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"Sola, why you no tell me we have visitors?"

Sola paused as she put her backpack down on the countertop in the kitchen Even though her grand to turn around until she was sure her expression showed none of the surprise she was feeling

When she was ready, she pivoted on one boot

Her grand at their little table, her pink-and-blue housecoat coordinating with the curlers in her hair and the flowered curtains behind her At the age of eighty, she had the gracefully lined face of a woh thirteen presidents, a World War, and innules Her eyes, however, burned with the strength of an immortal

"Who came to the door, vovo?" she asked

"The randmother lifted her heavily knuckled hand and encircled her curlers - "dark hair"

Crap "When did he stop by?"

"He was very nice"

"Did he leave his name?"

"So you did no expect him"

Sola took a deep breath, and prayed that her neutral affect stayed in place in spite of the grilling Hell, after having lived with her grandmother for how many years, you&039;d think she&039;d be used to the fact that the woman was a one-way street when it ca anyone, no" And the idea that so There was a nine in there with a laser sight and a silencer - and that was a very good thing "What did he look like?"

"Very big And the dark hair Deep-set eyes"

"What color were they?" Her grandmother didn&039;t see all that well, but surely she would remember that "Was he - "

"Like us He spoke with me in the Spanish"

Maybe that erotic ual, given his strange accent

"So did he leave his name?" Not that that would help She didn&039;t knohat thecalled himself

"He said you knew hilanced at the digital readout on the microwave It was just before ten po" Her grand him, Marisol? Why you no tellflipped into Portuguese, their staccato speech overlapping, all kinds of I&039;et-ument so many times, they basically just reassumed their well-practiced parts in this overdone play

"Well, I liked hiot up froed the surface with her open palms As the napkin caddy with its payload of Vanity Fair ju him here for a proper dinner"

I would, Granduy - and would you feel this way if you kneas a crirand dealer - so if he is religious, he&039;s got incredible powers of reconciliation

"He looks like a good boy," her vovo said over her shoulder "A Catholic good boy" And that was that - for now

As those slippers scuffed their way across to the stairs, undoubtedly there were all kinds ofon She could just picture it

With a curse, Sola dropped her head and closed her eyes On so all warm and fuzzy just because a little old Brazilian woman opened the damn door Catholic, her ass

"Daain, as she to be sanctimonious? She was a criminal, too Had been for years - and the fact that she&039;d had to provide for herself and her grand

Who did her hbor&039;s dog began to bark Those twins? They&039;d looked really self-sufficient Did he have kids? A wife?

For so her arms over her chest, she stared at the you-could-eat-off-of-it floor that her grandht to coain, she had visited his place uninvited, hadn&039;t she -

Sola frowned and lifted her eyes Thethat was framed by those ruffled pink half drapes was jet-black because she hadn&039;t turned any exterior lights on yet But she knew someone was there

And she kneho it was

Breath going short, heart starting to beat fast, she put her hand up to the front of her throat for some reason

Turn away, she told herself Run away

Butshe did not

Assail had notdevice was still on her Audi, and when it had informed him that she&039;d returned to the address, he was incapable of notthere

He did not want to be seen, however, so he chose the backyard, and how fortuitous: When his burglar walked into the kitchen, he got a full view of her - as well as her housemate

The older hu in an elderly kind of way, her hair in curlers, her robe bright as a spring day, her face beautiful in spite of her age She was not happy, however, as she sat at the table and glared across at what Assail surhter

Words were exchanged, and he smiled a little in the darkness Much love between the pair of them - much annoyance, too And wasn&039;t that the ith older relatives, whether you were hu she did not live with a male

Unless, of course, that one she had met at the restaurant also stayed in the little house

As he growled softly in the dark, the dog in the house next door began to bark, warning his human owners of that of which they were unaware

A lar was left alone in the kitchen, her expression one of both resignation and frustration

As she stood there, crossing her aro Instead, he did what he should not: He reached through the glass with his mind and let his need unleash

Instantly, she responded, that lithe body straightening fro to his through the

"Come to me," he said into the cold

And she did

The back door creaked as she opened it with her hip, forcing the bottom corner to carve a pie slice in the snow of the deck