Page 35 of Bulletproof

“Just tell me, smart-ass,” he said, chuckling.

I looked down my body. “Jeans, long-sleeved T-shirt, sneakers … nothing great.”

“Okay, I know what’s wrong.”

“What? No you don’t.”

“I do,” he said, and I noted how deep and soft his voice was.

“You know you could make, like, millions of dollars as a phone-sex operator?”

Long silence.

“Hello?”

“Do you ever think before you speak, or do you just think it and say it at the same time?”

“If we’re friends, like you said we were, then I just say whatever pops into my head. I only censor myself if I don’t really know you.”

“I see.”

“Why?”

Heavy sigh from him, then, “Christ, Angel …”

“Christ, Angel what?”

“Okay,” he groaned, “now listen to me. The problem is that your new business partner, Fallon, his boyfriend is terrified of you.”

“I’m sorry?” I hadn’t heard him right.

He laughed at me. “God, you’re cute. How old are you?”

“I’m not cute. I’m twenty-seven!”

“Oh, baby, I would’ve thought you were twenty-three, twenty-four tops.”

“What does that⁠—”

“Angel, I promise you, the partner wants to drop you into a wood chipper.”

“What?” I said indignantly. He did not. “That’s disgusting.”

He cleared his throat. “What did your new partner say?”

“I dunno. He just said that Shane had some concerns about me, and so we probably shouldn’t hang out when we weren’t at work, and … I mean, I don’t wanna cause him any⁠—”

“It’s the boyfriend’s insecurity. He just doesn’t know you.”

“What makes you say that?”

“If he knew you better, he’d know that you would never hit on your partner at work. You’re in a relationship with your man already.”

I sighed, thinking about Sam, the man who hadn’t even called to let me know he was in town. “Yep.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

“No,” I muttered defensively.