He accepted with a firm grip and a huge grin. “Hi Carrie, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard about you a few times.” When Carrie raised an eyebrow, he waved a hand. “Nothing personal, I assure you. Just that you’re a person who might be a match for my play style.”
So, this was a setup. “I like a lot of play styles. Let’s talk. I wasn’t even planning to be here tonight, so this is kind of last minute.”
“Perhaps it’s fate.” Reggie’s grin spread wide.
Carrie rolled her eyes. “I bet you say that to all the girls.” She patted the seat next to her, and he sat with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine, Carrie.”
***
Peter glanced at his watch. Almost time to go home. It had been a long boring day—a good thing in his line of work—and he was ready to be off. He’d planned to apologize to Carrie for his outburst at the rest area two days ago, but now she was working late.
He considered going to her office to keep an eye on her but thought better of it. The building had security, and she would be working with plenty of people around. As long as she didn’t leave the building, she was safe, and he could go home and go to bed early.
Tomorrow was Saturday, but he still had to be at work at eight in the morning. Upwood was taking the day off, so hopefully it would be another slow day.
Now he sat at his desk, finishing the last of his paperwork. As he shuffled papers into the correct folders and paper trays, his eyes landed on the list he had started of people who knew him well enough to mimic his spy tricks from the CIA.
Some of them were still close friends, so it made little sense that this is how they would handle passing along information. He hoped they could remind him of someone he was forgetting or help him track down the ones he couldn’t.
Pulling out his phone, he scrolled through the list until he found the number he wanted. He drummed his fingers on the desk as he waited for Gage to answer.
“Peter. You calling to say you’re coming over?”
Right, tonight would be a party night.
“Not tonight, man. I was calling to see if you had seen or heard from Reg or Boomer lately. When I talked to Reg last week, he was on assignment somewhere. Would you happen to know where?”
“Reggie is at my house right now. Another reason you should come over. Boomer? It’s been at least six months. The last time I heard from him was hush-hush. I think he’s deep under overseas right now, but I can’t be sure.”
That made sense. Boomer wasn’t likely to get out of the spy game anytime soon.
“Come over man. We can talk more about the Exposure property. This is my last party before the big opening. There are some cute new subs here tonight, and Evie might show up later.
Gage’s house was at least a thirty-minute drive away from work, but it would put him closer to Director Upwood’s safe house if something happened.
“Come on, what do you say?” Gage prodded.
“Do you have food? I haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Stop making excuses. You know I have food.”
Peter laughed. His friend knew him well. “OK, fine. I’m leaving now.”
Gage cheered. “Fuck yeah. It’s been way too long since you partied with us.”
“Don’t give me shit. I go to work at five most mornings. Sorry, some of us aren’t independently wealthy and have to work for a living.”
It was Gage’s turn to laugh. “You have money. I’ve seen your apartment. I’ll see you soon. I have to go deal with a mouthy sub.”
“Have fun with that,” Peter said with a chuckle.
It might have been a good thing that Carrie blew off dinner. Peter missed the parties and the subs and the sex. The memory of Carrie’s whimpers came rushing back. Lately, any time the subject of sex came up, it was her he pictured.
On his way to his SUV, he called her to check in and let her know he would be out of touch for a few hours. She answered on the first ring, sounding more chipper than she had earlier in the day.
“Hi Peter. Are you off?”
