“Is that Adam?” Minsky said. “Bring him with you to dinner. My treat. Wherever you like. Does eight o’clock sound good?”
“I haven’t agreed to meet you,” Jasper said, amused in spite of himself. Very few of his old associates knew about Adam. Very few even knew Jasper’s real name. Ed knew both, and he had never shared that information. A bit twisty in some ways, Ed Minsky. He’d lift your wallet without an ounce of shame, but he’d never rat you out or renege on a deal.
“Come on, Jasper. Won’t do you a bit of harm and you’ll get a good meal out of it. Just take a look at the ruby, see if you can tell me what it does.”
“Why are you so sure it’s magic?” Ed had no trace of a Gift.
“The provenance,” Minsky said promptly. “If you’d seen the not-a-fox I got it from, you’d understand.”
“Seen the what?” Curiosity stirred. Jasper told himself not to be an idiot.
“Not-a-fox. That’s how I thought of him, her, or it. Bright pink fur and the cutest little face. That’s quite a story, how I got this ruby. I’d be glad to tell you all about it over steaks. Or pad Thai? If I remember right, you like Thai.”
Jasper was hooked and he knew it. He put up a show of resisting, but his heart wasn’t in it. He wanted to hear about the not-a-fox. Reeled in, he finally said, “Okay, but it has to be tomorrow. I’ve got plans tonight.”
“But those plans must include eating. Let me buy you two—”
“I’ve got plans,” Jasper repeated firmly.
Reluctantly Ed accepted that he’d have to wait an entire day to get what he wanted. They settled the when-and-where, and Jasper disconnected.
Adam was frowning. “That was one of your old business associates. The kind you don’t have anything to do with anymore because you’re not in that business anymore. You’re having dinner with him.”
“Want to join us?” Jasper shut down his laptop. He’d have to finish the estimated taxes in the morning. He emphatically did not want to come back to them after his vacation, and the play tonight wouldn’t let out until after ten. Too late for his tired brain to deal with governmentese. “He asked me to bring you. I think you’d like Ed.”
“He knows who you are?”
“Long story,” Jasper said, rising. “But yes, he does. I’m not getting back in the business, Adam. Just giving an old friend a quick, informal appraisal.”
Jasper’s office opened into the shop’s storage area—a crowded space kept navigable through meticulous organization. There was a bathroom to the right. Next to the bathroom was a large, antique safe that was a good deal harder to get into than it looked. If someone did get it open, there was a good chance they wouldn’t notice the hidden compartment in the safe’s thick, heavy door.
Adam spoke as they walked past the safe. “You miss it sometimes.”
“Sometimes.” He thought about his last big job, though, and that put paid to any wistfulness. He’d pulled it off, sure. Stolen a magical device from a place he shouldn’t have been able to get into, much less escape from. But it hadn’t been a thrill. It hadn’t even been profitable. He’d been forced to do it because Adam had been held hostage by one of the baddest bad guys Jasper had ever encountered. And he’d run into quite a few, back in the old days.
At the back of the building, Adam unlocked the door while Jasper engaged the security system. It was a decent system, enough to deter the stupid thieves without being too advanced for the average antique shop owner to invest in. A smart thief could get through it in under ten minutes, a real pro in under five.
Jasper’s own time had been a minute-fifteen.
“I don’t like to think about you longing for the old days,” Adam said as they stepped out into the narrow loading area behind the shop. “I’d rather think I added to your life, not that I took something important away from you.”
“You know better.” Jasper shut the door, which locked automatically. Just as automatically he glanced at the cameras to make sure they covered the area properly. “It’s a good thing we didn’t meet twenty years ago—”
“When I was still so deep in the closet I wouldn’t have dared even look at you, you mean?”
“And I wouldn’t have considered giving up my profession. I wasn’t ready then. Now . . . do I miss it? Sure, sometimes, the way a retired athlete misses competing. But it was time. I knew that, or I wouldn’t have agreed. It’s a bad idea for an aging ex-quarterback to come out of retirement in an effort to re-create his glory days. Wouldn’t work out for an aging thief, either.”
“Aging?” A warm hand slid down Jasper’s butt. “Hmm, let me see, now . . .”
Jasper grinned, turned, and found Adam’s arms and his smile ready for him. When they kissed, there was more heat—and more tongue—involved than he’d expected. By the time the kiss ended, he was thinking about stepping back inside the shop. There weren’t any really good spots, but he and Adam were creative.
“I should at least act as if I trust my fiancé, shouldn’t I?” Adam murmured. “Sorry.”
Fiancé. Such a wonderful word. “If that was an apology kiss, makeup sex ought to be right around the corner. By which I mean back inside the store, not up against the door.”
Adam shook his head mournfully. “But then we wouldn’t have time for supper, and I’d have to listen to your stomach growl all during the play.”
And they would be going to the play, come hell or high water. Adam had dragged him to each and every play put on by the highly experimental acting troupe his friend Mark had been part of. Jasper wasn’t a strictly My Fair Lady type, but neither did he think Shakespeare was more authentic when performed nude. And the play with the dead chickens . . . but Mark had finally landed a part in a production at Magic Theater. Magic put on a lot of new plays, but they were the real thing. No dead chickens tonight unless they were on Jasper’s plate for supper. “I’m pretty sure that’s your stomach growling, not mine.”
“Hmmm, no. Might be your brother. Did he drop in for a visit?” Adam made a point of peering behind Jasper, as if he might have overlooked the extremely large wolf Jasper’s half brother turned into upon occasion.
“Idiot.”
“Arithmophobe.”
“Flap-mouthed geek.”
“Scurvy snob.”
They grinned at each other. With a touch, Jasper activated the shop’s secondary security. He didn’t know how to set a ward himself, but he could activate the one his brother’s friend had set and renew it as needed.
They set off down the narrow street that backed the antique store, tossing out cheerful insults both Shakespearian and modern. Jasper couldn’t stop smiling. They’d earned their happily-ever-after, he and Adam. And hard as it was to believe, it looked like they’d be getting it.
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