“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” Will laughed putting up his hands. “Come on—it was there. I had to.”
Cole gave him the finger.
“Okay, so you don’t hook up with him. You just get him all hot and bothered, tell him to bring bananas and a hairnet, and then grill him or whatever?”
“Pretty much.”
“Including the bananas and the hairnet?”
Chuckling, Cole said, “Wouldn’t be the worst thing I’ve ever told him to bring.”
“Oh,really?Do tell.”
“No.” Before Will could plead for more details, Cole barreled on. “I’ll set up a profile when we’re out of the car. And we’ll make travel arrangements once I know where he is.”
“Once you know—oh Jesus. He uses the same Grindr profile over and over? With the location settings turned on?”
“Hey, he might be rich, and he might know art, but that’s about the extent of it. Dude haszerosurvival skills.” God, he irritated Cole. As much as the man’s stupidity made him easy to find and confront, it pissed him off. Especially because it never seemed to backfire and blow up in the asshole’s face. Stupidity and recklessness to that degree should come withconsequences, damn it.
“What if Marcus has given him a heads-up?” Will asked. “Told him to be cautious?”
“I doubt it. Marcus, for all he’s a—what did you call him?”
“A taint barnacle.”
“Right, for all he’s a taint barnacle, he is actually smart. And he probably knows that if Jacques-Louis suddenly changes his habits or cranks up his security, people will notice.”
“Hmm.” Will fidgeted, tapping his nails on the armrest. “Maybe? But Jansen thinks Marcus is going to sell Campeau the Puffin and trust him to keep it on the DL until things quiet down. So he can’t be completely stupid, can he?”
“Not completely,” Cole agreed. “But even then, he’ll keep up his sloppy habits once he has the Puffin because otherwise, law enforcement and thieves alike are going to come sniffing around.”
“True.” Will was blessedly quiet for a moment. “All right, then. Grindr profile, seduction, and… going to wherever Campeau is, I guess.”
“There’s still time to bail if you’re not in.”
“No, there isn’t.” Will turned an obnoxiously sweet grin on Cole. “Because I know the plan and the details, so I’d be a liability if I bailed.”
Cole gritted his teeth. “That’s less of an argument to keep you around and more one to hurl you off the George Washington Bridge on my way out of town.”
“Pfft. Please.” Will pressed back in his seat, looking so pleased with himself, Cole wanted to slap him. “Like you’d ever subject yourself to that traffic, even if it was so you could kill me.”
Cole gripped the wheel tighter and glared straight ahead.
And he had to admit… Will was right.
CHAPTER 7
Cole had an obscenely comfortable couch. It was nice enough that once Will slouched down on it, he didn’t want to move. It had been a long few days and even longer nights, and he’d gotten all of negative sleep last night while he was running around fucking things over for lawyers so that Cole could get in to see Jansen. Now that he was stationary, it was quite possible he’d never be able to move again.
Naturally, the owner of the couch disagreed.
“Get off,” Cole said as he walked back into the room post-shower, his hair sleek in that freshly combed way and his general aura smelling of something cool and masculine. He’d changed into a pair of sweats and a Henley that probably cost more than Will’s last take was worth, and God he looked pretty.
Fussy as hell, but pretty.
“No can do.” Will pressed back even deeper into the soft leather. “It’s got me! I’m trapped! I think your couch is my new best friend.”
“You admit your best friend is an inanimate object.”
