I would have taken care ofhim. It wasn’tas though I had anyone else in my life to look after.
“Arse,” I said after adramatic pause, grinning at him as he passed me a milky coffee with threesugars, the only way coffee rose to the level of drinkable. I much preferredtea, but I could see the value in the extra hit of caffeine of a morning.
“I do love the way you say that,”Miles admitted as he passed Gray his hot chocolate and first pick of thedonuts, which was fair enough. They were sweet together. Sweet enough to makemy stomach ache watching them sometimes.
I was happy to see Grayhappy. Always. He deserved Miles more than most people deserved anything.
Ididn’tdeserve someonelike Miles to come home to, but I still would have liked it. Hookups weren’t particularlyfulfilling, even if they were entertaining.
“I’ll make you a recording,”I promised. “And get you an autograph.”
Miles’ eyes lit up. “You’retaking the job?”
Miles had been the one topush me yesterday. He was afan,as it turned out. Not atoss-your-knickers-at-the-stage fan, but he’d known a lot about Quinn.
A lot more than I did, whichwas nothing. I’dnever heard of him until yesterday.
“I’m taking the job,” Isaid, grinning despite my uncertainty about the whole thing.
Grinning confidently atMiles was one thing, but I was in over my head with this. My dazzling career asa private investigator had so far involved following cheating husbands—orcheating wives—and taking a few compromising pictures.
Plus the one stolen parrot.But if I was being honest, I’d tracked that down by accident—it was hard to keepa parrot who’d learned a few very particular curses hidden for long.
This was different. It mighthave been industrial espionage, or it might have been Quinn himself trying toget out of his contract, or just a fan getting their hands on an early copy ofan album and sharing it.
I’d gotten the impressionfrom the people at Harmony Records that they thought Quinn had something to dowith it, but it was hard to imaginewhy.
I knew nothing about themusic industry, or where to start, or… anything.
But if I never spread mywings, how would I fly?
It was just the fear ofplummeting into the concrete below that made me hesitate.
But the money—almost twicemy usual fee—was too good to pass up. If Guardian Angels Security was going togrow, we needed investment capital, and with only three of us working here itwas slow going. A few extra dollars squirreled away could only help us.
Accepting the job wasn’t really achoice. We needed it too much. Even if it meant I was going in with no ideawhat I was doing. That’d never stopped me before and it hadn’tquitekilled me yet.
“Will you miss me while I’mgone?” I asked, realizing I’d gone quiet.
“Obviously. You’re leavingme all alone with Gray,” Miles said, a smile turning up the corner of his lipsas he paused to sip his coffee. “Normally I gettwohot bodyguardsto look at over my lunch break.”
“You know I’m right here,right?” Gray asked, picking a donut. Miles offered me the bag next, and who wasI to say no?
I picked out a pink icedone, biting into it with a happy sigh.
This was almost as good assex.
That, or it’d been so long I’dforgotten how good sex was.
“I get to see you at home.”Miles shrugged, grabbing a donut of his own. He always left us the rest of thehalf-dozen, and Gray ate most of them.
“Please tell Quinn I lovehim,” Miles continued as Gray wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I feel likehe doesn’t hear that enough.”
“Isn’t he famous?” I raisedan eyebrow. Surely people told him they loved him all the time?
“Not really?” Milesshrugged. “I dunno. He had that one hit they licensed for some teen drama, but…he’s underrated. I even remember reading a thinkpiece about how it never wouldhave happened if his album hadn’t leaked. He deserves a hug.”
I chuckled at that. Mileswas a sweetheart. “I realize that’s what you’re used to from your own bodyguardexperience, but I’m not sure we’remeantto do that. Besides, hewants me for my brains.”
