She was being placated, and it angered her. She was inclined to shrug his massaging hands off her shoulders. But, for the sake of marital harmony, she smiled back at him. “Your favorite girl would enjoy that.”
He kissed her behind the ear. “I had better stay on my toes. Because I think our new neighbor spun that sad tale about his boyhood in order to woo you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“It’s not at all ridiculous. I believe you’re too smart to fall for his adolescent seduction, but I also believe he’s ballsy enough to try.”
As he was about to pull away, she reached up and placed her hand on his arm. “If you’re seriously worried about Drex’s integrity and intentions, we don’t have to continue being sociable.”
“I’ve already obligated us to at least one more dinner. A double date with him and Elaine.”
“Elaine?” she exclaimed. She came around in her chair and faced him. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“He extended the invitation last night.”
“And you accepted? Jasper, Elaine—”
“It’s okay. He more or less asked my permission to make a move on her. He thought she and I might be carrying on illicitly.” Jasper winked at her. “Funny, isn’t it?”
Drex thought, Not that fuckin’ funny.
He pushed back his chair and went over to the window in time to see Jasper’s car backing out of their drive. Through the surveillance receiver, he could hear Talia moving around the kitchen. Cabinet doors being shut. Water running. The sun’s glare on the windowpanes prevented him from seeing her. He wondered what she’d worn down to breakfast.
“Jesus.” He was becoming a peeping Tom. He pushed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets in an attempt to blind himself against envisioning her in some kind of soft sleepwear, disheveled and barefoot, hair in tangles, eyes drowsy.
Before dawn, he’d been awakened by an erotic dream featuring her. Images of her were unformed and ephemeral. He could feel more than he could see, but the sensations were intense. He woke up painfully aroused, the sheets saturated with sweat despite the gale powered by the new fan blowing across him.
He was out of sorts and troubled despite last night’s success.
When he’d told Mike and Gif that Jasper’s search for the transmitter was futile, that he was looking in the wrong place, they’d congratulated him on his ingeniousness.
“He thought he had me,” he’d said, “but he’s the one who got hoodwinked.” When Jasper had come up empty-handed, Drex had felt like shouting at him across the lawn, Gotcha, sucker!
“He gave himself away,” Drex told them. “Who goes looking for hidden surveillance after having a neighbor over for burgers? Nobody, that’s who. I’m telling you, he’s our man.”
Mike and Gif had pressed him to tell them how he’d achieved hiding the bug, and where. He’d refused. “For me alone to know. It’s my crime. If caught, only I will take the fall.”
At that point, Gif, in his reasonable way, had resumed his argument that Drex should notify Rudkowski. “What you’re doing is high-risk, Drex. You might give yourself away and not even be aware of it until it’s too late. If not Rudkowski, alert somebody to what you’re doing. Think of the additional resources that—”
“No, Gif. I tried that once, and it backfired. Big time. Remember?”
“Vividly,” Mike grumbled.
“Okay, then. Before I involve Rudkowski this time, I’m gonna have the suspect hogtied and squealing confessions.”
Gif sighed in defeat. “In the meantime—”
“I’ll watch my back.”
&n
bsp; “Better yet, don’t turn it to him.”
After ending the call, Drex had gone to bed, but hadn’t slept that long or well before the dream woke him. Giving up on going back to sleep, he’d gotten up, made coffee, and, restless and edgy, turned on the receiver and waited to hear something from the house next door.
Jasper had come downstairs first and cooked himself breakfast. Drex could hear a TV news show in the background, pans clanking, coffee beans grinding. Finally, Talia joined him. She’d told Jasper good morning in a voice slightly hoarse from sleep. Drex had imagined them exchanging a hug, a pat on the rump, a light kiss. That was as far as he’d let his imagination run.
Then for close to an hour, he’d listened to their breakfast dialogue. For the most part, it was inconsequential. She reminded Jasper that he needed to consult an arborist about one of their trees. His tailor had called; the clothes he’d had altered were ready to be picked up. He made polite inquiries about the family who were off to Africa, but he didn’t sound that interested in Talia’s answers.