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."We'll make this work," I stated firmly."That is,of course, if you want it to.""I do.You have no idea how much.""Yeah, I do actually.You wouldn't have opened upto me the way you did if it wasn't important to you for meto understand what I what we'll be getting into." I smiled,kissing his forehead."As long as we care for each other& "He put his fingers over my mouth."Love, Sly.Yousaid we should use the right word.Love.""Love it is then." After a second's hesitation, afraidI might frighten him but needing to nonetheless, I kissedhim very softly.His whole body stiffened and I was deadcertain I'd just blown it badly.Then, amazingly, he returnedmy kiss.It was fast, and he pulled back quickly, but it wasa kiss.I smiled in delight and he almost grinned, if theslight quirking up of his lips could be called a grin.Then hescrambled off the bed."I need to wash my face and thensee if supper has burned to a crisp and& all that."Going with his abrupt change of subject, I said, "Ihope it hasn't because I'm starving.Besides I want to findout exactly what the hell you managed to find to put100Forbidden Fruit Edward Kendricktogether something edible."Now he did grin."I'm not promising it's edible, butit is food.So go change into something comfortable andwe'll eat.""Yes, boss man.Going."I left, laughing on my way out when he flipped meoff.101Forbidden Fruit Edward KendrickCHAPTER SEVENThe next month was, to say the least, interesting.First, despite the night when he truly opened to meabout himself, it took all of my persuasive powers toconvince Jamie I honestly did love him and want him in mylife and in my apartment.He couldn't seem to accept thefact I was willing to live with him in a platonic relationshipif that's what it took to keep him close to me.Then, once he began to believe me, I had problemsof my own, which, quite obviously, I wasn't about to revealto him.The more I was with him, the more my bodyresponded to his presence.Oh, I didn't walk around theplace with a constant hard-on, which would have beendifficult to hide.But I did take more than the normalnumber of showers, using the running water to cover myself-induced orgasms.I suspect, since he was far fromstupid, he finally realized what was happening so it becamea sort of open secret.The next thing that happened was less personal.Ihad a case, which was driving me up a wall.Nothingdramatic, just trying to find out which one of a client'semployees was managing to steal money from him andhow he or she was doing it.102Forbidden Fruit Edward KendrickSince Jamie had a day off and felt at loose ends, hedecided he was going to come to the office with me.As heput it, he could keep Delilah entertained if nothing else.Idoubted she needed entertaining but I had no problems withhim being there.I figured he'd get bored soon enough andtake off to find something else to keep himself busy, likeexploring the city, especially the Quarter and its environs,which he'd been doing now that Mike was out of thepicture.As I sat at my desk going over all the information Ihad amassed on the case, I felt a hand on my shoulder andturned to find Jamie standing there as he scanned what wason the screen.Then he took over control of the mouse,scrolling down and back up again."Seeing the puzzle?" I asked.He'd done that beforeon the Jennens' case, setting me on the right track towardfinding the killer.He frowned, pointing to two names after anotherminute's perusal."One of them.As your notes say, theyhave access and," he scrolled down, tapping the screen,"opportunity.You've got it all there; you just haven'torganized it logically.Here, I'll show you.Or I will if youmove," he added when I continued to look at theinformation, trying to see what he was seeing.So I got up, leaning over his shoulder while he103Forbidden Fruit Edward Kendrickrearranged everything into what he considered a logicalprogression.When he'd finished I saw what he had, felt likean idiot and told him so.He shook his head."It's just a different mindset.You're a man of action, well mostly, hands-on and all that.I'm more of a thinker.I visualize, I guess."I nodded slowly, an idea forming although I wasn'tgoing to suggest it yet.Not until I was certain it mightwork.It took me two days to decide, during which I let myclient know who he should be keeping a tight eye on.Jamiehad been right in his summation because less than twenty-four hours later my client called to let me know he'd caughtthe embezzler red-handed thanks to the information I'dgiven him.That pretty much cinched things as far as I wasconcerned.Jamie was on early shift at Charlie's so as soon asI'd closed the office for the day I headed over there,catching Jamie just as he was about to leave."I didn't expect you," he said in surprise.I chuckled."I know.I was thinking we'd eat outtonight, if you can stand going to a restaurant after beinghere all day."He tapped his lip pensively."Well, it depends.Do Iget to choose which one?"104Forbidden Fruit Edward Kendrick"Sure.""Good." He took my hand, led me to a table at theback of the diner and grinned."I hear the food here isexcellent and the people are friendly.""I've heard the same thing." I grinned back at him.Once we were seated, one of the waiters came overto take our orders.As he left, Charlie showed up.He stoodfor a moment just looking at us then spun a chair aroundsitting with his arms crossed over the back."So what'sgoing on?""I can't just want to have dinner with my man?" Iasked with a straight face."You can, but it would be a first.""Blame him." I nodded at Jamie."I gave him hischoice of any place in the city and he picked this dump.""Dump?" Charlie looked incensed, then laughed."Okay, I'll leave you to it.""Hang on a minute.I might need your input onsomething.""Another case?" Jamie asked.I smiled."Yes and no.The thing is I'm getting realbusy these days, almost more than I can handle on my own,so I was thinking of taking on a partner."Jamie frowned."Charlie?"Charlie shook his head in amusement."I think he105Forbidden Fruit Edward Kendrickmeans you, Jamie.""Me?" He looked at Charlie as if he was crazy."Yeah, you," I told him, thus gaining his full,shocked attention."Your brains, my brawn, we make aperfect pair.The business will grow by leaps and bounds.We'll have to move to a larger space and then a TVproducer will hear about us and decide to make a movie ofthe week or even a series about us.We'll get rich andfamous, retire, and move to& hell, somewhere cooler thanNew Orleans."Jamie blinked then blinked again."Are youserious?""Well, maybe not about the TV show but yeah,about the rest I'm dead serious.""I& I& " Jamie looked at Charlie.Charlie grinned."Jamie, you're fired as of right nowso you'd better take him up on his offer [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]