Page 80 of Lawbreaker

“It’s one of my favorite things,” Odalie said, surprising both men. “But I can’t really use a spinning rod or flies and stuff like that. I use a cane pole with a hook, line and sinker. Last time I went with Daddy, I caught three more fish than he did,” she said, chuckling. “He was really snarfed.”

“What does he use?” Ben asked.

“A spinning reel. He’s good at casting, but in any case you don’t get tangled line with a spinning reel.”

“No, you don’t,” Tony replied. “But you’re talking about little fish. I like to go after the big ones.”

She stared at him. “Big ones?”

“Marlin,” he said, his dark eyes glittering with delight. “But also tuna. Grouper. Red snapper. Those kinds of fish.”

“Deep-sea fishing!” she exclaimed. “Daddy and John and I went out on a fishing boat on the Texas coast and caught all sorts of fish to take back home with us. Gosh, was Mom mad.”

“Why?”

“Well, John and Daddy and I like catching fish,” she confessed. “But we hate cleaning them. So when we got the cooler home, we put it in the kitchen and ran for our lives. Mom spent a whole afternoon cleaning fish.” She sighed. “And then she fed us pancakes for supper.”

Tony burst out laughing. “What did she do with the fish?”

“She froze them. Every single one. And they didn’t get cooked for a month!”

Now Ben was laughing, too.

“Well, I don’t mind cleaning fish. So I’ll take you with me one day and we’ll see what we can catch.”

She just smiled at him, her heart vulnerable and filling her soft eyes. He smiled back. Ben, watching, was happy for them. He just hoped they weren’t headed for tragedy. His man was still trying to backtrack Odalie’s prowler, but he had a hunch it would lead them right to DC and Phillip James. If they weren’t very careful, they could lose Odalie in a very bad way. Considering the way his boss was looking at her, that might be the one thing that could bring him down.

Tony had to meet someone at the art gallery. Odalie dressed up in a sexy red pantsuit and high heels, also red, with her hair in an upswept hairdo. She looked so gorgeous when she joined Tony in the living room that he just stood and stared.

She’d never really cared about her looks before, but it made her proud that Tony liked them so much. She beamed, which only made her more beautiful.

“Wow,” he said. “Now I understand why they say blondes look good in red.”

“Thanks.”

He bent and kissed her nose. “Lipstick,” he muttered, staring at the bright red lipstick that matched her outfit.

“I only wear it when I go out,” she whispered. “I don’t like it, either.”

He pursed his chiseled lips and grinned at her. “Later, I could help you take it off.”

Her heart jumped and she laughed. “Okay,” she said, and flushed a little.

“Angel, you are the light in the darkness,” he said, and for a few seconds, he was solemn.

“Me?”

“You.” He traced around her mouth. “And nobody is going to hurt you. Not ever.”

She smiled slowly. She didn’t have to speak. He saw everything she felt in her eyes.

They were almost to the gallery when she mentioned her upcoming audition. “I knew they were going to start arranging them, but I got called over to the Met by a friend of my voice coach and he gave me a day and time. I’m so nervous.”

“You’ll do fine, honey,” he said, hating his resentment. He didn’t want to lose her to a career when he’d just found her. But he couldn’t bear to stand in her way. “That’s great.”

It actually wasn’t, but she didn’t want to say so. She’d been in therapy for years. Her parents thought it was because of the incident with the law when she was in high school. It wasn’t. She was terrified of being on the stage. Yes, she wanted to sing at the Met. She’d trained for it, sacrificed for it, hungered for it for years.

But when it came right down to it, she knew in her heart that she was never going to be able to manage going out on stage night after night after night. It never improved, despite the therapy. She sang, and then she ran to the bathroom to throw up. Afterward, it took tranquilizers to bring her back from her terrified state. She’d never told anybody. It was one of many secrets she kept to herself.