Page 48 of Sizzling Nights

He handed her a glass of champagne and tapped his to hers.

"Cheers."

They each took a small sip of their champagne, and he steered them to a group of six people standing in a circle.

A man saw them approach and opened the circle for them to enter.

"Hello there. My name is Doug, and this is my wife, Connie. Also with us is David and Maxine, and over here are Glen and Sondra."

"Hello, my name is Marco, and this is my girlfriend, Theresa."

"Very nice to meet you," Doug said. "Are you from here?"

"We are now," Marco said. "We both moved from other parts of the United States and found ourselves in Blossom Springs. It's such a nice area, and we enjoy it here immensely. I'm glad we found it."

"Us too, actually. David over there owns the bank in Blossom Springs."

Marco nodded. "It's nice to know who I have my money with. Now I feel like it's in a good place."

David nodded. "Thank you, sir."

They participated in some idle chitchat, then Doug and David began talking about golf.

Marco nodded and stepped back. Theresa followed him.

"It was nice meeting you all. I see some friends over there we'd like to speak with before we sit down to eat."

Doug responded, "Yes, it was nice to meet you both." And then Doug continued to talk about golf.

They moved across the room, and Theresa saw Mitch doing the same thing they were doing, casually sauntering along, listening to conversations, talking a bit more with certain people, and then moving on.

And that's what they were here to do. She wondered if this was why she'd never participated in big fancy balls before. This wasn't her cup of tea. Not at all.

She didn't give two craps about who saw her where. She didn't need to hobnob with the elite. It seemed stuffy and phony.

She wondered how many of these people were criminals and how many of them were here just to donate to a good cause. Also, how many of them were laundering money; either for the cartel or for themselves.

It made her feel like she wanted to go back to the cabin and take a shower. Being in a room full of criminals was the most distasteful thing she'd ever done in her life.

And that was a fact.

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Marco stayed close to Theresa. They maneuvered themselves around the ballroom, stopping and chatting—sometimes just stopping and talking to each other softly but near groups of people so their microphones would pick up conversations.

All seemed on the up-and-up, although he knew there was an undercurrent of the criminal type here. He was just at a loss to find them, at least as far as he knew.

As they wandered close to a group of four, he heard one of the men say, "Pick-up is tomorrow. You need to have it by then."

The second man responded, "I understand. I'm working on it as fast as I can."

As soon as they neared, that conversation stopped, and the four actually moved off somewhere else without acknowledging them.

He didn’t want to follow, as it would seem too obvious. He looked down at Theresa and nodded his head slightly toward them.

She nodded. "Let's give them a few minutes, and we can try again."

"Absolutely," he said.

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