Gifted Connections 4

ted look before he grabbed the gun and holster. I lifted my leg and allowed him to strap it to my thigh. I didn’t fail to notice his hands lingered longer than necessary.

Luckily, the slit didn’t go as high as the holster.

“Because I never met a girl like mine. You don’t let girls like this get away.” Troy said with warmth.

“Is that why your brother’s watch her like a hawk too?” Leo joked.

We hadn’t explained our situation to Leo or the rest of the team. We didn’t think any of them would understand our unique situation.

“You know it,” Troy quipped as another knock sounded on the door.

Jaxson stepped in looking just as handsome in his tuxedo. He stopped short and smiled wide.

“You’re gorgeous, honey,” Jaxson said barely above a whisper. He looked over at Leo with a smooth smile catching himself. “Isn’t she gorgeous?”

“She is,” Leo smiled, utterly ignoring the look Jaxson had given me.

“The cars are here,” Jaxson informed us, clapping his hands.

Troy held his arm out to me and I took it, letting out a deep breath. This could be the night that I- we met Otto.

We got to the party thirty minutes early. Leo had already done all the preliminary work, but the hostess wanted us all to have one final walk through. She met us at the door as we walked up. She was barely taller than me and reminded me of a tiny little fairy with her elfin features and large stunning blue eyes. She even seemed to float when she walked.

Anna Black was a clothing designer. Barely out of college, she had already made a considerable name for herself. All it took was outfitting one A-list celebrity, and her business had taken off. She had started out in her parent’s basement and now had twenty people working for her.

“Well, hello boys,” she said in a thick, husky voice that didn’t quite fit her look. She immediately started to circle the guys, Remy in particular. “Can I climb you, big boy?”

I tensed up, and Troy patted my hand. His eyes conveyed his amusement and reassurance. I knew I couldn’t lash out at her, she was paying his company big money to act as security for tonight.

Remy smirked but shook his head. “I apologize, ma’am, but I don’t like to mix business with pleasure.”

I had seen Remy brusque. I had seen him testy. I had seen him in so many other ways. I just never seen him as this congenial diplomatic man. I guess some of Will’s training had sunk in. I’m not sure I liked it, to be honest. I had to take several deep breaths and tell myself they were mine and women were going to be flirting with them. It was unavoidable.

“What time do you get off then?” she asked, undaunted by his polite rebuff.

“I appreciate the interest,” he said with another warm smile. His eyes briefly met mine. “But my girl would string me up if I was to entertain another female tonight.”

She sighed dramatically. “The good ones are always taken. Follow me.” Her eyes fell on me. “How pretty are you, but you can’t wear that! Who are you wearing?” she asked aghast.

I shrugged trying to hide my ire. “I found it in a boutique downtown.”

“It just won’t do. Not when we’re nearly the same size. Is this your piece of meat?” she asked, nearly undressing Troy with her eyes.

I stifled my laugh at her reference to Troy as being a piece of meat. She was Jemmy on crack. She was bold, eccentric, and a little crazy.

“You could call him that,” I said with a mischievous smile.

“Come, come. Jeeves!” she yelled at the top of her lungs when we entered the house.

“Here.” A man in his mid-forties came around the corner wearing a tuxedo and putting a watch on his wrist. “How can I help you?”

“Can you show these men around and make sure you brief Mutt and Jeff how to check the guest list once more,” Anna said brightly. She then took my arm and started to lead me up the stairs. I looked back at Troy, and he smiled, shrugging his shoulders. “His name isn’t even Jeeves,” she said with a wicked grin. “When I hired him, he was so eager to please that I called him Jeeves and he never corrected me. It kind of stuck. Mutt and Jeff are my cousins. Completely worthless.” She rolled her eyes. “The rents made me hire them. They live in my pool house and mooch off of me.”

My eyes widened. I wondered why she was telling me all of this.

She opened a room the size of our whole apartment. “This is where all the magic happens,” she said with pride in her eyes. I was assaulted with color. Drawings littered the walls, sewing machines sat on tables with unfinished projects overflowing them, and half-dressed dummies were everywhere. It was like a fabric store had thrown up. I didn’t see how she could work among this chaos.

She gave me a knowing smile as if she could read my thoughts. “Out there is where I get my peace and order. In here… this is where I come to play. I tried to keep it clean once, but my work suffered.” She frowned as she went to a rolling wardrobe rack full of clothing.