I decided not to ask.
“Sure thing,” Dawn answered, clearly ever-helpful.
We walked down the hall and into Lee’s office, which was more of the same but with a bigger desk. I was shocked when I entered, it was obsessively neat and tidy. A sleek coffee mug sat on a leather coaster on the desk, the mug shiny clean. A laptop also was on the desk, closed and positioned perfectly at an angle to the side. Fancy leather and wood desk accessories adorned the top as well, but they were empty except for a pencil holder filled with perfectly pointed pencils and one folder sitting in the in tray.
“This is scary, you’re a neat freak,” I said.
Lee walked behind the desk, opened the laptop and hit a button. “Dawn keeps it like this.”
That was not surprising.
“I bet she does.”
Lee’s eyes came to mine. “I’m not exactly in the business that allows me to keep open files on my desk.”
Hmm.
Locking away confidential files is one thing. Keeping your boss’s designer coffee mug shiny clean is another. I gave myself one guess as to who bought Lee that mug and that guess was Dawn. I wondered if it was a thanks-for-the-great-sex gift or a wish-we-were-having-great-sex gift.
I didn’t answer Lee. I made a show of studying the cowboy print on the wall and decided not to tell him that it was likely that Dawn would clean his Crossfire with her toothbrush if he asked.
Knowing Lee, he probably already knew.
“She’s dating a Bronco linebacker,” Lee told me, as ever, in my brain.
“Un-hunh,” I told the wall.
There was a big difference between dating a guy who, on Sundays a couple seasons of the year, played at being a tough guy, badass while wearing pads and a guy who simply was a tough guy, badass. The linebacker may get big bucks but he was not the real thing and, anyway, Lee wasn’t hurting money-wise, that was certain.
When I looked back at Lee, he was studying the file but he had the eye-crinkle going.
I was amusing him.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
He didn’t even look up. “You’re jealous.”
As if!
“I am not!”
He shook his head but didn’t answer and kept scanning the file.
“Lee, if you think she doesn’t have the hots for you, you aren’t as clever as I thought. And if you’ve already screwed her, you really aren’t as clever as I thought.”
He closed the file, dropped it on the desk and moved around it, toward me.
“Dawn’s organized, cordial, always on time, willing to do overtime at a moment’s notice and doesn’t get flustered easily. I know she’s attracted to me but she’s my employee and she’s a good one. No way I’d touch her. You don’t shit where you live.”
He was backing me up across the office and doing his disarming straight talk thing. I had to admit I was a little pleased Lee hadn’t sampled his receptionist. Not only would it make things potentially difficult for me in future, it was tacky. Though, thinking about it now with a clearer head, she wasn’t his type.
“All righty then,” I said when the backs of my legs hit a leather couch.
His hand went to my jaw.
“You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“I wasn’t worried.” This was almost not a lie. Dawn was pretty but she was super-thin. Lee liked a woman with curves, always had and (hopefully) always would.
“No?” Lee asked, his eyes warm, his face wearing what had become a familiar soft look, a look I’d only ever seen him give to me.
Still, he didn’t believe me.
“You like booty, not bony. She’s pretty and all but not exactly your type,” I told him.
As if to prove me right, his hands went to my ass.
I pressed my hands against his chest. “Are we gonna do some of that kickass PI stuff now?”
Lee was leaning into me. “In a minute.”
I was having trouble staying upright, Lee was pressing into me, his hands on my behind, and he was looking at me with melty-chocolate eyes. His intentions were clear.
“Um, excuse me, but the door is unlocked, anyone can walk in and we have a renegade coffee guy to catch, we don’t have time for this. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking of fucking you on my couch.”
Holy crap.
I did a full body tremble, starting at the toes and going up.
“Lee! We have things to do, places to go, butt to kick and we’re in your office with Dawn just down the hall, for goodness sakes. What if she walks in with my stun gun?”
He let me go, walked to the door, locked it and came back.
I scooted away but he hooked my waist, pulled me back and gave me a bit of a shove so I fell to the couch. He followed me down.
“I can see why you haven’t found Rosie or the diamonds yet. You’re easily distracted.”
He was nuzzling my neck.
“Yeah, you’re distracting,” he agreed readily. “Not to mention, I rarely get into the office, I prefer being out in the field. I hate sitting in this office,” he said this to the space below my ear and then moved his head to brush his lips against mine. “From now on, when I have to be in here, I can look at this couch and remember having a piece of your sweet ass on it and the time will go a fuck of a lot faster.”
Yikes.
I should have been horrified, maybe, or offended. Instead I liked the idea of him thinking of me in his office, even that way or maybe especially that way. I liked the fact that he told me, matter-of-fact. It wasn’t a roses and champagne compliment but it worked all the same.
“Oh, all right,” I gave in on a sigh, wrapping my arms around him and he kissed me but I could swear I felt his body shaking, like he was laughing.
* * * * *
After we broke in his couch, I used his private bathroom while Lee checked his e-mail messages, made some phone calls and once I had all my clothes and hair back in order, we walked out of his office. He was going to give me a tour and he took me down the hall in the opposite direction to reception.
There were several doors and he opened the one next to his office. It was large, held an exercise bike, a treadmill, a set of free weights, a flat screen TV and a big, comfy couch.
“This is a room for downtime, waiting or on call.” This was all he said before he closed the door.
He turned across the hall and opened another door and I peered inside. It was a bathroom, two sinks under two mirrored medicine cabinets. There was a double-front, free-standing cabinet with glass doors showing one side stacked with towels, the other side holding male toiletries like shaving cream and deodorant (okay, that was all the male toiletries, but males don’t have a lot of toiletries and from what I noticed, Lee, nor any of his men, were into primping and putting shitloads of product in their hair) but was mostly taken up with various medical supplies (this I found slightly alarming but I set it aside). There was also a toilet in a stall and a big tiled space with two shower heads, open bays. All of this was pristine clean and new-looking.
He closed the door while saying, “When you’re in the office, you use my private bathroom. This is males only.”
I felt a weird thrill that he gave this instruction, using the word “when”. Maybe the next visit would include me walking down the hall when someone opened the door to the bathroom with open shower bays. Maybe I should bring Marianne here, it might change her life. I was beginning to think Dawn was a very clever girl (even though I still didn’t like her and definitely didn’t trust her).
“What does Dawn use?” I asked.
He gave me a look.
“Don’t know, don’t ask.”
We walked further down the hall, he opened the door to a small room that was lined with about a dozen lockers, a big, fireproof cabinet with an electronic lock and a kitchenette at the end. No explanation needed for this room and I was glad to know where I could find the coffee.
Then he turned and knocked twice on a d
oor, slid a fob across a pad on the side, a green light went on and he opened the door.
Woo hoo!
Now we were talking.
The nerve center.
We walked into a room with a bank of, like, a gazillion television screens on one wall each with a DVD recorder beneath it, underneath that a console full of buttons and knobs. There were several multi-line phones on the console. Another wall held radios stacked in inset shelves. I could hear the police-band squawking quietly. Two guys were sitting in the room but there were four chairs. Most of the television screens had visual, but a few were blank. Against the wall opposite the screens, there were a couple of desks that were a heck of a lot messier than Lee’s, with folders, papers, empty pop cans and dirty coffee mugs.
Huh.
I had my proof about Dawn.
Both men were sitting with their sides to the door, both men turned when we walked in and both men grinned when they saw me. I had the weird, uncomfortable feeling they both knew what happened in Lee’s office ten minutes ago.
“Indy, this is Monty and Vance, I think you boys know Indy.”
Say what?
“Hey, Indy,” Monty greeted. He had a blond military cut, a well-maintained body with a laid back posture and I was guessing he was about ten years older than Lee. He was still grinning at me and he lifted his hand and pointed a finger at a bank of four screens, all of which had visual on different angles of the inside of Fortnum’s.
Ah-ha.
Now I knew how Lee would think they’d know me.
Then I stopped thinking and watched in horror as Tex banged the portafilter on top of the espresso machine. Monty hit a button and the police band was drowned out by Tex’s voice shouting, “Fucking steam! Give me some more fucking steam, you monster!” Which was followed by Duke shouting, “It only gives as much steam as it gives, man!”
Wonderful.
Now I knew why they were both grinning at me.
I looked away from the current frightening goings-on at Fortnum’s to check out Vance.
Vance was younger than Lee, but I was guessing not by much. He had shiny, straight black hair pulled into ponytail, a lean body and fabulous bone structure and coloring of a Native American.
Oh, and he was seriously hot.
Yep, I was definitely going to have to bring Marianne here, and probably Andrea and more than likely, Tod.
It was like Chippendales but better.
I found myself captured by Vance’s good looks and watched as he and Monty exchanged glances over Tex and Duke’s exchange.
Vance’s lips were twitching. He thought Tex was funny.
Vance looked up to me and caught me staring. I gave him a tilty-head smile and he smiled back, all white teeth against dark skin.
“Hi,” I said to him.
His smile widened.
Mm, yum.
Lee’s hand curled into the waistband of my shorts.
Oopsie.
Monty and Vance turned back to the monitors and I looked at them too. There was an angle of the foyer of Lee’s condo building and his empty parking spot in the condo garage. There was also an angle of the reception area where Dawn was on the phone (likely tearing me apart to one of her girlfriends) and two screens showing the Nightingale Investigation parking spots. I was pretty much praying at that point that one of the blank screens didn’t show a visual on Lee’s office.
There were eight screens showing various things, mostly inside, some had people in them both at home and in offices.
Lee started talking. “We used to do security. Even though it paid well, it was boring as hell. Made employee retention difficult.”
“Won’t have a problem with retention if we keep monitoring your store. It’s like watching a sit com,” Monty said, his voice heavy on the amusement.
Great.
Monty turned to me. “We asked Dawn to do a transcript of your speech about El Salvador, Mom and Pop shops and the American way and we e-mailed it around. Hank isn’t even on the payroll and he was awarded honorary employee of the week for taking duty on you that day. I would have paid to see his face when he walked into that pot farm.”
Double great.
Not only did Dawn do the transcript, I could be sure she made certain to e-mail it to Lee.
Not to mention the fact that I was break in the day entertainment to Lee’s troops.
Lee let go of my shorts and said, “Fortnum’s will be wired for awhile and we need to get a camera on the front door.”
I looked back at him and his eyes were moving along the screens and I got the impression he didn’t miss a trick.
He briefly glanced at me then back to the screens. He was being professional but I also got the feeling he was ticked about something and trying not to let it show in front of the guys.
“Currently, we do mostly investigations, mainly corporate, embezzlement, fraud, theft. We pick up some domestic investigation, only high-income, usually gathering evidence to substantiate adultery or other incontrovertible grounds to get large alimony and settlements.”
“Usually poking the nanny,” Monty put in. “That’s fun to watch.”
“Depending on the nanny,” Vance spoke for the first time, his voice deep and rich, his eyes off the screens and on my legs, saying he wouldn’t mind watching me get poked if I was the nanny. I was also hoping he wasn’t communicating he didn’t mind just watching me get laid by Lee.
Yikes.
Though, you had to admit, he had balls checking me out in front of Lee.
Lee kept talking. “Staff does rotation in here, depending on what assignment they’re on. That way they don’t have to sit in a windowless room very often and can keep sharp doing field work.”
Lee started to move me to the door and I called, “Later, guys.”
Both looked at me, Monty gave a small wave, Vance grinned. I wondered if I would see the guys later, like, say, Lee had a company picnic.
“Do you have cameras in your office?” I asked Lee when he closed the door.
“Nope.”
Thank God.
“Tell me about Monty,” I went on.
“Monty’s an ex-SEAL, knee injury took him out, the only guy who takes five shifts in surveillance a week. He manages the room. He comes in if we have any field operations, most of which he plans because he’s good at it. He’s been married twenty years, has five kids and may look mellow but even with a bum knee, he’s a serious guy you do not want to mess with.”
Yikes.
“Field operations?”
“Sometimes, end work on a corporate investigation. Mostly when we work with the PD or Feds.”
“What do you do with the police and the government?”
Lee didn’t answer.
I didn’t push.
“And Vance?” I asked.
“Vance is the master of multi-tasking. He’s off the rez, a recovering alcoholic, ex-con, grand theft auto. He has quick hands, quiet feet, can make himself invisible, is an excellent tracker and can do anything with cameras and electronics. He usually traces skips but he also does a lot of our wire work. He wired Fortnum’s. I would have given him the new skip but he just bought himself a week in the surveillance room. As for you, if you look at him like that again, I’ll cuff you to the bed and only let you go for bathroom breaks.”
“Jeez, now who’s jealous?”
I said it out loud, but I meant to think it and might I add that this was a habit that was becoming alarming.
My comment was a big mistake.
Without warning, Lee’s hand closed on my upper arm, he opened the locker room door and pulled me inside. He slammed the door shut behind us, shoved me against the lockers and came up on me so there wasn’t room to move.
I looked up at him, about to say something but thought better of it because his face was Badass Angry.
“Something to learn about me, since you haven’t already taken it in,” he said in his scary, calm voice, “I recognize I’ll have to put up with you
receiving attention, I’ve no problem with that. I’ve had a lot of practice. What I don’t like is that you flirt as easily as you lie, it’s second nature. You’re gonna have to make an effort to stop because I don’t like it. I especially don’t like it when you do it with my men, they have to keep focused and we’ve already established you’re distracting. It’s okay for me to think of fuckin’ you on my couch. I don’t want it shoved in my face that Vance’ll be thinkin’ of fuckin’ you in the surveillance room or on his Harley which he no doubt saw you starin’ at like you’d do anything to be astride it.”
“So that’s Vance’s Harley,” I said. Yep. Aloud. Again.
Lee came even closer and his body pressed me back into the lockers.
“Lee, move back,” I warned, beginning to get pissed off.
He didn’t move.
So, I went into being full-fledged pissed off, wedged my hands between us and shoved.
He still didn’t move.
“It’s harmless,” I told him.
“Does it feel harmless to think of me workin’ late nights with Dawn?”
I blinked at him, confused. After the mind-bogglingly good time we had on the couch, I was way over any upset about Dawn.
“Well, yeah,” I said.
He stared at me, his face stony.
“For goodness sake, she’s not your type. Vance is cute, for certain, but he isn’t my type.”
“From a decade of keepin’ close watch, I wouldn’t say you had a type.”
It was my turn to stare at him, because that was just plain insulting.
Men were so stupid and Lee was at the top of the list.
I mean, didn’t he just admit this morning to reading my diary?
Didn’t he realize I only had one type and that type was him?
Wasn’t he the one who told me I was in love with him and I’d eventually admit it?
We were together. Finally. Liam and India together, even moving in for goodness sakes.
This was something I was going to have to get used to when I had time to wrap my mind around it. Truthfully, unlike nearly everything else in my life, it was coming naturally and it was one of those few things I didn’t have to process at length with Ally, Andrea or Tod and Stevie.
Did he honestly think I was going to screw it up by engaging in some by-play with one of his men?
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