Page 24 of Sizzling Nights

Theresa read the response to Marco, and they chuckled.

"Yeah, the joys of owning a puppy," he said.

"Right."

He stopped and looked at her. "Did you have a dog growing up?"

"No. How about you?"

"We always had dogs. My brothers loved dogs. My sister wanted the dogs. We always had one or two running around."

"I’m jealous. I would have loved to have had a dog growing up, but my parents didn’t want that."

"Yeah, it’s nice having a dog. My parents always said it developed our sense of responsibility. We each took turns —every week it was somebody else’s turn to feed and water the dogs. And if we didn’t remember—oh, we got an ass-beating."

Theresa chuckled. "Yeah, I’ve heard about families like that."

Marco’s head cocked to the side. "You’re an only child?"

"Yeah, I’m an only child. It was lonely, though. I used to envy my friends and their big families, but Mom couldn’t have any more children after me, so I didn’t get siblings."

He chuckled. "Having siblings was nice. Sometimes it was a pain in the butt—especially a little sister. And my little sister is a little beauty. So needless to say, as my friends and I all got to be around sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old, I didn’t bring them to the house much anymore. They spent more time staring at her than they did kicking around with me."

She chuckled. "Yeah. Boys, right?"

"Yeah. Boys."

"Anyway—so did she name the three businesses?"

"Oh, yes."

She scrolled back to the first email.

"She has them listed down here at the bottom. One is a small brokerage agency. They’re renting their building. One is a law office. That one’s also being rented. And the last one is the one that was bought. They said it was for future business, and there’s no business name for it. But the name on the file is Bradford Bennett LLC."

"Okay, so let’s look into those businesses, shall we?"

"Okay. I’m thinking maybe—" He hesitated. "I’m thinking I’m going to be visiting at least two businesses. See what they look like inside."

The thought of going on a covert mission, so to speak, sent a bolt of excitement through her body. "I’ll go with you."

"No, you won’t. You have to stay here. We don’t want them to see you, right?"

"Right. Maybe I could wear a disguise."

"No. Again, I think you need to stay here."

"Am I a prisoner here?"

"No, you’re not a prisoner, but I do want to keep you safe. And you have to be smart about this. Don’t put yourself out there in the open."

His phone rang.

She saw him take a deep breath before picking it up. He looked at the readout on the screen. He said, "Mitch."

He tapped the button, then the speaker icon.

"Good morning, Mitch. I’m sitting here with Theresa. We are doing some investigating."

---