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Would they? Wow, he viewed things from a specific angle. “I don’t think people get lost anymore. Doesn’t everyone have their phone all the time? They’re twenty-first century security blankets.”
“Okay,” he said like maybe he hadn’t been listening and turned the napkin toward her. “Give me an area.”
“An…” There was the city laid out in front of her. Not every single street, but landmarks and enough detail that she could tell exactly what was what. “Geez, you really are an artist.”
He put the pen on top. “Think you can figure it out?” She could and took the pen to ponder and mark three crosses. “Are you sure there were only three?”
Shaking her head, she pushed the napkin back to him. “There are at least five others that I considered. They could be linked, but without knowing what puts them together…”
“It’s difficult to tag everyone,” he said, examining her marks. “You know what’s right in the middle of this…”
He connected the marks in a triangle.
“What’s in the middle?” she asked, eager to hear his thoughts.
“I don’t know. I’ll need to check it out.”
“No, tell me. You can’t take me right to the… Satisfy me, Jagg.”
Her pleading obviously broke through because he glanced up. “The Manzani’s own an old hotel in that area. They don’t use it as a hotel… or they didn’t. I’ve been out of the game a while. Maybe they sold it. Could be anything now.”
“But it could be something.” Bouncing to the edge of her seat, optimism bloomed again. “Thank you. I will check it out.”
“No, you won’t,” he said, an almost sarcastic snicker in his words. Once again, he reached over the table to curl his fingers around her wrist. “Don’t run in blind, baby. What do you plan to do in a whorehouse at this time of night?” Hmm. Good point. “What do you think women do there?”
“We could go,” she said, wiggling her arm to loosen his grip and join their fingers. “Together.”
“You want us to go there?”
Nodding, her certainty was absolute. “That way you can watch my behind if it’s going to be so dangerous and—”
“What do you think guys do at a place like that at this time? At any time?”
Huh, he’d have to… Jagg was not the type of guy who had to pay a woman for her time. Even if he was willing to humiliate himself like that for her benefit, she wouldn’t want to stand by while other women fawned over him… or worse.
“How long were you in Hustle tonight before I got there?”
“Half hour maybe,” he said. “Last time I waited out in the cold, praying I was wrong. This time I knew better… It’s warmer inside.” His gaze trailed over her upper body. “You’d probably freeze anywhere in that.”
“I wasn’t cold when you were holding me. Come to think of it, I’ve never been cold around you. Guess something about you gets me hot.”
“You’ve gotta stop talking like that. It’s funny now, then next time you forget and your brother’s standing there…”
“What do you think would happen exactly? I’m flirting. It’s fun. I enjoy it.”
“Ford has no sense of humor when it comes to guys sleazing on you.”
“I’m the one sleazing on you,” she confessed. “If I take it too far, you can walk away any time.”
Except he’d said the words. He wanted her. It might make sense for them to keep their distance. To ignore what had happened between them and how it had ignited a potent attraction neither of them knew existed. But in her line of work, she was often reminded that life was short.
“And if I take it too far?” He shook his head. “Shit, what I did at the club was way, way too far.”
So much for not talking about it again. His rule. She didn’t mind. She thought about it so often that it was nice to have someone to talk to about it.
“I gave you my consent, Jagg. I told you yes. You gave me what I wanted… More than I wanted,” she said, sure her cheeks were heating, not in embarrassment, but at the memory. “I have never come so fast with a guy. Hell, I don’t think I ever came so fast on my own either.”
“It’s not on the table.”
