Let Them Try Harder

Diego watched Rick with a calm but studious eye. "We should consult your computer and look for a place at the beach."

Rick put the knife and sheath on the table, then divested himself of the gun and holster from his hip. "I'd rather look at your ass, but if you insist." He took a seat at the table and took the computer from its case. Patting his knee while the laptop booted, he grinned. "This way I can do both at the same time."

"Dirty old man." Diego eased off the bed and perched on Rick's lap. Rick had showed him how to operate the laptop a single time, and Diego had mastered the technology as if he'd been around computers forever. In short order, Diego found his way to a popular real estate site specializing in beach rentals. "Perhaps we can find something with a Jacuzzi and a sunroom."

Peering over Diego's shoulder, Rick pointed at one of the houses on the screen. "How about this one? No sunroom, but I like the layout of the place."

The rental house, squat in shape and situated at the end of a cul-de-sac, had a white stucco exterior and an airy kitchen, with palm trees on all sides of the small structure. There would be few cars other than those belonging to neighbors, and any unusual traffic would be immediately noticed.

Diego nodded. "I like it. Nice and quiet, and very close to the beach."

"Done." Rick leaned around Diego and danced his fingers over the keyboard, leaving a fictitious name and the number of the prepaid cellular phone he'd picked up at a drugstore in St. Louis. "I'll call my lawyer in the morning and let him know; he'll make the arrangements for us under the bogus corporation he set up for me. My legal name isn't attached, so it'll be next to impossible for Steve and his new friends to track me via a trail of money." Rick kissed Diego on the shoulder and chuckled. "Last time we spoke, I told him I took back every unkind thing I've ever said about lawyers."

"I don't know much about the ways of humans and their money, but we do have a special level of hell for attorneys." Diego closed the laptop. He turned around on Rick's lap, straddling him, sucking Rick's lower lip and licking with a delicate tongue. "You owe me dessert."

Rick ran his hands down Diego's arms, an unhurried petting from shoulders to wrists. "Anything specific in mind? I'm afraid I'm fresh out of pie."

The light touches made Diego shiver and woke the soft flesh pressed against Rick's denim-clad thighs. Diego popped the button on Rick's jeans and eased the zipper down. "I'm sure there's something in your pantry I can sink my teeth into."