Falling From Grace (Leverage 3.5)

“So where was home?”

“A small nothing town called Miner’s Edge, near Jamestown. If you blink you missed it.”

“Let me guess, gold rush town?”

“Yeah,” she answered, snuggling up to him. “It’s not even big enough for its own post office. Thank God for the Internet, right? I hated that town.”

It was also where she’d hooked up with Richard — an older guy whom she’d mistakenly thought had big world ideas when in fact, he’d just been looking for someone to bankroll his lifestyle and he’d recognized the meal ticket in Dani. He hadn’t wasted time in wooing a dumb nineteen-year-old girl and getting her to marry him. Dani squeezed her eyes shut, hating Richard and hating herself for being so stupid back then. “How about you? What’s your life story?”

“Nothing so exotic. I had a great childhood. Went to college. Became a doctor. Pretty cut and dry.”

She sighed. “You’re lucky. I would’ve given my right arm for an upbringing like that. My dad did the best he could and I know he loved me but we were really poor — as in powdered milk poor.”

“That’s pretty poor,” he agreed with chagrined amusement as he tightened his hold around her. “Well, those days are over. Pretty soon you’ll be able to afford organic milk and forget all about those powdered milk days.”

“You think so?” she asked, warmed by his confidence in her.

“Yep. You’re special. I can feel it — and no, I don’t just say that to every pretty starlet I’m having sex with.”

“Hey!” She straightened with a scowl. “How many are you sleeping with?”

At that he laughed and pulled her into his arms, flipping her so that she was on her back. He hovered with a devilish smile that made her melt as he said, “Only you, babe. You’re all I think about, Scout’s honor.”

And there was something so honest about Miles that she didn’t doubt him for a second. Unlike so many men she’d been around, his eye didn’t wander. Miles, for all his hotness, was serially monogamous. “I believe you,” she murmured, drawing him closer to brush a sweet kiss across his lips. “You’re one of a kind, Miles Lassiter.” And worth keeping.

Her sinuses tingled in warning and Dani pushed away the memory with force. Everything from that point forward had gone downhill rapidly. Her bright future with Miles had taken a terrible turn the moment she’d tried to officially break things off with Richard. She hadn’t told Miles about Richard because frankly, she was embarrassed that she’d ever been that naïve but after Richard had played his Ace, she’d had no choice.

She closed her eyes, squeezing out the memory of having to suffer Richard’s mauling hands on her body as she gritted out the time left on her contract. Damn sex tape. Never again. The one good thing that’d come out of that dark time in her life was she’d managed to destroy the one copy — she hoped — of that fucking embarrassment. Of course, by the time she’d been freed, Miles had split and her career had taken off with dizzying speed. And the rest, as they say, was history.

But it wasn’t completely in the past because Miles was here now, reminding her of all the reasons why he’d been the best thing that’d ever happened to her. Including fame. Hell, that was a fucking mixed bag of funhouse terrors. She’d thought being famous was going to be far more…just more. Instead, it was a lot of mortifying slip -ups documented for all posterity and as a result her reputation was sliding fast. Sometimes she had to wonder if someone in her inner circle was deliberately leaking her whereabouts so that they could capitalize on the moment for their own financial gain.

Speaking of inner circle. Her cell buzzed and she picked it up. Raina…she was tempted to let it go to voicemail but in the end, she couldn’t help it and answered. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“Oh my Gawwwd, did you totally go home with Rafe Erickson?”

“That was that asshole’s name? Yeah, I guess, if Rafe is the same guy who tried to practically rape me this morning.”

“Awesome,” Raina giggled as if Dani were kidding. “Was he hung like a beast? I’ve heard stories but I’ve never had the pleasure.”

“Raina, I’m serious, you little psychopath. He totally tried to force me into having sex with him this morning even when I was screaming for him to stop.”

Raina stopped giggling and asked with a frown in her tone, “Really? Wow. I totally didn’t take him for the rape-y type. He seemed cool. Guess it’s my bad for sending him your way.”

“Yeah, thanks. If I was so trashed, why didn’t you bring me home?”

“Darling, because I finally managed to land that sweet piece of ass known as Patrick Saffanado, and I know you would’ve been cheering me on if you’d been less messed up. To answer your question, yes, it was epic and yes, I’m planning on doing him again sometime. He’s totally landing on my Topsies.”

Raina kept a list of guys — and girls — she’d had sex with and rated their skill levels on a scale of one to ten. The ones who were solid “tens” landed on the top of her list, otherwise known as her “Topsies” and she was fairly selective about who she perched at the top. But who fucking cared about that stupid shit? Jesus, had Raina totally blitzed out on the fact that a guy Raina had sent her home with had almost sexually assaulted her? Irritation scraped against her bruised feelings as she snapped, “Good for you, Raina. I’ve got bigger problems than who you’re sleeping with at the moment.” She dropped to her bed with a sigh. Should she tell Raina about Miles? She usually told Raina everything. Maybe that was part of the problem. No, Raina was chill. There was no way Raina would ever betray her, right? Ugh. Her head hurt. The mother of all hang-overs was taking up permanent residence in her brain. “Listen, I’m going to be out of commission for a few days,” she started, but Raina interrupted with a bored noise.

“No bueno, girlfriend. There is a party to end all parties tonight and you have to be there.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I just need a break. I think I need to sober up.” She laughed a little even though it wasn’t funny, mostly because she felt so miserable and didn’t know how to handle the fact that Miles was in her house making her smoothies. “I’ll call you later.”

“Peach…you’re overreacting. I’ve seen it before. Good girl goes a little wild and suddenly she needs to repent, or something like that. Honey, you haven’t done anything that can’t be explained away by a good publicist the next day. It’s all about damage control, right?”

No, not really. It was about losing your fucking dignity and looking like a loser in front of the one person who’d ever meant anything to you. But she couldn’t admit that. Not to Raina — the woman lacked a sensitivity chip — and honestly, she didn’t want to say anything that would pique her interest in coming over. “Listen, I’ll call. I promise. I just need some downtime. Okay?”

“Party pooper,” Raina said, pouting. “Suit yourself. However, I’ll do you a solid and make a round of excuses for you tonight. You owe me, girl.”

“Sure.”

“Later,” Raina chirped and then hung up.

Not for the first time Dani wondered if her relationship with Raina was an unhealthy one. But Raina was fun and unpredictable and she really did seem to know all the right people so Dani often swallowed her misgivings. Maybe she’d been doing a little too much of that…her stomach growled and with a deep exhale, she shoved off the bed and headed for the kitchen to choke down what was likely something truly disgusting.

#

Miles poured the green power drink into a tall glass and pushed it toward Dani, ignoring her immediate grimace. “It’s filled with good stuff. Drink up.”

“It looks like gremlin poop.”

“And probably tastes as good,” he deadpanned, then gestured for her to drink. She lifted the glass to her lips and then closing her eyes, she took an exploratory sip, only to gag moments later.

“That’s disgusting! What did you grind up in that? Bugs and dirt?”

“Worse. N