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Toni must sense it because she adds, “Play it professional. Both of you.” She looks at Lyla. “These clients are high risk for us. If I loved either of you less, I would have said no to both of them.”
“I can handle Dylan Duke,” Juliette insists, her voice rising an octave.
“I know.” Toni turns to her. “But be careful. He’s a smart man, Juliette. One not easily taken for a fool.”
Juliette doesn’t respond to that. Instead, she asks, “What’s my Meeting Place?”
“Spin Cocktail Lounge. At eight.”
“Wait, he doesn’t want to just meet at the hotel?”
“No.”
“But last time…”
“He must have had a good time. He paid for an extra two hours.”
“Hedid?”
Toni leans back in her chair and crosses her arms as she studies Jules’s face. “Why doesthatscare you?”
“I don’t know, really.”
“Did you have a good time the last time you saw him?”
Juliette’s voice is so quiet when she replies, “You know I did,” that I find myself leaning forward in my seat.
“Well, looks like the feeling was mutual. He called me the day after your last date and he-”
“Howgood a time?” Lyla cuts Toni off. “I was kinda hoping you’d wreck him and then walk out with his balls in your purse.”
With a defeated groan, Juliette lowers her forehead to the table. She holds up three fingers. But the moment she places her hand on the table again, we all see the quick tap, tap, tap.
“Three!” Lyla says loudly, trying to distract her. “Nu-uh.” Leaning forward eagerly, she asks, “Real or fake?”
Juliette barely lifts her head to glare at her.
Lyla grins wickedly. “Well, you sure showed him.”
“And me?” I ask, hoping that my night isn’t going to be quite as exciting as Juliette’s. Unlike all three of thegirls sitting next to me, I don’t have some long-lost love or a nemesis I’m trying to exact my revenge on.
“Do you know who Bernard Leard is?” Antoinette slides a color-printed photograph across the table to me.
I look at the man in the picture. Mid-forties, cold blue eyes, and thin lips that give his mouth a flat appearance. Although he’s not balding, his hair is thin, showing his scalp through the salt and pepper. He’s not unattractive, per se. But his eyes unsettle me. “No. I don’t know him.”
Toni scans the paperwork in front of her. “He’s a lobbyist. He has an event tonight. A fundraiser, hosted by the Police Activities League. Word to the wicked—he’s razor straight. He wants a pretty date who can impress. No sex.” She glances up at me. “Even if you hit it off, steer clear of the topic entirely. He’s a Witch Hunter. Used to work as a prosecutor, one who sent a lot of working girls away.”
A little bundle of nerves slips into my stomach and begins to unravel there.A Witch Hunter. It’s what we call a man who seems to have some vendetta against womankind in general. We rarely take them on as clients, but when we suspect aggressive behavior from a man we don’t know, it always fell to Toni, Lizzie, or me. “I can manage.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I have a Newb from seven to nine—that’s all he could afford. And then I’m going to run over and spend some time with Cassidy. I’ll be back before morning.”
“How is she?” Juliette asks.
“Good. Sassy as hell.” Toni laughs, but the sound is soft and yielding. “Giving Nonna a run for her money.” Everything about her changes when she talks about Cass. “I still can’t believe she turns five next month.”
“I can’t wait for the party!” I say. “I think I finally have the cupcakes down.”
