[ First off, he'd told the moron to shut up three times before pulling the gun. Second, he shot him in the kneecap — which still wasn't the best option, he could admit that in hindsight, but it's not as if he killed the guy. Geez.

Third, it's the corporate hackery is what makes all of this possible. What allows Rafe to choose where to dig and when and without bowing and scraping to someone's purse strings noosed around his neck. Never mind that since taking the reins... He's good at it, still surprised by the discovery. Enjoys it even, on a good day when he can outmaneuver the entire field and come out on top. ...Rafe tries not to think about those days too much. ]

I'm tense because there's still a possibility of bullets flying until this gets sewn up, [ comes the reminder in a specific flavor of "duh" as he fishes out his phone to skim a half dozen new messages from Rivera. Distractedly, ] Besides, never got around to it. I was busy.

[ Which is...nominally true. He hadn't been sitting on his ass with caviar and Moët for three days. But it'd been three days and if he tried to say that work precluded pleasure then Harry wouldn't be in the jeep with him right now. At close of business, it'd just seemed superfluous to bother and if he ended up horny then there was always Flynn waiting for him. Logic, cold and simple. ]