Take - Page 67

Mila appeared, smiling at us.

The other woman slid her arm through mine. “Come on. I have a special cocktail just for you, Frankie.”

“Cocktails are kind of Mila’s thing,” Reath told me.

“When I was on the run from some very bad guys, I was undercover at Ember as a bartender. I learned all about mixing drinks. I love designing new cocktails.” Her gaze ran over me. “And you look like you could do with one.”

I smiled. It was nice that someone understood what I was going through. “I’d love one.”

We moved over to the bar. I spotted Macy and London sitting on stools. Colt, Beau, and Kavner were with them.

“No Dante?” I asked.

Mila pointed upward. “He’s in the office up there meeting with the manager and doing some paperwork.” She smiled. “I bet he hates that he can’t see us. At Ember, his office has a huge plate-glass, one-way window he can use to survey the whole of his domain.”

“He used to watch you constantly through that window, and vehemently deny it,” Reath said.

Mila’s smile widened.

She looked so happy. So in love. She currently had a job she adored, and a man who couldn’t get enough of her.

I felt a shot of envy.

I looked away. Independence and my work were what mattered to me. And those were far safer than love. I thought of my mom—still in love with my father, never dating, living with the shadow of a ghost.

If things didn’t work out with Dante, I knew that Mila would be devastated.

Love just wasn’t worth the risk.

I glanced at Reath and saw him talking with Beau. My heart clenched.

Was it worth the risk?

“Here you go.” Mila handed me a tall glass filled with a blue drink. There were flames licking the top of it. “One Hot Scientist.”

I laughed and blew out the flames. “Thanks.”

“Drink up.” Macy leaned over on her stool. “Tonight, there are no troubles and no bad guys. You’re here to relax and have fun. You need to decompress.”

I cocked my head. “Did you have your own experience, too?”

“Yep.” Macy sucked on the straw in her cocktail and slurped. “A crazy stalker who followed me across the country. Colt wasn’t pleased.”

“I’ll bet.”

“It was what brought us together. He went straight into overprotective mode and saved my life.”

London nodded. “Same for me. I mean, my issues were to do with my Treasury work…”

“And the fact that you were determined to arrest Kavner,” Mila added.

I gasped. “Really?”

“It’s a long story,” London said.

I leaned forward and sipped my drink. “Then start at the beginning.”

Mila, Macy, and London were all so different, but fun and friendly. Soon I was laughing and snorting with them, as they told me their stories.