“That was, um, intense.” Carey let out a deep breath once the door clicked shut.
“Shit. I was just kidding.” I turned Graham’s words over in my mind like a coin. Had I misjudged Scarlett so terribly? “But I guess he might have a point.”
“You think?” Carey snorted. “In any case, I’d steer clear of him for a while.”
“No shit. So, where’s Scarlett?”
Carey twirled a pen between his fingers while staring at his computer screen. “You just missed her. She had to go to some lunch thing at Lynch Lane, I think she said? Something with a charity or something.”
“Lynch Lane? Posh.” The Lynches were some of the richest people in the city. Of course Scarlett Carmichael would hobnob with them on the regular. Faye’s warning about Scarlett being “out of my league” echoed through my thoughts. While that may have been true on a blue-blood level, I’d been able to mingle with the upper crust off and on, and fucked my fair share of New Orleans socialites. All the same, I’d never been invited to Lynch Lane, not even to shovel shit or cut the grass.
“Charity thing.” I tapped my index finger on my chin. Scarlett had run away to somewhere she no doubt thought I couldn’t follow. Distance made her comfortable. I wasn’t going to let up, not even if it meant crashing a philanthropy meeting. “What was she wearing?”
He stopped twirling the pen and gave me a quizzical look. “Did you hear what Graham just said? All that about treating Scarlett with respect?”
“Yes, I heard. I’m not trying to be inappropriate about Ms. Carmichael.” I shrugged. “I mean, I really need to talk to her about the case. I might just drop in over at Lynch Lane.”
“Right.” He shook his head and grinned. He looked younger whenever he smiled big, especially given he was wearing a Star Wars Tshirt and what looked like skinny jeans. “Some sort of flowy skirt and a white top that showed a decent amount of the goods. A lot better than what she wears to work.”
I could only imagine how good she’d look in that outfit. “I see. I think I’ll just head on over and give her a rundown of what I was working on overnight.”
“Oh, and her hair was down.”
“Like all the way? Like total girl hotness?”
“It wasn’t all tight up in that . . .” He motioned to the crown of his head.
“The bun thing?”
“Yeah, I wanted to touch it.” He nodded and smiled, mischief written all over his youthful face.
“Don’t.” I hadn’t meant for my tone to be so clipped, but the thought of his hands on Scarlett sent a prickly sensation down my spine. I batted it aside. I didn’t get jealous over women. Never had, never would. Even so, I didn’t want him to think he could touch her hair or anything else.
“Calm down. I didn’t jump her. Besides, you heard Graham. I’m supposed to keep an eye on you, not the other way around. You’re the one who disrespects Scarlett right in front of her pseudo-dad, not me.”
I laughed off his comments, as if I didn’t care. I didn’t, did I?
“Look, do you what gotta do. Scarlett’s a smart woman, she’ll curb you soon enough.”
I popped him on the back of the head, the same way I’d do to one of my brothers. “Any news on breaking the encryption?”
He rubbed the spot where I’d tapped him. “Dick. Nope. But like I said, could be any minute, could be days. It’s a crapshoot. An intensely rigorous and multilayered crapshoot.”
“All right. I’ll be back later.” I went to the door.
“Good luck. I’ll be here to comfort her once she’s had it with you,” he said, almost too quietly for me to hear.
“What?” I shot over my shoulder.
“Nothing, man. Later.” He gave me a two-finger wave.
I laughed and hustled back to the elevator. He may have been a mastermind superhacker, but Carey was quickly becoming one of my favorite people.
Lynch Lane was a sprawling estate in the heart of the Garden District. I had a slim chance of making it past the gates, but I’d be damned if I’d let Scarlett get away. Not today, not after how she left me last night. I intended to invade her space on every possible level. Full-court press.
As I drove through the streets, the parties starting anew, it occurred to me I’d never had to chase a woman before. I could sit at a bar, flirt a little, then have the prettiest one in the room flat on her back within an hour. But Scarlett, she evaded me. Even when I’d been close in that coat closet, she’d still had me by the balls—and not in the fun and frisky way.