae and ate while Alec glared at her.
“I can’t believe I was comforting you a minute ago, and now you’re turning on me,” he said, trying to sound indignant.
“Forget the guilt trip.” Dennie grinned at him. “You can give me this story. You know you can.”
“It’ll blow my cover.”
“I’ll refer to you as a generic geek. Only those people who know you will recognize you from that description.”
“Dennie—”
“I get the story, or you don’t get me.” Dennie spread her hands, one full of sundae, the other with the spoon, the picture of rationality. “I don’t see the problem.”
There was still a shadow behind the bravado, but she was Dennie again, and that threw him the way it always did. “How much of you do I get?” Alec asked.
“Probably not that much. So do we meet for dinner tonight?”
Alec gave up. “Yes.”
“Thank you.” Dennie smiled at him and dipped into her sundae again. “You won’t regret this.”
“I regret it already,” Alec said. “We need to meet with Harry and Victoria this evening before we meet Bond. Is seven all right for you?”
“Why Victoria?” Dennie said.
“Victoria’s going to sweeten the deal. She’s going to dinner with us, and when she hears you talk about a house, she’ll decide she wants one next door.” Alec stopped, distracted for a moment by the beauty of the plan. “All that money, just lying there, and all he has to do to get it is lie. He’ll do it.” He narrowed his eyes, thinking about Bond.
“You really want him, don’t you?” Dennie said.
“Yes.” He met her eyes, deadly serious. “This is important. This guy should not be preying on people. He wipes out their savings and leaves them nothing, Dennie. Nothing. We’ve got to stop him.”
Dennie blinked. “This is what you meant, isn’t it? When you said you’d do it even if they didn’t pay you. Because you’re trying to save people.”
“Hey, look, I’m not Robin Hood,” Alec said, taken aback. “Don’t make me into a hero. I do this for a living. It’s a job.”
“I bet the pay’s lousy,” Dennie said.
“It could be better,” Alec said. “But look at the fun I have.”
“I bet you could make a bundle doing something else.”
Alec studied her, trying to see why she was suddenly so interested. “Probably,” he said cautiously.
Dennie smiled at him. “You are really something else, Alec Prentice.” She put her sundae on the table and then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I don’t know what you are exactly, but I like it, whatever it is, and I will be your baby tonight. No tricks. I promise.”
She was so close that he couldn’t resist. He turned his head and kissed her softly, and she put her hands on his chest and leaned into him, moving her lips against his until his arms went around her. She tasted of chocolate and of Dennie and of love, and he eased her down beneath him, losing himself in the way she moved into him.
“You love me,” he whispered in her ear.
“Maybe,” she whispered back, but she held him tighter and that was the better answer. “I love the way you feel against me, but I need to think about all of this, about who I am and what I want. I’m not making any more dumb moves.”
“I am not a dumb move,” Alec said, and he kissed her again, once, with all the passion he had for her, and when he broke the kiss and she blinked up at him, dazed, he said, “Think about