by KC Burn
RILEY STOOD on the sidewalk outside Alberto’s. His conversation with Alisha had killed some time, but he was still fifteen minutes early. Maybe they had a bar he could wait at. One drink shouldn’t impair his ability to control himself.
He sucked in a deep breath and peered at the shiny glass front, confirming his reflection was tall, blond, and well-dressed, instead of the short, nerdy, braces-on-teeth and bespectacled face that he’d been around Tad in high school.
His new image gave him a tiny boost of confidence, and he walked into the restaurant.
The bar was more crowded than the restaurant, which wasn’t a surprise. Most places offered happy-hour specials every weekday. Riley was still able to get a stool at the bar. The bartender winked at him and came over immediately to serve him, reinforcing his confidence.
When his wine came—also in flatteringly record time—Riley took a large mouthful and swallowed, letting some of the tension of the day drain away. Arriving early wasn’t so bad, even though he was alone.
Shit. He’d completely forgotten about his plans to visit Aaron after work. Not that there would have been enough time to head over to Aaron’s place even if he hadn’t stopped to chat with Alisha, but he couldn’t believe one conversation with Tad pushed all other thoughts out of his head.
Tomorrow. He’d go visit Aaron tomorrow, for sure.
With the glass of Chianti at his side, Riley pulled out his phone and started playing a game to help pass the time.
“Hey.”
Riley looked up, startled, to find Tad well inside his personal space. “Oh, hi.” Breathlessness was not an improvement over asking his name like a question. The bar was simply crowded. That had to be the explanation for Tad’s pulse-raising proximity.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Riley tucked his phone away. “I, uh, hadn’t realized.” Although he should have. He’d passed a level in his game and almost finished his Chianti.
“I’m not sure if that’s good or not,” Tad teased.
God. For Riley’s self-preservation, Tad needed to knock off the good-natured likable shit and start acting like a hard-hearted detective, or Riley really was going to do something stupid, like become infatuated all over again.
“Well, you complained last time that your job had challenges. You should be happy I can entertain myself if you get delayed.” Riley, what the fuck? He’d have to settle for a metaphorical smack on the forehead. He wasn’t out to prove he’d make good relationship material. And for the six millionth time, they weren’t dating.
“That is a good thing.” Tad’s voice lowered to a deep rumble that Riley felt in his balls. Which really wasn’t fair. Maybe Tad was just fucking with his head, messing with the gay guy for a laugh, but if Tad had been capable of that sort of maliciousness, Riley would have experienced it in high school.
He shouldn’t have had the glass of wine. The alcohol was starting to dissolve his hastily built defenses against a grown-up and blindingly attractive Tadeo Martin.
“There’s no wait for tables. Did you want to go eat or have another drink?”
“Let’s eat.” No more booze for him tonight.
Tad led the way to their table, and as Riley had feared, it was every bit as cozy and romantic as he’d remembered.
The round table in a half-circle booth hadn’t felt this small when he’d been here last. But then, he hadn’t been worried about the consequences of touching the man he’d been with.
Riley slid into the booth, doing his best to stay close to the edge without falling off. Tad, on the other hand, sat on his side of the booth and sprawled. Riley might have an inch or two on Tad in height, but Tad was wider and seemed to take up all the air in the vicinity.
The waiter came to take their drink order, and Tad ordered a cranberry and soda.
“I’ll have the same,” Riley said. Slightly more interesting than water, and absolutely no alcohol.
The waiter left, and Tad shifted so he could look at Riley better. “You can have another glass of wine if you’d like. Just because I’m not drinking doesn’t mean you can’t.”
So tempting to ask coyly if Tad was trying to get him drunk. Riley was a damned job for Tad. He wished it was easier to remember that.
Instead, he laughed nervously. “That’s okay. One drink on a work night is pretty much my maximum.” Not that Shaun hadn’t convinced him otherwise on occasion, but going into work hungover was never fun, and much less so after he’d hit thirty.
Riley hid himself in his menu, but it didn’t take long to decide what he wanted. Fortunately, the waiter returned with drinks before things got too weird, and took their order.
“How was your day?” Tad asked.
“I found out—”
Tad waved his hand. “No, no. I mean how was your day? I know it had to be difficult going back to work. Or… they didn’t give you the boot because your boss died, did they?”
Riley heaved a sigh. Tad seemed determined Riley wouldn’t escape with his sanity intact.
“No, I’m still there for the foreseeable future.” He’d get into specifics once Tad had his notebook out. “And you’re right. It was… tough. Gabrielle had a lot of energy. She was a force to be reckoned with, and there was a distinct emptiness in the office today.”
“I understand. And I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this.” Tad moved as though he were going to pat Riley’s hand, but then he didn’t and Riley wondered if he’d imagined it.
“Thanks. And your guys left quite a mess in the office.” Riley smiled, hoping to lighten things up a bit.
Tad rolled his eyes. “Oh I know. You didn’t have to clean that all up, did you?”
“I suppose I could have called in a cleaning service, but I had to refile all of the files that were out anyway. Get things prepared for whoever takes over. It just made sense that I do the cleaning as well.”
“Oh. That’s rough.”
Riley didn’t mention the death chair. He wasn’t sure he was up to joking about that yet.
“What about your day? Everything go okay?” So much for Riley’s hope it wasn’t going to get weird. Brunch yesterday, dinner today, and asking about each other’s day. This felt like the beginning of a promising relationship rather than cooperating in a homicide investigation.
Did all of Tad’s witnesses and possible suspects get this sort of treatment?
Tad smiled at him. “Could have been better. Emma’s still being a bear, but she hasn’t caved yet. But a couple of our cases are dragging on, leads fizzling out.”
There was a short pause before Tad continued. “So, what sort of things do you do for fun?”
Riley blinked. This was seriously fucking with his head. “Uh. Gaming mostly.”
“Like, video games?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes, sure. But I meet up with a bunch of guys and we play board games, like strategy ones. Sundays mostly, but sometimes other days too.”
“You mean like Monopoly?” Tad grimaced. “I hated playing that. My oldest brother, Lucas, always insisted we play to the bitter end, even though the last half of the game everyone knew who was going to win. I usually preferred playing street hockey or football or something.”
Or lacrosse, but Riley bit back yet another comment that might let Tad realize they sort of knew each other. “No, no. Not like that. They’re more strategic, less dice oriented. Often called European style.” Riley clamped his lips shut. He could talk about games for hours. Then again… this wasn’t actually a date. “There’s a café called Coffee and Conquer not far from here where you can eat, get coffee, or have a beer while you play.”
“Really? I’ve seen that place. And the café has these games there?”
Riley nodded. “They have a bunch, sure. Sometimes we bring our own, though. Sometimes we play role-playing games.”
Tad’s eyebrow lifted. “You don’t say. And they allow that in this café? I might have to drop a tip about this place to the Vice squad.”
“Not that
kind of role play,” Riley sputtered. Although he’d been to a couple of those clubs over the years too. “Like Dungeons & Dragons. We run a campaign once a month.”
“Nah, I know about that, I was just pulling your chain. I didn’t realize people still played that, though. There was a group of guys in high school who played all the time.”
Blood heated his face so much his ears started sweating. There had only been one group who’d played D&D in their high school, and Riley had been in that group. One more thing Tad’s friends had bullied them about. And the last thing he wanted to do was hear how Tad really felt about Riley’s band of geeks.
Seeing Tad again stirred up so much emotional muck from high school, garbage he thought he’d long since buried. He was thirty-one, for fuck’s sake. He shouldn’t care, and yet, he hadn’t changed much. Inside, at least.
“Anyway, yeah. If I ever wanted a permanent job, I’d want to open one of those board game cafés. I’d get to order all the new games as they came out, be one of the first to see how they worked.” There was something almost magical about opening a new game, punching out the cardboard game pieces. Riley liked the ones with lots of fiddly pieces, although most of his gaming group didn’t enjoy them as much because setting up the game and putting it away took such a long time.
Tad laughed. “Owning board game café as a life goal? That’s the first time I’ve heard that. Awesome.”
The heat in Riley’s face receded somewhat. At least Tad wasn’t making fun of him for such a weird dream. And that’s all it was, really. He wasn’t sure if the downtown area needed another board game café, and honestly his job, even as a temp, was far more stable than running a retail food-and-beverage establishment, however much fun it would be. He’d never mentioned that particular idea to anyone before, but desperation to redirect the path of the conversation made other things leap out of his mouth.
“So what about the gym? Ever go there?” Tad asked.
Like Riley had forgotten for half a second that he was talking to a jock turned cop. “Sure I go, but not for fun.” Exercising was a necessary chore.
“Huh. It can be fun. We should go together sometime.”
What? Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Castle, and Flashpoint had completely failed to prepare him for this situation.
Their food came, saving Riley from having to reply, and Tad shifted in his seat again. This time his leg, muscular and warm, pressed heavily against Riley’s thigh. The unexpected contact sent a zing through his veins. Tad’s entire body radiated heat that warmed Riley’s skin all along his right side. If he relaxed at all, more of their bodies would end up touching, but if he moved away, he’d fall right off his seat. Did Tad not realize how close they were sitting? Completely against Riley’s better judgment, he was getting hard. Probably because that useless piece of flesh didn’t have anything resembling good judgment.
Riley had no idea what he’d ordered. Holding himself motionless to avoid drawing attention to their touching thighs took a ton of concentration. On top of that, he needed to respond intelligently to Tad’s questions and occasionally volley a question back without sounding as though lust had swamped him. There was no brainpower left over for anything else. He simply ate by rote, and at some point both of their plates were empty.
Tad shifted again, rubbing their legs together, and Riley almost moaned.
“Can I get you anything else? A dessert menu?” The waiter gathered up their empty dishes as he spoke.
Tad turned to Riley. “Do you like tiramisu?”
“Uh, yes, but I don’t really need any dessert.” What he needed was to go home and jerk off and then maybe check the news, make sure he hadn’t dropped into some sort of alternate reality.
“Good. Don’t bother with the menus, just bring an order of tiramisu with two spoons.”
Stunned into silence, Riley stared at Tad. Who did that? People on dates did that. People in relationships did that. Why was Tad fucking with him?
The waiter nodded and left; then Tad slid out of the booth and got to his feet. “Gotta hit the bathroom. Back in a few.”
Great. Now Riley was wondering if his “date” was going to ditch and leave him crying in the tiramisu he hadn’t ordered, stuck paying the bill.
Riley sat up straighter. That might have happened once or twice before he had Shaun help him reinvent his look, but he could probably go home with the bartender at this very restaurant if he wanted. Which he didn’t, but Tad wasn’t running out—hell, they hadn’t even gotten to the notebook portion of the “date.”
Before the turmoil in his brain settled, Tad returned, followed shortly by the waiter, who set the dessert down with a flourish.
Tad dove in first. “That is so good. Maybe it’s a bit of a stereotype for a cop, but I could drink coffee all day, and I love tiramisu and coffee ice cream. Coffee chocolates.”
“Uh-huh. I think what I’m hearing is someone using a stereotype as an excuse for a sweet tooth.” If Tad was going to act like they weren’t here for business, then Riley was too.
“Maybe.” Tad laughed. “Are you going to try it?”
Riley could smell the creamy goodness. Screw it. He picked up his spoon and swiped a mouthful. “Oh. That is good.”
“And sharing sweets is how I keep the spare tire at bay.” Tad patted his extremely flat stomach.
“Uh-huh. I’m sure finding the gym fun has nothing to do with it.”
Tad gave him a bashful grin.
Alternate reality. It was the only logical explanation.
Bite by bite, the tiramisu disappeared, and they laughingly fought over the very last bit.
Tad patted his stomach again. “Wow, that was great.”
Riley agreed, even though he still couldn’t recall what he’d eaten before the tiramisu. He was seconds from asking if Tad wanted to go get coffee or come back to his place when Tad pulled out the infamous notebook and pen.
Oh, right. Not a social occasion.
“Why do you use a notebook? I mean, wouldn’t a tablet or something work better?” At least in this day and age.
“Tablets have some advantages, sure. But I never have to worry about my notebook’s battery running low or the screen breaking. I do take photos of my notes and type up more detailed information later on.”
Huh. All those shows sort of skimmed over that aspect of it. Detectives could probably use admin assistants every bit as much as CEOs. Maybe more.
“Right. Well, you asked about my day earlier. I was expecting to either be cut loose today or maybe given a week or two to help wind up Gabrielle’s work. But that’s not what happened. I mean, you might know all this, but… actually, I guess it’s still confidential until tomorrow.” Shit. If that meeting with HR hadn’t been postponed, this would be company-wide knowledge.
“I told you before I’d keep your identity confidential. And I’m not planning to call a press conference about whatever this is.”
Riley was going to drown in these murky ethical waters. “There’s a meeting tomorrow. After that, it’ll be common knowledge.”
Tad nodded. “Okay, then. Tell me now, then text me tomorrow as soon as they’ve pulled the trigger on this. I won’t act before that.”
“Thank you.” That eased his conscience. “Gabrielle’s husband had been offered a contract to come on board as a VP, equivalent level to François and Floriana. He started today, and HR says the contract’s binding even though Gabrielle’s dead.”
“That is very interesting. And let me guess, they want you to finish your contract out as Cody’s assistant.”
Riley blinked. “Yes. That’s exactly it. I said you might know this all.”
“Nope. Educated guess.”
Huh. Not that he’d had a reason to think otherwise, but this was pretty clear evidence Tad was good at his job.
“If François or Floriana didn’t know the details of his contract, this might make motive.”
“They didn’t know about Cody being hired at all. Mattie told me
Gabrielle insisted it be kept secret. Floriana apparently didn’t even know about the creation of the new department.”
“But François did?”
“As VP of Finance, he had to make sure the money was available.”
Tad scratched on his notebook, angling it so Riley couldn’t casually peek at what he was writing. “Mattie who?”
“Mattie Tran, head of Human Resources.”
More scratching. “Well, all we know for sure is that Mattie and Cody believe François and Floriana are in the dark. But it’s possible either or both found out this secret. Thank you. Was that everything?”
“No. Not exactly. While I was cleaning Gabrielle’s office, I noticed one of her containers of tea was missing. I don’t know if maybe the crime scene guys took it with them for some reason.”
“Hmmm. I think they took samples of everything, but I don’t believe they’d have reason to take a whole container. Are you sure it’s missing? Maybe Gabrielle used it up and threw it out.”
Riley considered that for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. It’s one of her favorite flavors—lapsang souchong—and I know it was in the caddy just after lunch on Friday because I made some for her.”
Tad pulled out his phone and scrolled around a bit. “Here. This is her schedule for Friday. Can you pinpoint when?”
Wow. Tad really hadn’t been kidding about taking pictures of everything. A tablet would be easier to view some of this stuff on, but then again, a tablet wouldn’t fit as well in his pocket.
Riley skimmed through the calendar. “Here. She had a meeting with one of the wholesale distributers at one. I made tea for them; Gabrielle had a cup then. The two representatives from the distributers had assam. Then she had a meeting with all of the senior executives and staff throughout the afternoon. She had more tea, but either she or the staff made it. I just know there were additional cups to be cleaned, so I don’t know if anyone used the lapsang after that or if it was still in the caddy.”
“This is good stuff. I’ll follow up with the CSIs.”
The bill came and Riley wasn’t quick enough to grab it. Tad merely smirked at him and dropped some cash. “Want to go grab a coffee?”
