“What?” I asked.
“I asked Isla to look into YaYa.”
Isla was our go-to investigator. I’d been trying to hire her exclusively for years, but she was a bit of a loner and didn’t want to be tied down, so she ran the show her way and I just had to live with it. The issue was, she could be…well…a hardass. Great when she had to defend herself, but not so great when I needed finesse.
“Goddammit, Ripley, no. Call her off.”
“Wy—”
“Call. Her. Off.” I pushed away from my desk and skirted around her, opening my door and waving my hand. “Now.”
“Fine.” She sighed. “Forgive me for trying to help you get back the man you love.”
“I never had him. I also don’t love him, so the point is moot.”
“Right, you keep telling yourself that,” she retorted, stepping out of my office. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
I closed my door without a response and sat back at my desk.
* * *
The next morning, my appointments took me back to Flick’s and I glanced around the parking lot as I pulled into a space at the front of the building. No bikes, so I relaxed and headed inside.
“Wyatt!” Mercedes called. “Girl, where the heck have you been?”
I smiled. “Sorry, honey. I’ve been super busy. How are you?”
“Great. You missed your man again.”
“Oh, well,” I retorted, trying for breezy and nonchalant, even though my heart raced.
“Iced coffee to go?”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”
After managing to engage in small talk for a few minutes while Mercedes made my coffee, I headed back to my car, slamming into a hard body just as I hit unlock on my key fob.
Coffee went flying, soaking both me and the person I’d just run into.
“Jesus,” the deep voice hissed.
I looked up with a squeak and froze.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped, patting my silk blouse with a napkin. Not that it would do any good. It was ruined.
“I could ask the same of you,” Sundance growled, trying to wipe the coffee off his jacket.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I have a meeting, which I’m going to have to postpone so I don’t walk in looking like a homeless person.”
“You meetin’ with Sonja?”
“What?” I asked, exasperated.
“You pissed your little plan didn’t work?”
“What plan?” I asked.
He smirked and I saw red.
