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She coughs out an undignified laugh. “Comfortable. They’re both working professionals and have savings in the bank. They have a mortgage, but it’s serviceable without stress. He recently got a promotion at work, and approximately six months ago, so did she.”
“Do they work together?”
“No. She’s in graphic design and puts together a lot of those bus ads and stuff for big businesses. He’s in sales. In fact, he got back from your part of the ocean approximately forty-eight hours prior to his death. A sales conference of some sort.”
“Forty-eight hours prior?—”
“Is in the kill zone,” she fills in. “Yep. According to the tox levels in his blood, I’d say he may have been exposed to poison during his trip away, his travel home, or in the very early hours of his return. Detective Fletcher is running his leads down and talking to the conference organizers.”
“Good.” Relaxed now that I get to talk dead bodies, I lie back on my lounger and close my eyes so all I see is the golden glow on my eyelids, and all I feel is the sun’s kisses on my skin. “Savese’s organs?”
“Pink colored staining indicative of cyanide poisoning. Doctor Raquel is still working on the slides, but in the meantime, I pulled Savese apart last night and took biopsies of every single organ I could scrape. I effectively backed up the lab and pissed everyone off.”
“Good work. You did the right thing.”
“Sure, and as thanks for my time and suffering, I dropped into bed around eleven. Now I’m awake before four. So let uscircle back to the start of our conversation and reiterate, what the EFF Mayet?”
“You’ll be fine.” I snicker, reaching up to push loose tendrils of hair back behind my ear. A shadow falls over the side of my face, stealing the sunlight and drawing my eyes open with a snap.
From relaxed to alert, I recoil in my seat and make a sound akin to a stuck pig. “Shit!”
Archer stands over me in board shorts and a button-up shirt—but the buttons remain undone. His chest is tattooed and broad. Scarred and tanned to the perfect olive-brown. His lips curl into a playful grin, and his eyes slide along my length, lingering on my opened legs.
It’s an unladylike position, I’ll admit. But hell, I didn’t expect the mafia to stand over me this morning.
Reaching out, he snatches the phone from my hand and brings the device up to his ear. “Good morning, Doctor Emeri. Chief Mayet is hanging up now.”
Don’t tell him about the secret! Don’t tell him about the secret! Don’t tell him about the secret!
“Yes, I’m sure she misses you too,” he cajoles. “But she’s not available for a work consultation right now. Goodbye.”
Aubree shouts something along the line. A request that he give me the phone again and leave us be. But he pulls it from his ear and swipes to hang up. Then he slips the device into his leg pocket and purses his lips as our eyes meet. “Really, Chief?”
I roll my eyes and right myself in my chair, dragging my tongue along my wrist where my jolting movement spilled coffee and sent it dribbling along my arm. “I wasn’t working. I was talking to my friend.”
“I heard something about organs.” He drags the closest lounger across and sets it down two feet from mine. Then helowers, side-saddling it so his body faces my way, and his elbows go to his knees. “We made a deal, Chief. You failed.”
“I called to talk to my friend,” I argue. Though I’m surprisingly relaxed about the entire affair. I recline back and sip my coffee. “Our conversation just so happened to organically move across to work.”
“Mmhm.” He sets his hands on the side of my chair and pushes up to hover over me. Our eyes meet for a moment. They hold. Then he grins and drops a delicious kiss to my lips. “Good morning, Minnnka. It’s the morning after infusion.”
“Yes.” I watch as he retreats and plops his ass back on his own chair. “It is.”
“Well… I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.” He glances across and accepts a coffee, as though magically conjured from the oh-so-helpful Calum. The guy is gone as quickly as he came, then Archer’s green-eyed gaze comes back to stop on my face. “But typically, morning-after-infusion, I wake to my cock in your mouth.”
“You’re such a pig.” I swing out and smack his thigh, though all I achieve is his laugher, and my hand stinging from where we made contact. “I sucked your dick yesterday. Twice! I think you can manage a morning without.”
“Wasn’t complaining,” he chuckles. “Merely making an observation.” He sets his coffee on the small table without taking a sip, then he grabs my sore hand and begins to massage the ache away. “You wanted so badly to sneak away from me and call Aubs?”
“I wanted to get up.” Turning just my head, I glance his way and wish for a pair of sunglasses. Or a hat. Or even the umbrella to be opened before my squinting creates unnecessary lines on the side of my face. “I was awake, and you weren’t. I was sweating and I didn’t want to wake you up, so I got dressed and went for a walk.”
“With your phone,” he presses, a single, challenging brow shooting higher on his forehead. “You specifically took your phone, and,” he glares at the manila folder still flapping beneath my feet. “You brought an entire file with you? Seriously?”
“That one is not work.” I turn my hand in his and slide the tips of my fingers along his wrist. Instantly, his beady-eyed stare turns to mush. “That one’s personal. Though I didn’t get a chance to check it yet.”
“Because you were talking dead bodies with Aubs. It’s seven days, Minnnka. Surely you can forget about work for seven days.”
“Obviously not as easily as you.” I shove up in my chair and set my coffee down beside his. Then I turn, so our legs twine and I’m forced to look up into his stare. “You haven’t even thought about Fletch since we left? You haven’t wanted to check in and discuss the poison case?”
