Fantasy Man (11 page)

Reif stared at the pile of charcoal as it heated. He felt sick inside at the thought that some good-for-nothing lowlife had cooked up some crap about being a cop and taken advantage of his sister. He’d always thought Emma had better instincts where men were concerned. But maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe she was just as gullible as the next woman when a guy said the right thing, presented himself in the right light, just to get her into bed.

While his situation with Quinn was different, Reif still felt responsible for what had happened between them. He still wanted to make it right. Which was more than he could say for Emma’s loser.

He put the lid on the grill and vowed he’d find out who the father of Emma’s baby was. One way or another, he’d make sure the guy did the right thing, or Reif would find a way to make his life miserable.

Dinner was an awkward affair. Quinn had warmed to Emma right away. If things had been different maybe she and Emma could have been friends. She’d probably fall in love with Reif’s entire family given the chance.

She squelched that thought. There’d be none of this falling in love business, she reminded herself. She liked Reif. She was fond of him. She wanted to sleep with him and not being able to do so was driving her crazy. But she wasn’t in love with him.

Whatever Reif thought about Emma’s predicament, he stepped back from his angry stance and tried to be supportive.

“I guess Mom and Dad don’t know yet,” he said once they were seated. Emma didn’t seem to have a problem with the salmon once it was cooked and on Reif and Quinn’s plates, but she’d opted for a peanut butter sandwich and carrot sticks for dinner.

“No. I haven’t told anyone. Of course, I haven’t seen them in a few months so that makes it easier. I keep thinking the father will get in touch with me and somehow it will all be all right.” Emma stared at her plate. “That sounds dumb, I guess.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Quinn said at the same time Reif said, “Yeah, it does.”

Quinn glared at him. “You don’t know the whole story. I’m sure there’s a very good reason Emma hasn’t heard from him. Sometimes people have very good reasons for doing what they do.”

“If I don’t know the whole story it’s because the two of you have decided it’s better that I don’t. I would certainly like to know what it is that’s prevented him from contacting her.” Reif’s gaze moved between the two of them, but both women concentrated on their meals.

“Uh huh.” Reif picked up his fork. After a few bites, he put it down again. “Look, Em, whatever you need, whatever you decide to do, I’m here for you, okay? You know that.”

She gave him a shaky smile. “I do.”

“I’ll even lay off the guy until we know what’s what, deal?”

Her smile got stronger. “Deal.”

“
Then
I’ll break both his legs.”

* * * * *

Reif was ready to leave for work before Quinn was awake but Emma was up and already nursing a cup of tea. A slice of dry toast she hadn’t touched sat on a plate in front of her. Reif had offered his bed to his sister, but Emma and Quinn had already decided to share the bed in the guest room.

Reif poured coffee into a travel mug. “Sleep okay?”

“Like a baby.”

“Does that mean you woke up crying and in need of an underwear change at some point during the night? Wait, no, that’ll be six months from now.”

“Ha. Ha. I slept fine. I’m fine, Reif. Really.”

“Okay.”

Emma rested her chin in her hand, watching him as he leaned on the counter and sipped his coffee. “What’s the story with Quinn?”

“What story? What did she tell you?”

“She didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t ask her. I’m asking you.”

Reif breathed an internal sigh of relief. He hadn’t thought about speaking to Quinn in private so they could get their stories straight in case Emma asked.

“Are you sleeping with her?”

“Maybe you didn’t notice. She has her own room.”

“Well, that’s certainly an evasive answer.”

“Look, she’s a…friend of a friend. She needed a place to stay. Temporarily,” he emphasized. Even as he offered this explanation he was acutely aware that he wasn’t telling his sister the whole story. Which was exactly what he’d accused her of last night. But he had good reasons. Very good reasons.

So
, came the unwelcome thought,
might she.

“I like her,” Emma said.

“Me too,” Reif admitted.

“I could see the two of you together.”

“For Pete’s sake, Em. We are not together.”

“I never said you were. I didn’t mean anything by it. But you’re awfully defensive this morning.”

“She’s too young for me.” Reif wondered where that had come from.

Emma snorted in disbelief. “I hardly think so. She’s my age if I had to guess. You’re hardly an old man.
Yet.
”

“I’m still your
older
brother, though, don’t forget. I’ve got to get going. I’ll see you tonight. He kissed Emma’s cheek and then messed up her hair. She swatted his arm before he got out of reach.

Quinn came down and offered Emma a sleepy greeting before she poured herself some coffee. Just as Reif had, Quinn leaned against the counter to sip from her mug.

“You don’t look like you’re quite awake,” Emma said. She’d finished half her tea and most of the toast.

“Usually I’m up earlier and I go for a run,” Quinn said. “Then I work at a pizza place. Eleven until two weekdays.”

“You’ve still got some time,” Emma pointed out. It wasn’t even nine. “How do you and Reif know each other?”

Quinn hadn’t been prepared for such a question, even though it was perfectly natural for Reif’s sister to be curious about her brother’s relationship with the woman living in his house.

“He’s, uh, a friend of a, uh, friend.”

“I see.”

“I, uh, needed a place to stay for a little while and Reif was kind enough to offer.”

Quinn took a sip of coffee, congratulating herself on explaining her presence to Emma without divulging any relevant facts.

“So you’re not sleeping with him?”

Quinn hadn’t swallowed her coffee and ended up spitting it back into the mug. “In case you hadn’t noticed,” Quinn said tartly, “we have separate bedrooms.”

Emma grinned.

“What’s so damn funny?”

“You and Reif told me exactly the same story. What’s funny is I don’t believe either one of you.”

“I don’t have time for this.” Quinn took her coffee and stomped up the stairs, telling herself it didn’t matter what Emma said or what she thought.

Except somehow it did. She didn’t want Emma to find her situation with Reif amusing. In fact, she wished she could ask Emma’s advice, although that would be completely out of line.
Pardon me, Emma, but could you give me some tips on how best to seduce your brother?

The whole time Quinn spent getting ready for work one thought dominated—Emma Callaghan was, at this moment, carrying Quinn’s niece or nephew. She could perfectly well imagine Tony and Emma together. Just as easily she could see Tony trying to explain his undercover work to Emma without telling her anything because he couldn’t. Saying it was dangerous and it had to do with law enforcement was the best way of describing his current tenure with the joint task force. Telling Emma he’d be out of communication for an indefinite period of time but that he’d get in touch with her as soon as he could was the only thing he
could
tell her.

Tony never should have become involved with Emma, Quinn lectured him in her head. The timing was bad. He should have known better. Of course, Tony could lecture her right back if he knew about the way she’d behaved with Reif. And it was looking more and more like Tony would know because Reif was going to tell him. Reif was willing to risk his relationship with his best friend by telling him the truth.

She looked in the mirror. “And what about you?” she asked herself. “Are you going to risk your relationship with Reif by telling him the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” Neither she nor her reflection were surprised when she didn’t answer.

Quinn’s mood hadn’t improved when she came back down the stairs nearly an hour later. Emma met her in the hallway. “Quinn, I didn’t mean to upset you. I want us to be friends.”

Quinn nodded. “Me too.” But she was still wary. She wasn’t sure given the circumstances that she and Emma could ever be friends.

“If I give you some money can you bring me back some pizza? I’m pretty sure I’m going to be hungry in a couple of hours, and I think I’m craving that.”

“Sure. I don’t need money, though. Free pizza’s one of my perks.”

Chapter Fifteen

Like most nights, Tony Fontana was exhausted but he couldn’t sleep. He had more on his mind than most people did to keep him awake. He’d been headed into undercover police work anyway, but he’d managed to get himself thrown into it sooner than he’d expected simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He’d incurred some gambling debts and owed some unsavory characters money he didn’t have as part of his cover. But the way events unfolded after that had taken the investigation in a whole new direction.

Three months ago he’d exited a Starbucks on Lincoln Road with a double tall cappuccino when he saw an entire tableau about to take place. He had excellent situational awareness. No matter where he was, he was aware of his surroundings in a way few others ever were.

He’d seen the gunman, and he’d seen the target, an older man about to get into a black Cadillac. A younger man held the door for him, his back to the gunman.

It would be quick, Tony realized. A pop of a bullet, probably two, because something about all three men screamed organized crime. Tony operated on instinct. He was close enough to the Cadillac to scream, “Gun!” at the top of his lungs and dive for the old man, knocking him to the ground.

A shot was fired, then another. The old man’s companion went down, red blooming across his chest. Pedestrians screamed and ran for cover. Tony peered cautiously over the door but the gunman had disappeared into the crowd or into a waiting vehicle. No way to tell.

Tony called it in. One look at the guy on the ground told him he wasn’t going to make it but he asked for an ambulance anyway.

He helped the old man up. It was then that Tony realized who he’d saved. Paul “Pops” Carboni, head of the Carboni crime family.

Pops had gone out of his way to show his gratitude to Tony. The FBI had moved in and quickly taken advantage of the situation. With Tony’s cooperation they had set him up as a double agent of sorts. Since Carboni knew he was a cop, they’d go along with the plan to paint him as corruptible. But now he’d also feed Carboni “information” while getting close to his operation.

It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was. That’s what Tony thought from the start. He’d gone along with it because he’d thought it just might work. Paul Carboni was no fool. He hadn’t got where he was by being played. But the task force wasn’t getting anywhere in south Florida and this plan seemed better than any other that had tried and failed.

Quinn had also been tapped to help out, because she worked in the restaurant that had become a favorite of the local hoods. Not that she had to do much except wear a pin with a camera attached to it at work. Everyone, even his father, agreed the risk would be minimal.

But they couldn’t predict that the warring crime families would choose the restaurant’s garage to take out Nick Rosetti. Quinn and her coworker had been there when it happened. The hitman had shot Julio, and Quinn would have been killed too if a car hadn’t pulled in just then and the gunman had bolted. But she’d seen the man who’d pulled the trigger, and he had seen her. She was the only eye witness to the murders.

After the debacle at the safe house, Tony had managed to get her on a plane out of Florida. The only other people who knew where she was right now was their father and Tony’s liaison with the FBI. Tony planned to keep it that way. As far as everyone else knew, Quinn had simply disappeared.

The D.A. had decided to move forward with a trial and try to get a conviction using Quinn’s deposition. But it would be a much stronger case if Quinn were there to testify in person. Tony was determined, with the help of his best friend, she would be.

As the trial date grew near, when he couldn’t sleep because his thoughts went round in circles, he called up his memories of Emma Callaghan for comfort.

It helped to pretend she was here now, lying in his arms already asleep, her hair spilling across the pillow. Reif would kill him if he ever found out Tony had slept with Emma, but the truth was Tony’d had a thing for Emma from the moment they’d met when he was in college and he never forgot her.

When their paths crossed again, he was on a flight back home after an intense eight weeks of training at FBI headquarters. There she was, offering him something to drink from the cart parked in the middle of the aisle.

Their eyes met and held. He knew she recognized him. But she was working, so he asked for a Diet Coke and let it go. Later, when everyone had been served she strolled down the aisle and he’d watched her, a slender vision in a blue uniform dress with the funny tie at the throat and a name tag on her lapel.

“Hi, Tony.” She smiled that smile of hers and he was lost.

“Hi, Emma.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Some undercover cop in training he was shaping up to be.

“It’s great to see you. How have you been?” She was managing far better than he was.

“Good. I’ve been good.” More brilliant repartee. He should write poetry.

They’d made some small talk, then Emma said, “I’d love to go for a drink or coffee and catch up some more. If you have time.”

He’d stupidly agreed and then she had to go do whatever flight attendants did before landing, and he’d had no choice but to wait for her after he disembarked.

Not that he didn’t want to wait for her, it was just there was Reif to think of and what losing Reif’s friendship would feel like. They were brothers for life. Unless of course, Tony did something really stupid…like sleep with Reif’s sister.

Which he had ended up doing, of course. More than once. Because once wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot. Then things got complicated with his job, being thrust into undercover work way earlier than he’d planned. Ironically, in his “undercover” persona he was still Tony Fontana, but now he was a dirty cop. The bizarre relationship he’d developed with Paul Carboni made what he was doing ten times more dangerous. Tony had to tell Emma he couldn’t see her anymore, at least for a while. He’d assured her that as soon as things cooled off, she’d hear from him. But had it been enough?

Even now he remembered the look on her face. She wanted to believe him. But she hadn’t.

He didn’t have a choice. There was too much at risk. Reif would never forgive him if something happened to Emma because of her involvement with him. Tony couldn’t tell Emma the truth. She didn’t know where he lived. He couldn’t even tell her exactly who he worked for.

A conversation he’d had with Vinnie Pellegrino after the botched raid on the safe house had chilled him to the bone. The Nose had pegged Tony from the start. He’d never bought the dirty cop routine and he’d resented the way Pops favored Tony. Even though Pops wouldn’t listen to him, Vinnie Pellegrino was still a dangerous man.

“I found her once. I’ll find her again,” he’d assured Tony in regard to Quinn. “And when I do, I’m going to make sure you tell Pops everything. And if he hears what I think he’s gonna hear, I’m gonna enjoy watching Pops put a bullet in her head and then two in yours. Pops may not be what he once was, but his aim is still pretty good.”

Thank God Tony’d distanced himself from Emma when he had. He hadn’t seen her in months and it was killing him, but that was far better than the alternative.

But dreaming of her, holding memories of her close, had made it easier, if only a little.