“Sweetie?” Her voice was filled with derision.
He threw her a crooked smile. “All part of the undercover assignment,sweetie.”
She groaned. “Do I have to call you some stupid, sappy nickname, too?”
“Only if you want to. You could make it something to show what you think of me. You know like Stud, Hotcakes, or how aboutBig Daddy?”
She looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or throw up at his suggestions.
“I know.” Her eyes gleamed. “How about Cuddlebunny?”
Was she serious? “Nah, Chris is fine.”
“ChrisMartin,though, right? Shaunessy is your real name?”
“It’s actually Christopher Martin Shaunessy. It’s easier to keep things simple when undercover if you can.”
“I picked Katie for a similar reason. One of my brothers calls me MaggieKate and I figured I would respond to it. Harrington, O’Hara, close enough. It’s worked for me so far.”
“It’ll continue to work until we can put Moreno behind bars.”
She finished off the last drop of juice in her glass. “Do you know how long that will probably take?”
He shook his head. “I don’t. More than a few days. These things need to be orchestrated perfectly. Miami PD has been after this guy for a long time. He’s got contacts everywhere and has a habit of getting off when charges are placed against him. Since his activities seem to be branching out into some even heavier stuff, they called us in to help them out. Some of these Miami PD guys have been undercover for almost two years.”
“Two years,” she screeched, her face going pale. “We may have to do this for two years?”
He reached over patting the hand resting next to her now empty plate. “I don’t think it’ll be anywhere near that amount of time. Don’t worry. There’s a lot of info on this guy already so it’s mostly keeping an eye on him and catching him with his pants down.”
“That should be easy for Mr. Moreno,” she spit out. “The man is an absolute pig. He probably has his pants down a lot.”
His body tensed and heat flooded through him. “Has he ever done anything…you know…to you? Forced you to…?”
“No,” she replied quickly and he breathed a sigh of relief. “He likes to touch and make overtures but he’s never pushed the issue. Though he’s certainly offered on numerous occasions. Keeps saying it would bring my debt down so much quicker.”
Chris nodded. “Look, why don’t you give me any information you already know about Moreno. I’ll line it up with what I have and we can go from there. I want to see who he discusses business with and who’s just a patsy to win money from.”
“That I can do,” she assured him. “And it’ll bring me one step closer to getting out of here.”
He glanced around feigning a hurt expression. “What, I give you all this and you still aren’t satisfied.Whateverdid I see in you?”
She pursed her lips grinning. “I’m sure it was my charming nature and sweet personality. They’re impossible to resist.”
Yeah, she was teasing, but somewhere deep inside he had to agree.
* * * *
“I still haven’t figured out if dough boy does actual business with Moreno or if he just uses the girls Moreno supplies for him.” Meg’s stomach revolted at the thought.
“Dough boy?” Chris quirked his eyebrow at her in confusion.
She chuckled pulling her legs up under her on the plush sofa. It was almost as comfortable as the bed. She wouldn’t feel too guilty that he was sleeping on this at night. “He’s a pasty white, fat man named Augustus Barone. He’s been around for about a year. He comes in most nights hanging out with a few others while they all hit on the waitresses. He’s only been invited into the backroom games for the past few months but he usually does this several times a week and almost always walks out with at least one of theladiesthat Moreno has hanging around the club.”
She cringed at the wordladies. By the expression on his face, Chris understood what she was talking about.
“Hookers.” He nodded typing a few more things on his laptop.
She splayed her hand daintily across her chest feigning offense. “Mr. Moreno calls them escorts. He insists they are merely keeping lonely businessmen company while they’re out of town.”
