Kiss the Girl (32 page)

Nixie
made some kind of noise
. 

“
Sort of
,” she said, her eyes locked
studiously
on
his lapel
.  She
patted it again
then stepped back so Erik could
shake
the man’s
hand
. 

“This i
s Dr. Erik Larsen,” she said to
the Senator
.  “He’s a volunteer here at the clinic, as well as a board member.
  In his other life, he’s a cardio-
thoracic
surgeon at GW.
”

“
Senator Larsen’s boy
?”
James
asked, his eyes going bright with interest.  Suddenly, Erik felt a lot like a melon up for inspection
himself
. 
“Impressive.”

Erik
didn’t think he was talking about his medical credentials as much as his bloodlines
.
  The old claustrophobia crept up on him,
a cloud of doubt covering the sun
. 

“So.” 
The man
released Erik’s hand and
put his hand on Nixie’s
elbow
.
 
“
I’ll give
James
the message, will I?”

Erik frowned
again
at the easy way he laid h
is hands on Nixie’s person.  “Message
?”

Harper
gave h
im a professional smile
, this time with an ugly edge.  “
Nixie’s agreed to be
James’
s date to the gala
.”

“
You did
?”
he asked Nixie.

She edged away from
the Senator
.  “Yes.  It’s work.”

“Every day is play if you pi
ck your job right,”
Harper
said with a booming laugh.  He gave Nixie a little squeeze.  She took another step away from him. 

“I see.”  Erik clapped the guy on the shoulder just a shade harder than necessary.  “Well,
I’ll be sure to say hello to
James
if I see him
at the gala
.  As a board member, I’m required to put in an appearance, too.”  He glanced at his watch.  “But speaking of work, I’m about to cut out for the day.  Are you almost done here, Nixie?  Why don’t we get a cup of coffee and debrief?”

She gave him a grateful smile and said, “That would be great.  I’ll just alert the crew.”  She broke
Harper
’
s
grip on her elbow with more tact than Erik thought strictly necessary, saying, “I’ll be in contact regarding the logistics for the fundraiser appearance,
Edward
.”

She disappeared into the crowd, leaving Erik and
Harper
exchanging hostile smiles.  “She’s a firecracker,”
Harper
said at last.  “Always has been. 
My boy screwed the pooch when he ditched that one
.”

“Yeah.”

Harper
leaned in and lowered his voice to the
just us guys
register.  “Though, seriously,
you can’
t really blame him
, can you?  I mean,
if
Nixie
and her mom were both knocking at your tent flap, which one would you let in?”

Erik’s
hand curled into a fist at his side
and he
let the pause linger just a beat or two beyond comfortable. 

“I’m sure I didn’t hear you properly,” he said.  “Say that again, please?”

Harper
’s
eyes darted to Erik’s fist, then back to the crowd.  He shrugged.  “I was just saying that Nixie’s a firecracker.”

Erik nodded.  “That she is.”

Harper
cleared his throat.
“
Well, I should get
back to the
office
. 
Nice meeting you
.
”

“
Same
.”

Erik watched him
gladhand
his way to the door, slapping people on the back, barking out his jolly laugh and asking after wives, children, and pets with no obvious
interest in the answers.

Mary Jane
appeared at his shoulder.  “Well?”

“
Nixie’s taking
James
Harper
to the fundraiser
.
”

She nodded, unsurprised
.
“
No
publicity
is bad publicity.
”  She patted E
rik’s arm.  “Hold on tight, baby.  This
clinic’s about to
go
high
profile.
”

Erik stared. 
“She’s doing this for
us
?
”

“You think she
’d smile
for the cameras with James
Harper
for fun?”

The thought of Nix
ie selling her self-respect to the highest bidder
--
even for a good cause
--
sent a savage anger licking
through his veins
.
  He squashed it with precise care.
  “
Like mother, like daughter,
I guess,
”
he said. 
Remember that
, he told himself sternly.

She
lifted a brow.  “
That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?
”

Erik jerked a shoulder.  “Hey, you pimp your private life for the cameras,
you forfeit sympathy.
” 

Nixie reappeared,
with Karl
in tow
.  “
Oh good, you found Mary Jane
,” she said.  “W
here to
?”

Erik glanced at
Karl.  “How about Steve-O’s?”

“So you
can feed Nixie another hamburger
?” he asked
.  “I don’t think so.
”

“
I
know a place,” Mary Jane said.  “You’ll like it.
  All of you.  Let’s go.
”

Cuppa
Joe’s squatted on a busy corner of South West,
somewhere between
the touristy bustle of the Fish Wharf
and the self-importance of
Capitol Hill.  Nixie figured the place for a two-story row house that had been chopped into several smaller commercial spaces. 
Cuppa
Joe’s anchored the ground floor corner space. 

Lavender trim and a funky, hand-painted sign
gave
the sober architecture
a
jaunty, carnival flair
. 
Window boxes ran
the leng
th of plate-glass windows on either
side of the building
, clearly tended by somebody
, Nixie decided,
with a serious gift for gardening
.  Geraniums and poppies
leapt
out of them in a riot of mismatched enthusiasm.

Karl
expertly slid the hybrid SUV he’d rented into a street spot and Nixie stepped out onto the cracked concrete.
  Karl herded her toward the building
while he
remoted
the locks and
pocketed the keys
. 

“This looks like a great place,” Nixie
said as she opened the door
.  She stepped back so Karl could precede her, but he
put a hand in the small of her back and
propelled her through
ahead of him
.  Nixie landed inside with an awkward hop.  “Geez, Karl.  Would it kill you to let me hold a door for you once in a while?”

He frowned
at her,
confused.  “Why would you want to hold a door for me?”

“It’s symbolic
.  An outward demon
stration of an inward
respect
?
”

“That’s sweet,” he said, patting her arm.  “But taking care of you is my job.  You want to do something nice for me,
we could be on a plane to
Bumani
in an hour
.”

Nixie
rolled her eyes
.  “
I’d rather get the door.”

Erik waved at them from a tall wooden booth in the corner.  A
giant
fern
dangled by a wire from the wood-beamed ceiling above his head, dipping into the booth and all but
eclips
ing
Mary Jane
across from him
.  Karl put his hand under Nixie’s elbow and steered her toward them.  Nixie didn’t bother mentioning that she was perfectly capable of walking twenty feet without guidance.
 
 

She hesitated
at the booth’s edge
, then slid
in
next to Erik.
 
It was either that or let
the two
largest people in their
party
squash
into one side of a small booth
together
.