“Only if you don’t want to see me again.”
He blinked in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected me to say such a thing. I’d surprised myself too, but I wasn’t going to take back my words. I did want to see Tucker again, and not just for a repeat performance of everything we’d done last night. I actuallylikedthe vampire. He was smart and witty and had a dry sense of humor that matched my own.
“You wish to continue our…association?” he asked.
“Don’t you?” I countered. “Because it seemed like we both had a pretty good timeassociatingwith each other last night.”
“More than justpretty good, Ms. Parker. Don’t sell yourself short. Why, I would go so far as to use words likesuperbandstupendousto describe our associating.”
Pleasure hummed through me at the compliments. “Aw, Mr. Tucker, you flatter me.”
“I do try, Ms. Parker.”
He grinned at me, and some of the awkwardness between us faded. My phone let out another warning chirp.
“But for right now, I really do have to go.” I hesitated. “Can I…call you later?”
He nodded. “I would like that very much.”
I hesitated again, then kissed his cheek and left the suite. The softclickof the door shutting behind me boomed as loudly as a crack of thunder in the quiet corridor.
I stood there, staring at the smooth wood, wondering if we would actually keep the promises we’d just made to each other or if this was really an ending rather than a beginning.
I shookoff my doubt and melancholy, left the resort, and went home. By the time I took a shower, changed clothes, and drove over to the shipping yard, it was almost noon and time for my first interview of the day.
Karlotta Valdez was sitting at her desk, typing on a keyboard, when I stepped into the office. She was a lovely woman, in her fifties, with short, curly black hair, ebony skin, and brown eyes. Red glasses perched on the end of her nose, the color a perfect match to her stylish pantsuit and glossy lipstick.
Karlotta pointedly looked up at the clock on the wall, then back over at me. “You’re cutting it close. The first interview is supposed to be here in less than fifteen minutes.”
“I know, I know, I’m running late.” I placed a cup on the end of her desk, along with a large box. “But I did bring you a peppermint mocha from the Cake Walk, along with a box of those raspberry cream-cheese Danishes you like so much.”
Karlotta sniffed. “As if I can be bought off with a coffee and some pastries.”
“Well, if you don’t want them…”
She scooted both the coffee and the box out of my reach. “I didn’t say that.”
Karlotta cracked open the box, grabbed a Danish, and sank her teeth into the pastry. “Mmm. Scratch that. I can definitely be bought off with a coffee and some pastries.”
She saluted me with the Danish. I grinned and headed into my office. My gaze landed on the fresh pile of manila folders on my desk. I sighed and trudged forward. I needed to review the résumés before folks started arriving for their interviews—
Crack!
Once again, I slammed my knee into the side of that stupid filing cabinet. Pain spiked through my leg, and curses spewed out of my mouth. I drew my leg back to kick the offending metal when I noticed just how far out of line the cabinet was with all the others.
Almost like something was wedged in between it and the wall.
Dimitri Barkov and his crew robbed a fancy jewelry store…millions in diamonds… Dimitri bragged to me that he still had the stones hidden in his office. Clyde O’Neal’s voice whispered through my mind.
Given everything that had happened with Tucker last night, I’d forgotten what Clyde had revealed about why he’d wanted my shipping yard so badly and the treasure that might still be in here, just waiting for me to find it.
Pain forgotten, I grabbed my phone out of my purse and turned on the flashlight app. Then I crouched down and shone the light behind the filing cabinet. Surely, Dimitri Barkov had picked a better, more discreet and creative hiding place than this…
Nope. Dimitri hadn’t been the smartest man in Ashland either. The light landed on a black leather briefcase that was wedged in between the cabinet and the wall. Excitement surged through me. It took me several hard, determined yanks, but I finally pried the briefcase out of its hidey-hole. The motion made me stagger backward, and this time, I rammed my other knee into the side of the desk. Another string of curses spewed out of my mouth.
“Lorelei?” Karlotta’s voice drifted through my closed office door. “Are you okay?”
“Fine!” I yelled. “Just moving some furniture around.”
