The phone call for the bid could not have come at a better time. If we could earn enough from this project, we would buy more time to wait for our mate to find us. I still believed that she was out there somewhere, and Fate would see how hard we were working to create a happy home for her.
“Wow, this place is big.” York leaned forward in the front passenger seat to stare through the windshield. One of our purchases when we started our new business was a crew cab truck equipped with locking toolboxes and all the bells and whistles we thought a contractor should have. Then we stocked it with the tools. The whole thing was a significant investment, but worth it. A necessary expense.
And, as Lyon steered up the drive, I couldn’t help but agree. “Their request for the bid implied it was large. I guess it was accurate.” The driveway curved past the front door, and Lyon stopped in front of it.
Before he could turn off the engine, there was a man in a suit at each of the truck front doors. The one on the driver’s side made a rolling motion with his hand.
“I think he wants you to roll it down,” York said helpfully.
“I got that.” Lyon did as requested and asked, “Yes?”
“You can’t park here. This is private property.” The suited man, tall, somehow clearly muscular even under the jacket, scowled into the truck. “Why are you even here?”
“We have an appointment to give a bid for some construction work.”
The gorilla shook his head. “Impossible. There’s an event later on, and even if you do have an appointment, it could not possibly be today.”
York had also rolled his window down by this point, enabling the other gorilla to demand, “Who sent you?”
I’d had enough and opened the back door, stepping out on the driver’s side. As big as the guys were, the one facing me was still an inch or two shorter than me. I liked that. While the bodyguards closed on me, my friends also climbed out and stood by the truck, watching me for a hint as to what we should do.
“Hands on the truck,” barked the first gorilla.
I shrugged. “All right. Do what they say and maybe we can get this all resolved.” Standing while they patted me down, I began to understand some of the demands in their contact form. If not for the fact that we really needed this job at this moment, I’d have directed my friends to return to the truck and leave.
But to do so would be to condemn Lyon to that office again, at least for a time. I would do a lot to avoid that. But the price just went up 20 percent in my mind.
“They’re clean,” the first gorilla snarled. “Let’s just get them off the property before the boss finds out they were ever here.”
“He would not be happy to know strangers can just drive on in,” his co-gorilla agreed.
I’d had enough. Money was great, we needed it, but I had no intention of being talked about as if we were not even present to hear their BS. Fishing out my phone, which they had not apparently even felt in my pocket, I swiped a couple of times then held it out to the gorilla brothers. “Guessing he will be less happy if you send away those he summoned”—he seemed like a summoning kind of guy—“without checking with him.”
“Let me see that.” Gorilla One snatched it from my hand and read the screen. I refrained from commenting on my amazement that he could read. “Shit. They do have a meeting this afternoon. Why didn’t you say so?”
We had. They knew it. I held my silence, as did the other guys.
“You’re going to be late,” Gorilla Two said. “Boss hates that.”
“I’ll be glad to explain to him that our tardiness is because his security was extra diligent,” I offered.
They both paled.
“Or, if you will stop the attitude, I might say that we hit traffic.”
“Right this way, sir.” They managed to say it at the same time.
I managed not to laugh.
Gorilla One spoke into his wrist—a big-time spy device, or maybe just an Apple watch—and a moment later, we found ourselves in the foyer.
The house was every bit as fancy as I’d expected. Maybe more so. Marble floor, unnecessarily high ceilings, tall windows, and the furniture I could see from here had to have cost a small fortune. Before I had a chance to form any more of an opinionbesides rich and probably overdone to show off, I tipped my head back, a scent filling my nostrils.Mate. Here.
My bear knew. As did I. Softly floral with a back note of something woodsy, it was her. A glance at Lyon and York showed me they scented her too.
“Gentlemen. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” The man who spoke to us had come from somewhere deeper in the house. He had black hair, slicked back, and wore a suit my years of office dwelling told me was more than designer. It was made for him. “We need an upgrade to one of the suites for my lady. I’ll show you the way.”
Mark Funizzi, the person who had requested the quote, walked us up a wide flight of stairs and down a hallway, entering a large bedroom. A woman waited there. Blonde and fit with breasts that threatened to escape her low-cut, clinging knit dress. She explained how she wanted her bedroom and en suite “fixed up,” while Lyon made notes on the clipboard he carried to every job. To our relief, the scent did not come from the guy’s wife, so it must be someone who worked there.
