“How’s it going with Phoebe?” Ryan asked Essie, and the spell evaporated.
That was probably for the best. Mooning over his ex-wife in a business meeting was all kinds of unprofessional.
“Excellent. She’s very talented.” Essie’s face became an unreadable mask as she handed Austin two sheets of paper. “These are the preliminary drawings for both men of interest. Phoebe’s working on additional sketches to show how each man would look with slight alterations to their appearances. Does either of them look familiar?”
Austin’s eyes turned harder than granite as he glared at one of the pictures. “I remember this asshole from the restaurant.”
“That’s Vaughn Yeager, my former associate.” The muscle along her jaw flexed, but otherwise the mask held. “Do you recognize the other man?”
After a few moments’ pause to study the second picture, Austin shook his head. “No, I’ve never seen him before. I assume that’s Rudolph Bazarov.”
“The one and only.”
As the pictures circulated around the table, Essie fixed a plate for herself and settled down next to Nina and across from Jackson. She could have chosen a seat farther away from him—there were plenty still available—and the fact she hadn’t pleased him more than it should. As she ate, her eyes took in her surroundings, absorbing and assessing every last detail while letting nothing show through. Every so often, her gaze strayed to Jackson, and each time, a familiar jolt of awareness shot straight through his system.
The group was still eating when Larissa entered the room. An enthusiastic round of applause broke out, a dubious honor traditionally bestowed upon whoever showed up late or last to a meeting. In response to the razzing, she rolled her eyes and gave them a one-fingered salute.
“Where’s the rug rat?” Nate asked as the door closed behind his younger sister. Most of the time, she brought her infant daughter along to work, but today she was flying solo.
Larissa got some lunch and claimed an empty seat beside Austin. “Shane has Sophie today.”
“I’d pay good money to see that,” Ty said.
“I can make that happen, but you’d be wasting your money. She acts like an angel around him.”
“How are the trainees doing?” Austin asked between bites.
Larissa slanted him a glance over the rims of her glasses, her slice of pizza halfway to her mouth. “We’re down to two.”
The news didn’t seem to catch Austin off guard, but his heavy exhale made his displeasure known. “Shit. Which one and what happened?”
“I bet it was the dude with no chin,” Nate said.
“Nah, it’s got to be the chick with purple hair.” Jackson had ten bucks riding on her. What was her name again…Simone? Sloane? He’d only run into her the one time a week or so ago. She seemed nice enough, smart as a whip, but for some strange reason Navarre didn’t care for her one bit.
Larissa’s green eyes narrowed. “Did you guys set up a betting pool for this?”
“Do you really need to ask?” Nate snorted as he swiped at his phone. “Of course we did. Ty created an app for it and everything.” He grunted when Ty elbowed him in the ribs.
Though an edge had crept into Larissa’s voice, she really didn’t seem all that annoyed. Considering the way her family rolled, she was probably pretty used to it by now. “Well, whoever bet on the chinless dude won.”
Nate did a fist pump, while Jackson muttered a curse.
“And what cardinal sin did the chinless wonder commit?” Nate asked.
“Why? Is that part of the pool?”
“Among other things. Now spill.”
Clearly in no hurry to answer the question, Larissa took her good sweet time eating a bite of pizza. Finally, she said, “Mansplaining. I gave the pompous ass three separate warnings before I lost my temper.”
Oh boy.Jackson would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall when that shit went down. Larissa was a force to be reckoned with, and one of the very last people on earth he ever wanted to piss off. But she wasn’t the type to scream or hit. No, she’d find a much more creative way to make your life suck huge donkey balls.
Austin had the look of a man who wanted to walk right out the front door and drive straight to the liquor store. He rubbed a hand along his bushy beard while he stared straight down at the table. “Do I need to dig a hole out back, or did you decide to go easy on him and rip his nuts off instead?”
“He was still breathing when he left the building, so don’t worry about the hole.” Larissa smiled sweetly. “Unfortunately, I’m unable to verify the status of his nuts.”
“Did you make him cry?” Ryan asked.
