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And why not? Ian was a perfect fit for Hollis in every way. The head chef and owner of Rialto might be the sweetest, most generous person Shane had ever met, but he also didn’t take any shit from Hollis. And holy fuck, could that man cook! The best days of the week were when Ian would drop by to deliver lunch to Hollis…and just happen to bring enough for Shane and Ethan “on accident.”
“Ian knows he’s got zero competition in the world.”
“Did you guys set a date yet?” Shane was happy to redirect the conversation away from his case, and the surest way to do that with Hollis was to talk about Ian.
Scratching the stubble on his chin, Hollis let his smile falter a bit. “We’re not going to try to pick a date until after Lucas and Andrei’s wedding. They finally picked a freaking location, so every waking moment that Ian’s not at the restaurant, he’s with Andrei or Lucas planning this damn wedding. When that’s over, we can talk about getting married.”
Hollis sounded utterly exasperated that his own future with Ian was put on hold, but Shane couldn’t really fathom it. He’d never experienced that “bolt of lightning” that Hollis talked about when he first met Ian. There had never been any one person he’d ever wanted to be with for the rest of his life. He had laughs. He had a hell of a lot of fantastic sex. But someone to live with and share the mundane things like cleaning and bills…he’d never met someone like that.
And he didn’t want to. He liked his life. He loved being single. And he certainly didn’t see the appeal of being with someone forever.
“And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing!” Hollis snapped.
“What? We’re just talking.” Shane threw his hands up in surrender, fighting like hell not to laugh.
“I—” Hollis broke off suddenly, sitting up in his chair. Shane heard it too. Someone had come in the front door.
Shane jumped to his feet at the same time as Hollis, but he stopped in front of the doorway, pointing at Hollis. “Stay!” Hollis glared at him but remained behind his desk.
With a little grin, Shane headed down the short hall to the reception area. They didn’t have a receptionist—they were too small to need one or really afford one. He and Ethan spent the majority of their days working on accounting fraud cases, and that could just as easily be done at their desks. They were the ones who typically greeted anyone who came in looking to hire them.
Just past the front door, Quinn stood with one hand tightly holding the strap of the messenger bag hanging from his shoulder while the other was wrapped around his cell phone as he quickly tapped out some message with his thumb. With his head down, his dark hair threatened to hang in front of his eyes, but those black-rimmed glasses kept it back. Fuck, Shane loved those glasses. He couldn’t even explain why. Just something about how they sat against Quinn’s pale skin and accentuated his full lips. No, definitely no lightning bolts and string quartets singing them into forever. But he did feel a strong tug of lust.
“Hey, you found the office,” Shane announced as he got closer to the reception area.
Quinn seemed to flinch at the sound of his voice and quickly tucked his phone into the back pocket of his dark jeans before looking up at Shane. “Yeah, wasn’t that hard,” he muttered.
Not exactly the enthusiasm that he was looking for. He’d hoped that Rowe might be able to convince him that this would be a great opportunity. Apparently Rowe hadn’t made a strong enough impression.
“Umm…let me show you around, and then we can talk about the case.”
He pointed out the conference room where they held meetings with clients and the tiny break room with the fridge and handful of cabinets stocked with coffee, mugs, takeout menus, and plastic forks. As they reached Hollis’s office, Shane debated shuffling Quinn straight into his own, but Hollis came to the doorway to look into the hall.
“Quinn!”
Shane looked over his shoulder to find that Quinn’s entire demeanor changed in a flash when he lifted his eyes to look at Hollis. The grin that pulled his lips up was wide and easy while his dark blue eyes sparkled with laughter. His posture relaxed and became more open.
“Banner,” Quinn said, a laugh in his voice.
“What the hell you doin’ here?”
“A job.”
“What the fuck!” Hollis’s attention jumped to Shane. “You went to Rowe for help?”
“He wanted the best,” Quinn quickly said.
“What the hell ever! No more food from Ian for you!” Hollis threatened before turning back into his office. Shane rolled his eyes and waved for Quinn to follow him to his at the end of the short hall.
