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Then I stopped thinking and watched in horror as Tex banged the portafilter on top of the espresso machine. Monty hit a button and the police band was drowned out by Tex’s voice shouting, “Fucking steam! Give me some more fucking steam, you monster!” Which was followed by Duke shouting, “It only gives as much steam as it gives, man!”
Wonderful.
Now I knew why they were both grinning at me.
I looked away from the current frightening goings-on at Fortnum’s to check out Vance.
Vance was younger than Lee, but I was guessing not by much. He had shiny, straight black hair pulled into a ponytail, a lean body, and the fabulous bone structure and coloring of a Native American.
Oh, and he was seriously hot.
Yep, I was definitely going to have to bring Marianne here. And probably Andrea, and more than likely, Tod.
It was like Chippendales, but better.
I found myself captured by Vance’s good looks and watched as he and Monty exchanged glances over Tex and Duke’s exchange.
Vance’s lips were twitching. He thought Tex was funny.
Vance looked up to me and caught me staring. I gave him a tilty-head smile and he smiled back, all white teeth against dark skin.
“Hi,” I said to him.
His smile widened.
Mm, yum.
Lee’s hand curled into the waistband of my shorts.
Oopsie.
Monty and Vance turned back to the monitors and I looked at them, too. There was an angle of the foyer of Lee’s condo building and his empty parking spot in the condo garage. There was also an angle of the reception area where Dawn was on the phone (likely tearing me apart to one of her girlfriends) and two screens showing the Nightingale Investigation parking spots. I was pretty much praying at that point that one of the blank screens didn’t show a visual on Lee’s office.
There were eight screens showing various things, mostly inside. Some had people in them, both at home and in offices.
Lee started talking. “We used to do security. Even though it paid well, it was boring as hell. Made employee retention difficult.”
“Won’t have a problem with retention if we keep monitoring your store. It’s like watching a sitcom,” Monty said, his voice heavy on the amusement.
Great.
Monty turned to me. “We asked Dawn to do a transcript of your speech about El Salvador, mom and pop shops and the American way, and we e-mailed it around. Hank isn’t even on the payroll and he was awarded honorary ‘employee of the week’ for taking duty on you that day. I would have paid to see his face when he walked into that pot farm.”
Double great.
Not only did Dawn do the transcript, I could be sure she made certain to e-mail it to Lee.
Not to mention the fact that I was break-in-the-day-entertainment to Lee’s troops.
Lee let go of my shorts and said, “Fortnum’s will be wired for a while, and we need to get a camera on the front door.”
I looked back at him. His eyes were moving along the screens, and I got the impression he didn’t miss a trick.
He briefly glanced at me then back to the screens. He was being professional, but I also got the feeling he was ticked about something and trying not to let it show in front of the guys.
He continued talking. “Currently, we do mostly investigations, mainly corporate, embezzlement, fraud, theft. We pick up some domestic investigation, only high-income, usually gathering evidence to substantiate adultery or other incontrovertible grounds to get large alimony and settlements.”
“Usually poking the nanny,” Monty put in. “That’s fun to watch.”
