Page 23 of Sizzling Nights

Theresa stretched her back, raised her arms in the air, and tried to release the tension in her shoulders.

She reached forward, grabbed her cup of coffee, and sipped—only to wrinkle her nose when she realized the cup was cold.

She looked over at Marco’s cup. It was nearly empty.

She had dug in and started doing some real estate investigation. He drank and worked at the same time.

She stood and reached for her cup.

Marco turned and looked at her.

Man, she could look at him all day. He was such a handsome man.

"Do you want more coffee?"

He grinned. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate that. You didn’t drink yours. You don’t like it?"

She chuckled. "Nah, I was just noticing the difference between us. You can sip on your coffee and work at the same time. I get engrossed in my work and forget to drink my coffee. It was merely that I got involved. That’s it. I’m gonna get myself a cup now."

She reached forward, grabbed his cup, and sauntered to the coffee pot. She poured her cold brew down the drain, rinsed the sink, and then poured them each a fresh cup.

She turned and looked back at him. "I’m sorry, I didn’t notice—cream and sugar?"

"Just cream for me."

She chuckled. "Me too."

She poured their cups and brought them back to the table.

She had just sat down when an email popped up from Carley.

She looked at the time on her computer.

Three forty-five in the morning.

"My god, Carley just emailed me at three forty-five. What do you suppose she’s doing up?"

He chuckled. "Well, they have a puppy."

"Yeah, but isn’t—" She paused. "Isn’t that puppy almost a year old now?"

"About nine months, I guess."

"Oh, I suppose."

She opened the email and read Carley’s reply.

Off the top of my head, I can give you the names of three new businesses in town. I didn’t have a lot to do with any of them as far as the sales process goes. Two of them are just renting the buildings they’re in—they didn’t have a need for a realtor. The third one bought a small building but was very, very coy about what they were putting in it. They just said it was for the future growth of a business, but that’s all they would say.

Theresa quickly typed out her response.

Thank you so much for that. Why are you up this early in the morning?

She sent her email.

Almost immediately, a reply popped up.

I have a nine-month-old puppy who counter-surfed last night and got a hold of some chicken. Needless to say, we’ve been going to the bathroom a lot. Like every hour. I’d love nothing more than to be snuggled in next to my husband, but—puppy.

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