Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Cara’s mouth went dry as Bill’s words suddenly made sense. And Cara was suddenly aware that her dark green, puffy down jacket made her look like the Michelin man in comparison.
“Mike!” the woman said, gliding out of the booth and plastering herself against him like so much more than an old friend.
Cara gritted her teeth and promised herself she wouldn’t give in to her insecurity. Petty jealousy? Yeah, she’d allow herself that. What she wouldn’t allow? For Mike to see how this affected her. She wondered if he and this woman had been lovers. Or did this woman just wish they were?
To Mike’s credit, he grasped the other woman’s forearms and pried her off him. “Always good to see you too. We have some questions for you.”
“We?” She flipped her hair over her shoulders as she became aware of Cara’s presence for the first time.
“Cara Hartley is a police officer in Serendipity. We’re working on a case, and we need your brand of expertise,” Mike said, gesturing to the booth, obviously ready to sit. “Cara, this is Lauren Nannariello.”
“When you said you needed to see me, I didn’t realize this was business.” Lauren raised her chin a notch and slid back into the booth. “But then you’ve mixed business with pleasure before,” she said in a deeper voice and patted the seat next to her.
So they had been lovers. No more wondering there, Cara thought with a sick feeling in her stomach. Well, he’d made it clear a few nights ago he was with Cara now. And Cara wasn’t the type of girl who let another woman hit on her man. How Mike responded to this would be interesting, but hey. He was the one who’d brought her here without giving her a heads-up on the situation.
“Mike?” Cara asked in her nicest but strongest voice.
He turned.
She slid into the bench opposite Lauren, looked Mike in the eye, and patted the seat beside her.
He shot her a look filled with regret and slid into the seat next to his contact.
The rational, cop part of Cara understood he needed to do whatever would get the information. The female part of her resented the fact that he’d brought her here to deal with this, and she’d make him pay for that bit of insensitivity later.
Chapter Six
Snow came down hard as Mike walked beside Cara down the city street. Her silence gave him time to think, and he wanted to kick himself in the ass. Just because he hadn’t thought about Lauren as more than a contact hadn’t meant she would feel the same way. The minute she’d greeted him, he knew he was in trouble.
Somehow he managed to get through the awkward conversation and come out on top. He’d explained to Lauren what he needed and asked her to do some digging into the DEA’s computers to find out why the cash hadn’t been picked up from the evidence locker back in 1983. Miraculously, he was also successful at fending off Lauren’s wandering hands beneath the table.
After Lauren agreed to help, Cara excused herself and went to the ladies’ room, leaving him alone with the other woman, at which point Lauren demanded an explanation for his disinterest. Apparently hooking up on occasion meant more to her than to him. Mike hadn’t managed her expectations well, and he was sure he’d done the same to Cara. Though Lauren was pissed, she was still willing to help him—for old times’ sake.
He and Cara left the restaurant and walked into heavy snow. Instead of taking her out for dinner, he decided they needed time alone first and headed to his place—another surprise he’d sprung on her. He’d seen the shock in her eyes when he told her his place was around the corner. And she hadn’t said a word since. Clearly, he was batting one thousand today, and he braced himself for her anger when they got inside.
He lived in a decent neighborhood in a rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment that he sublet for a great price. They walked through the lobby and the old battered mailboxes with some names hanging off, and up one flight of stairs.
He opened the door and let Cara step in ahead of him before locking up behind them. Without asking, she slipped off her shoes, and he did the same.
“Home sweet home,” he said, tossing his keys onto the shelf in the small entryway.
Cara glanced at him quickly before walking inside and looking around. “Very nice,” she murmured.
“I can’t take the credit. My mother and sister insisted on helping.” With them taking over and helping him buy furniture, everything had a warm, homey feel, with a primarily brown and beige color scheme and navy accents. Pictures of his family were scattered around the main living room, also courtesy of the women in his life. The ones who mattered, anyway.