Page 99 of Past Due

“Are you sure?” He suspected she wasn’t.

“Sex work is work,” she replied matter-of-factly. “If it’s done safely and there isn’t any gross trafficking or underage stuff happening. It’s none of my business how someone chooses to make a living. Besides,” she added with a shrug, “I knew a couple of girls who worked for Alina.”

He nearly swerved. “You know about Alina?”

She laughed. “B, really?”

Another troubling thought struck him. Marley was exactly the sort of young woman Alina would have wanted in her harem of escorts. Beautiful, smart, classy. “Did she try to recruit you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes!”

“I was approached,” she confessed.

“When?”

“Right after I turned twenty-one,” she said. “A classmate asked me out to lunch and explained how Alina’s service works. She offered me a sign-on bonus, but I wasn’t brave enough to try it.”

“The next time I see Alina, I’m going—”

“To leave it alone,” Marley interrupted. “Nothing came of it, and frankly, I was flattered. Pull under the carport,” she said. “We can use the back door to avoid most of the rain.”

“We’re not done with this Alina thing,” he muttered as he parked.

“Yes, we are.” She flicked off her seatbelt and leaned across the console to kiss him. “I’m yours. You’re mine. That’s all that matters now.”

She had a point. “Fine.”

She smiled and kissed him again. “Come on. The quicker we get my stuff, the quicker you can show me your place.”

“Our place,” he corrected gently. “For now.”

“For now?” she echoed uncertainly.

“Look at your yard, Marley.” He gestured to out her window to the flower beds and trees. He could hear the wind chimes on her front porch tinkling in the wind and see the spinning fans of the handcrafted windmill in the middle of her front yard. “You’ll be miserable in a penthouse. No matter how incredible the view is it’s no substitute for a yard.”

“I can make do with potted plants,” she offered. “Mrs. Martinez has been looking after all my succulents and house plants in her greenhouse out back. I have so many we’ll probably have to give some away.”

“You don’t have to give away your plants.”

“That’s one of the best parts of house plants and succulents! You take cuttings and make dozens of happy little plants to give away to friends.”

“Dozens?”

“Oh, yeah. My snake plant was this tiny,” she gestured with her hands, “when I bought it a few years ago. I’ve propagated it into at least twenty different plants by now. The original almost reaches my shoulders!”

As he tried to wrap his head around Marley bringing dozens of plants with her, he said, “We’re definitely going to need a bigger place.”

“We’ll make it work.” She reached for the door handle. “Let’s go. I’m still starving, and the sooner we’re done here, the sooner I get to eat.”

“Yes, dear,” he grumbled, and she flashed him a smile.

But the playful atmosphere fled as soon as they stepped out of the car. The wind kicked up and the gust carried a stomach-twisting smell he instantly recognized.

“Marley.”

She froze at his unusually brusque tone.

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