Dax put together a “staff” to help Kat out with catering the lunch at the attorney’s office where Kyle worked. Her staff consisted of two prospects and one of the club girls, but she wasn’t complaining. Dax only provided the best, as usual, and so far they’d been a godsend to her.

“Hey, Kat, where do you want these?” Celia, a thirty-year-old club “girl” with rainbow-colored hair, walked into the conference room with a tray of brownies.

“The dessert table is the second one,” Kat told her.

“How long did it take you to make all this food?”

“Let’s just say I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Celia laughed and put down the tray. The two prospects, Big Boy and Minion, were carrying in an ice chest filled with crab cakes. Kat directed them where to sit it down and while the three all went back down to the van to get more food, she started arranging the crab cakes onto the new silver trays she’d bought for the occasion. She had just finished and stepped back to view the finished product when Kyle walked in the door. She’d been doing so well, keeping her mind on the food and all the tasks at hand, that she hadn’t had time to worry about seeing him. As soon as her eyes met his, her chest felt tight and the butterflies took flight in her stomach. Not many people made Kat nervous…as a matter of fact, no people did—no one outside of the Brady clan, that is.

“Hello there, Hurricane.”

Kat was dressed in a nice, brand new pair of black slacks. She had on a long-sleeved black top with lace around the collar and upper back. She wore a slender silver necklace and a pair of silver hoop earrings and her hair was pulled up in a professional-looking bun, or at least she thought so. “Can we go with Kat or Katrina for today, Kyle? Would that be too much to ask?”

Kyle smirked. He was so good at it. For years Kat had wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. One of these days she might just do it…but not today. “Sure, Kat.” He looked around the room and Kat took in what he was wearing as he did. When he worked as a detective he always dressed nicely, but from being in Hollywood for so many years, Kat knew an expensive suit when she saw one…and the one he was wearing had to have set him back thousands. She supposed maybe that was explained by his sudden occupational change. “It’s not quite ready yet, Kyle.”

He slipped his hands in the pockets of his expensive Italian-made trousers, leaned back on his heels, and said, “I can’t wait to taste it. I’m intrigued by you as a cook.”

“And why is that?”

He shrugged. “The stuntwoman thing seemed to fit your personality more, you know. Most of the cooks I’ve known have been real women.” Kat’s hands fisted at her side, and she just might have forgotten her promise to Dax and her own aspirations had the stunning redhead that walked in the room behind Kyle not beaten her to it.

“Jesus Christ, Kyle! Why do you have to be such a dick all the time? This is why no one likes you.”

Kyle turned and looked at the woman. Kat was shocked when he didn’t say anything nasty back to her; he just kept his hands in his pockets and his mouth shut and walked out of the room. Kat looked at the pretty redhead and said, “Wow! Can I have some of whatever kind of magic you used to shut his mouth?”

The woman laughed. “Well, first you’d have to date him and then…”

“Okay, stop there,” Kat said with a laugh.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

“I’m sorry…no…?”

“It’s okay, we met a really long time ago. We were both kids, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. Dax was teaching you how to ride and Cody and I hung out and watched a lot…”

“Oh my God! Harley?”

She laughed. “Yeah, here they call me Hannah, though, it’s a little more professional.”

“I get that, trust me. Wow, you…I mean you really…”

That time Harley threw her head back and laughed loudly. “It’s okay. I know I was quite the ugly duckling when I was a kid.”

“I want some of that magic too,” Kat said.

Harley rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re beautiful and this food smells great. Cody and I are together now. We have a beautiful little boy. He’s almost two.” It was hard to believe from looking at Harley’s trim waist that she’d ever been pregnant. She was wearing a dark green business suit with a pleated skirt and fitted jacket. The color was perfect for her and as she watched, Kat thought about how she’d kill for the other woman’s hard calves.

“That’s awesome,” Kat said. “From Kyle to Cody…you really upgraded there.”

Harley laughed. “Damn straight,” she said as she walked over and looked at what was on the dessert table as the prospects carried in more trays. They both said hello to Harley and she to them, and when Celia came back up, she and Harley exchanged a hug. When they all went back out to the van to get the last of the condiments and things, she went on to say, “So what is it about you that has Kyle’s panties all in a bunch?”

Kat smiled and said, “I used to date his brother.”

“Oh, poor you. Breaking into that Brady clan is a bitch. Which one did you date?”

“David.”

“Oh my gosh, I’ve never put it together that it was you that…” She trailed off. “I’m sorry, I have a big mouth.”

“It’s okay. Yes, I’m sure I’m the witch Kyle told you about. I’d like to say I’m reformed, but you’d only have to spend about ten minutes with me to know that was a lie.”

Harley giggled. “I like you. Reformed is not really my thing. Do you still ride?”

“Every chance I get.”

“Maybe we could hang out, take a ride together or something sometime. Gunner’s old lady Tammy is one hell of a rider too. Sometimes we ride up into the hills or down into town for a drink or two. Of course, while we’re on lockdown we’ll have to arrange it around the enforcers’ schedules.”

Kat smiled. She didn’t have many friends and none of them were female. She and Tammy had only met that once and Tammy seemed suspicious of her, but maybe Harley could be a buffer. “I’d like that,” she told her.

“Cool. Before you leave today I’ll get your number and if Kyle gives you any more shit, let me know.”

“Will do, thanks.”

Once Harley left, Kat and her staff finished getting things set up. When the executives began arriving for lunch, they were ready. As they ate, Kat and Celia made the rounds with iced tea and water pitchers, and more than one person told her how good the food was. Kyle didn’t compliment her, of course…but his plate was clean when she made the rounds with one of the prospects to pick them up. That said all she needed to know about what he really thought. The asshole even ate two desserts.

It was a long lunch and after more than two hours, as they began to file out of the room, most of them stopped, shook her hand, and told her how wonderful everything was. Kat wasn’t used to being praised, especially by people she considered “high class,” but she accepted their compliments graciously, thanking each one. Four different people asked her for a business card. She could have kicked herself. It was the one thing she hadn’t thought of yet. She wrote her information down for them, telling them her cards were on order.

Kyle was the last person in the line. Kat suspected he hung back, just so no one would hear him get in one last dig before he left. She almost had a cardiac arrest on the spot when he said, “That was pretty damned decent…Katrina.” Then he winked at her and said, “And you did a good job of disguising the arsenic in mine.”

Kat laughed and said, “If only…” When Kyle walked out the door, he was laughing. Kat wasn’t sure if they’d entered an alternate universe in the past two hours or not…but she wasn’t complaining.

* * *

Kat got back to the bar only two hours before opening. Dillon was nowhere in sight as she washed and scrubbed all the pots, pans, and serving trays she’d used that day. Celia had offered to stay and help her, but there was only one sink in the kitchen, so Kat thanked her and sent her on home. She wanted a nap, but if a little peace and quiet in the kitchen with her hands soaking in warm water was all she could get, she’d take it. Her mind went back over the day and all the compliments she’d gotten on her food. It gave her a warm feeling to think something she enjoyed doing so much was being appreciated by others. She had felt that way about the stuntwoman gig…at first.

She curled her lip as her mind went back to the day Dillon called and told her he was dying. That was how he’d put it. She’d been on set, on a break, and as soon as she picked up the phone he’d said,

“Hi, Kitty-Kat. It’s your daddy. I’m dying. I just called to say goodbye.”

Kat watched the action taking place across the movie set. She could hear the actress over the speaker as the male lay on his back on the pavement where Kat and her male counterpart had just had a motorcycle collision. He was moaning, and the actress was begging him not to die. Finally, his long eyelashes fluttered open and the fake blood ran down his face as he said, “I’m sorry, baby, but it’s time to say goodbye.” Kat wondered if Dillon had missed his calling and should be there in Hollywood instead of slinging alcohol on the Southside. “What are you talking about, Dillon?”

“My liver, it’s all ate up, and the doctor said I’m gonna die.”

Kat sighed. His liver being “ate up” was no surprise. She was about eight years old when she realized that it took him a little bit longer every night to stumble up the stairs after he closed the bar. Some nights, he crawled. “Today?” she asked, knowing it was mean, but unable to help herself.

“Maybe.”

“Dillon, please. You’re not going to die today and I’m in the middle of a scene here…I have to go. I’ll call you later to make sure you’re still alive and if you’re not, I’ll fly out and close up the bar, okay?”

“Why are you so mean? Do you not love me at all?”

Kat wasn’t going to talk about love with Dillon…or anyone else for that matter. “I have to go.”

“I love you, Kitty-Kat.”

“Bye, Dillon.” She hung up just as the director called her over.

“We’re going to do it again,” he said. “But this time I want you to hit the bike from the side as soon as Mitchell jumps off.”

“That’s not the way we rehearsed it,” she told him.

“I don’t care. It’s the way I want you to do it.”

“Mitchell’s already risking his neck, jumping off a bike that’s moving at fifty miles an hour. Hitting the bike from the front sends it in the other direction. If I hit it from the side, there’s a chance that it could spin and end up hitting him…”

“He’s a professional stuntman. He’s been doing this a lot longer than you, and he agreed to it.”

“What if I don’t?”

“Then you can get the fuck off my set, and good luck getting another job in this town.” Kat wanted so badly to tell him to shove it up his ass, but she had bills to pay. The other reason she didn’t just walk away that day was because that single job with that asshole director was likely to lead into dozens of others. She turned away quickly before her face gave her away, or her mouth opened and said something that her brain knew she shouldn’t. She went to gear back up and while she was doing that, she also found Mitchell.

“Hey, Mitch, please tell me you think this is as crazy as I do. We haven’t tried it this way. I don’t know what angle to hit to keep that bike from hitting you when it lands.”

“It’ll be okay, Kat. I’ll jump clear.”

“But…”

Kat liked Mitch, and she respected him. But he was fifty years old and directors had started using him less and less. He was getting more reckless as he aged, trying too hard to keep up. “It’ll be okay, Kat. Come on, let’s do this. I have a date tonight.”

An hour later, Mitch would be dead. Kat hit the street bike he was driving, just like she was supposed to. She was doing almost sixty miles an hour when he pulled it out in front of her. She watched him jump, just as she struck the side of it. The 700-pound bike flew up in the air and by the time she got hers under control and stopped, chaos had erupted.

Kat went home a few days later. Everyone who was there that day told her Mitch’s death wasn’t her fault. She did everything right. Mitch didn’t move fast enough and it almost looked like he’d panicked at the last second and moved in the wrong direction. But she couldn’t help but blame herself and worry that she’d hurt someone else. She told everyone she was going home to take care of her sick father. It was true…she just hadn’t believed how sick he really was until she got there. Now every moment of her life seemed to be about emotions she’d been stifling since she was a kid, and suddenly having to deal with them all was exhausting.