Flawless Read Free Page B

between them. “It’s Christmas.”
    “I’m an atheist,” she shot back wryly. But something about Danny’s face made her hesitate. He was handsome in a brutish, gangster sort of way, and his broken nose and sexy British accent reminded her of one of those guys from
Lock, Stock
. He also had the most exquisite eyes she’d ever seen, the same liquid purple as grape juice.
    “So? I’m Jewish.” He smiled, sensing her weakening and realizing belatedly that she was actually very pretty in a young Demi Moore sort of a way. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t spread a bit of festive cheer. Look, I’ll make you a deal. If you let me deposit this wodge burning a hole in my pocket, I’ll take you out for the biggest cocktail we can find; how’s that?”
    “Make it dinner and it’s a deal,” said the girl, suddenly deciding that she’d like nothing more than to be the recipient of this divine man’s festive cheer for the evening. Removing the Position Closed sign, she reopened her window, her eyes widening as Danny shoved the filthy bundle of hundreds tied with twine through to her side of the plastic wall.
    “Early Christmas present,” he grinned, “from my Aunt Fanny in Maryland.”
    The girl rolled her eyes. “Hey, don’t know and don’t wanna know, OK? But dinner’d better be somewhere good.”

     
    It was four hours later before Danny finally remembered to call his brother back.
    “Oh, cheers,” said Jake grumpily. “Nice of you to remember my existence.” Danny could hear the noise of a raucous bar behind him, with a lot of overexcited female voices. “Why d’you hang up on me before?”
    “Sorry,” said Danny, turning the sound down on the TV. Having reluctantly dropped the bank girl back at her apartment earlier—Chiara; lovely, melodious name—he was now back home himself at his apartment on Broadway and Bleeker, drinking a hot whiskey toddy in bed in front of the latest TiVoed episode of his favorite British soap,
EastEnders
. “I was in the middle of something.”
    “Woman?” asked Jake.
    “Sadly, no. A deal. But after you called the whole thing turned into a shit-show.” He told Jake about his little miscalculation with Vlad and how he’d narrowly escaped a serious beating from the jeweler’s heavies. “I tell you, all that back-and-forth we had about staying out of Africa ’cause it was too dangerous…Russia’s getting just as bad. He made me sell him the whole bloody lot for thirty grand. I’m at least sixty out of pocket now.”
    “Don’t worry, bruv,” said Jake, unable to keep the smile of triumph out of his voice. “I’ll be happy to lend you a quid or two until you get back on your feet.”
    Danny sighed good-naturedly. “All right then, come on, you’re obviously dying to tell me. What masterpiece of salesmanship have you pulled off now, you jammy little sod?”
    Jake, who’d been waiting all day to share his good news with somebody, gleefully lingered over every detail of this morning’s events, from Julia Brookstein’s fabulously responsive, gym-toned body to the gleam of genuine satisfaction in Al Brookstein’s eyes when he clinched the deal, convinced he’d just struck himself a hard bargain.
    Danny’s reaction, however, was less admiring than he’d hoped.
    “GGG?” he said incredulously. “Have you totally lost it? What if he has the thing independently appraised?”
    “He won’t,” said Jake confidently. “He’s already asked me to set it for him as a pendant. Insisted I ‘throw that in,’ in fact, as part of the deal. If he was gonna get it checked out, he’d do it now, before I set it.”
    “But anyone who sees a pink that size is gonna know instantly it can’t be real. Did you say three carats?”
    “Yeah,” Jake laughed. “Trust me, if this were London or New York, I’d agree with you, but things don’t work like that out here. People in LA assume you can get anything you want for the right price. Striped blue bananas, snow in