Page 30 of Stilettos and Outlaws
Dad scowled at her and failed to notice his towel was slipping.
Julie’s eyes bugged. “Ummm, sir, your…”
Mom fixed her serial killer stare on Dad. “She stays.”
“For God’s sake Dad, go put some pants on. We don’t want to see your junk,” I exclaimed loudly. Lordy, I hoped that worked.
Horror filled Dad’s eyes. He grabbed the towel as it slid down his abdomen and color flooded his face. “Sorry.” In full retreat, he backed toward the door. “I’ll go change. I never meant. I would never…”
Huh? I never knew my dad could blush like that.
He bolted down the hallway.
Miss Kitty chased after him.
Yay, fight averted for now.
“Go away, furball.” The bedroom door slammed.
“Wow, he’s got a nice ass,” Julie sighed, then flashed Mom an appalled look. “Not that I was looking or anything.”
“He does have a great ass,” Mom agreed and smiled at me. “Clever move, Gemma.”
I put the box of wet wipes in her hand. “We’ve got bigger problems than Miss Kitty. Who is Eric Roberts and why does he want you dead?”
“At one time Roberts was your grandfather’s CIA boss. He took one look at me and decided I would become his mistress. I declined his offer. He tried to rape me, and I kicked his ass.”
A growl escaped Julie. “I hope you did some serious damage to his dangly bits.”
“I did. He couldn’t get it up for a year.”
From Mom’s grim expression I knew Roberts had retaliated. “Did he put a hit out on you?”
“In a way. I was blackmailed into becoming an off-the-books Army sniper called the Scorpion. Roberts sent me on missions behind enemy lines, alone. His plan was to make things so awful that I would agree to have sex with him.”
“Then Dad came along and made you part of his team,” I said gleefully.
Mom wiped the crud off her face. “That he did.”
“Didn’t your father try to stop him?” Julie wanted to know.
“Pops had his own problems. Roberts accused him of treason and put him on a kill list. What Roberts didn’t know was that Pops had a microdot with enough evidence to put him behind bars for the next hundred years. I swiped the microdot to use as leverage.”
“Which then put a bullseye on your chest,” I inserted.
A humorless laugh broke from Mom. “It did. The jackass tried to kill us repeatedly.”
“What finally stopped him?” Julie’s eyes were filled with anger.
Mom shook her head. “We’re not sure. At first, we thought Roberts had died in a bomb blast, but then we got intel that he had survived and was hiding out in Mexico. We were never able to track him down.”
“This time, we finish the job.” Every inch the Alpha Dogs’ commander Dad was dressed in a black jumpsuit complete with combat boots and weapons belt. “Get this little harpy off my back.” With a grimace, Dad turned around.
A giggle escaped me. Miss Kitty was clinging to his back.
Mom removed her. “Get your own man.”
“I think she likes you, sir,” Julie chortled.
