“Fine.” Romeo sighed and then grinned evilly when he beat Doc’s rock with his paper.
A protracted groan issued from the depths of Doc’s chest. “I’m the last one of us she should be meeting first, you realize. I hate lawyers. They’re non-carbon-based life-forms sent here to suck out all that is good and wholesome from us Earthlings.”
“Damn. Who told you that? Now someone will have to call the mother ship to have you abducted so all your orifices can be probed.”
All three of them spun at the sound of a woman’s voice. Doc sputtered, “Well...I...I’ll be dipped in shit,” at the same time Romeo called, “Good morning! Fancy seeing you here.”
The black-haired woman inclined her head in a regal-looking nod. “Good to see you again too.”
The night before, she’d been in vacation mode, wearing a sundress with her long hair cascading down her back. This morning, she was all business. Her hair was pulled back in a flawless bun, her figure was encased in a crisp, linen pantsuit, and her eyes were hidden behind a huge pair of black sunglasses.
“What are you doing here?” Doc demanded, looking more uncomfortable than Romeo had ever seen him.
Romeo coughed and stared hard at Doc, telling the man without words that his bald-faced question didn’t exactly place him in the running for the role of Prince Charming.
“Sorry.” Doc winced. “That was rude. How about I start with an apology for sneaking out on you this morning? I just figured after my lackluster performance last night, you’d probably prefer to wake up alone.”
“Doesn’t one actually have to perform in order for it to count as a performance?” Candy countered, her ruby-red lips twitching. “And you don’t have to apologize again. I got your one-word note. Sorry,” she quoted. “You’re very succinct when you want to be.”
Before Doc had a chance to answer, the woman let go of the handle of her rolling suitcase so she could thrust a hand toward Mia. “Hi. We haven’t met. I’m Camilla D’ Angelo. But you can call me Cami.”
“Mia Ennis.” Mia shook the hand offered to her, but her eyes were huge as she glanced between Doc and Romeo.
And there it was. That shadow of an ornery smirk.
“Very good to meet you, Mia.” Cami smiled, and Romeo knew his own eyes were flying as wide as Mia’s because the wind blowing across the tarmac had suddenly dried them out.
“I thought you said your name was Candy,” he blurted.
“It was loud in the bar,” she explained, shifting her purse to her opposite hand. “And since I didn’t think I’d see either one of you again after last night, I figured it wasn’t worth the effort of correcting you when you misheard me. But speaking of confused identities...” Her eyebrows puckered over the frames of her sunglasses, “I thought you said your name was Romeo. And was I crazy, or did you tell me your name was Doc?” She turned to frown at Doc.
“My name is Doc,” Doc grumbled, and damned if Romeo didn’t detect a flush staining the big man’s cheeks.
Cami frowned. “But Mr. Anderson told me I’d be meeting...” She pulled her cell phone from her purse and checked the screen. “One Mr. Spiro Delgado and one Mr. Dalton Simmons.”
“And LT told us you weren’t arriving in Key West until this morning,” Doc insisted, clearly mortified that the woman he’d tried—and apparently failed—to shag the night before had turned out to be their attorney.
“I decided to catch an earlier flight and get in one night of R and R.” Cami looked like she was biting the inside of her cheek. “Am I to assume that LT and Mr. Anderson are one and the same?”
“Just like Doc is Dalton Simmons and Romeo is Spiro Delgado,” Mia clarified quietly. “They all have nicknames.”
“Ah.” The lawyer nodded. “That would explain it then.”
“Oh, for shit’s sake.” Doc groaned. “I’ll just go sauté myself in shame now.” He turned and acted like he was going to slink away, but something stopped him. When he swung back, his expression had brightened. “Wait.” He lifted a finger. “This is perfect. I have the chance to redeem myself. You know, now that I’m sober.”
Cami pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and let her dark eyes rake over Doc’s form. “The problem with that is now I’m sober too.”
Doc’s toothpick hung drunkenly from his slack mouth. He wasn’t used to women who didn’t fawn over his strapping, long-limbed looks.
“Plus, I don’t mix business with pleasure,” the lawyer added with a careless shrug. “We’ll have to chalk up last night to an any port in the storm thing, and act like nothing happened. Because...nothing happened.”
Doc winced again. “You don’t have to keep rubbing it in.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” A smile played over the lawyer’s painted lips.
“That’s what it feels like,” Doc muttered sullenly.
“See? There’s where you lost me. I’m a non-carbon-based life-form, remember? I deal in facts, not feelings.”
“Well, the fact is that I feel obliged to prove to you that last night was an aberration. I’m a big believer in not barking unless I plan to bite. So, come on. Give me another chance at the apple.”
“Wow.” Cami blinked. “Strangely enough, I was able to follow that euphemistic nonsense.”
Doc wiggled his eyebrows. “What do you say?”
She sucked on her front tooth and gave him a look that said, “Not on your life.”
“Ow,” Romeo blurted, thoroughly enjoying himself. And not only because Doc had turned his charm away from Mia to focus it on the lady lawyer—although that was a big part of it—but also because there was absolutely nothing in the world more entertaining than watching one of his friends get his ass handed to him by a quick-witted woman.
“What?” Doc glared at him.
“The look she gave you was a metaphorical kick in the balls.” He shrugged. “And now my balls ache in sympathy. That’s all.”
“I’m going to file that under Who Gives a Shit,” Doc declared testily before turning back to Cami. “You are a cruel woman not letting me even attempt to salvage some of my pride. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You know, given your chosen profession.”
“I’m not cruel.” Cami shook her head. “I’m smart.”