Page 86 of Fiona and the Fixer

She grinned, somewhat bashfully. “You stay in Coal Springs, and you can have all you want.”

“What do you mean, stay in Coal Springs?” I asked, wide eyed.

“Move here. Stay. You’ve made so many new friends. Even Marcia Highcliff likes you.”

I wasn’t going to ask how she knew that.

I huffed and rolled my eyes. “She’s a piece of work.”

“She is and she doesn’t like many people. Including her own daughter.”

I frowned. I met Briana and they got along fine, so I had to assume she meant Hannah.

“The craft night crew wants you on the team.”

“I’m not moving to a new town for craft night.”

“There are other fun things to do around here.”

“I’d need a job. I’d be bored in five minutes.”

That didn’t seem to be the case. I’d been here three days, and this pedicure was the first time I sat and did nothing. I seemed to be busier here–without working–than I was in Denver.

“They’ll hire you at the police department lickety split. With your credentials and having an insider” –she pointed at herself– “you could be on the job next week.”

The nail tech held up the bottle of polish I picked from the rainbow of options. I nodded, pleased with the pale blue color.

“There’s no crime here,” I countered. Except for the drug trafficking happening on Main Street.

“Maybe a life with more than bad guys might be just what you’re missing.”

Maybe.

“As for how you know you’re in love? Are you happy? Does that person make you happy? Does that person walk beside you and prop you up?”

Dottie’s nail tech started to apply a fire engine red to her toes.

“He’s beside meallthe time. Like my own personal Scooter.”

“That man is not a labrador. He’s a doberman. Although I have a feeling he’s a cat person.”

42

DAX

“Why didn’tyou tell me that Fiona Whitaker, the FBI agent, is also the daughter of Vincent Genovese?”

I was on a video call with Nitro, having left Fiona in the nail salon with Dottie. The place reeked of nail polish and was full of women. A few I recognized from storytime.

I only had eyes for Fiona. I was all in with her. So the little finger wave one of the women gave me made my cheeks heat because I’d read a sex scene to her and roomful of others. I could imagine what a Chippendales dancer felt like after hours.

I got the hell out of there and went back to Jack and Hannah’s place. Grabbing a can of cat food from the stack on the counter, I pulled open the lid and went to his bowl. The sound of the can opening was like a bat signal forPancake and he came out of wherever he’d been hiding to weave around my ankles.

“I got the hit on the facial recognition. You didn’t ask me to dig deeper,” he replied, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

Nitro was mid-thirties, shaggy brown hair, equally shaggy beard. If he put on a flannel and carried an axe, he’d be set for Halloween. The stereotype for hard core nerds like him was thin, pale, and weak. He definitely didn’t fit that mold.

Not Nitro. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Plus, he was more dangerous with a keyboard because he could get into any database and fuck up your life worse than any punch.

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