“That’s not really personal information.”
“Okay, well, I’d like to use your services, but I’m not going to actually pay you any money. I mean,technically, my sister has already procured you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, right, you don’t know. Melody bid on you so I’d get some ‘vag action.’ And I realized today, she might be right, so I’d like to fuck you.”
“Jesus Christ, Lyric, no way in hell.” If she’d been able to stand on her own two feet, I would have put as much distance between us as possible, but I couldn’t in good conscience walk away and chance her falling.
“Why not?”
I guided her to a chair and helped her sit down and then walked to the other side of the office. “Because I’m not the committing kind.”
“I’m not looking for a commitment.”
“Baby, a woman like you isalwayslooking like a commitment.”
She frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“High class is always looking for commitment and you’re that in spades, Angel. You deserve nothing less. Someone to grow old with, kids, the whole nine.”
She smiled. “I appreciate that, Lincoln, but I’m not looking for commitment. It brings strings I don’t really want. I can’t have kids, so they have never been on the radar for me—”
“Why can’t you have kids?”
“Old injury.”
“What kind of injury would make you unable to have a kid?”
“I was stabbed.”
“What the fuck?” I snapped.
She waved her hand dismissively. “It was a long time ago, Lincoln. It’s done. I’m looking for stress relief and a little levity when I have a hard case. Or several orgasms when I want to bury a client. I work in a very small town and gossip runs rampant, so it would be nice to get that distraction outside of my current sphere of influence. So. Will you be my stress reliever?”
“No.”
“Are you already dating someone?” she asked, then frowned. “Although, why would you kiss me if you’re with someone else?”
“No.”
“Okay, so if you’re free, be free with me.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I countered. “Who got you the file on me?”
“My investigator.”
“And what’s he gonna do with the information?”
“Nothing.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, for one, he doesn’t store anything he gets for me. Unlike my counterparts, I don’t like digital footprints, so he prints everything out, pretty much without looking at it…much, anyway. He throws it into a file and hands it over.” She shrugged. “I mean, I suppose it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that he might save searches and such, but, unless you’re someone he needs to get something from, I can’t imagine why he would. This was a personal, off the books request.”
I scowled. “Don’t like people knowing my business, Lyric.”
“No one does. I mean, at least, that you don’t want to.”
