Page 22 of Instinct & New Identity

I knewValwas being funny, butIdidn’t like the idea of her rushing into a job before we’d had a chance to check everything out.

Vince laughed and then told her he could find out.

We pulled into a back lot with an overhang, andVincetold us this was where we would unload.Hehopped out of the car right away asValputHarryin his crate andIcleaned up our trash from the front.Ilooked up to see a man walking up toVinceand chatting with him.Helooked aboutVince’sage, maybe slightly older, and they obviously knew each other.

AsIgot out of the vehicle, they both walked toward me, and the other man smiled big when he saw me.Helooked as though he knew me and was happy to see me again, even thoughIknew for a factIhad never seen this man before.Hewas very handsome—tall, with olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.HelookedItalian.

“Cat, this is my cousin,Archer,”Vinceannounced. “Archer, this isCatandVal.”

“ArcherPapadopoulos.Niceto meet you,” he said, sticking out his hand.

Papadopoulos…Sohe wasGreek, notItalian.Gotit.

I gave him my hand and shook his in return, andValdid the same when she got out of the back seat.

“Makes sense,” my sister chimed in. “Youtwo look likeGreekGods, so of course you would haveGreekblood in you.”

“He’s the only one,”Vincereplied with a smile on his face. “Hismom was my dad’s sister.TheGreekis from his dad.Ourside of the family isEnglish, and my mom’s side isIrish.”

That would explain why they didn’t look alike, despite being cousins.

“I was going to ask why you’ve been ignoring my texts, but it appears you’ve been a little busy,”Parkersaid coming up behind me.

“Hey,Parker.Whatare you doing here?”Iasked. “Beenoutta town the last few days, otherwiseIwould have responded, sorry.”

“No worries,” he responded. “Iwas on patrol, soIthoughtI’dstop by.Youmoving out?”

“I’m not moving out.I’mhelping these ladies move in.Ladiesthis is my friendQuincyParker.He’sthe lucky cop who gets to deal with all the pain in the ass bountiesIbring in.ThisisCatandVal.”

I trustedParker, butIalso wasn’t sure how much the ladies felt comfortable sharing soIkept it simple.Theyall nodded and shook hands with each other beforeArcherspoke. “Gotthe rest of the guys coming from the security company, but you’re welcome to help out if you want to.”

Parker gave a short laugh and shook his head. “Asmuch fun as that sounds,I’mon the clock, so just give me a call tomorrow and we can set something up.”

I told himI’dtext him in the morning.Hewalked back to his patrol car andIwalked over to the trailer to start grabbing some items.

“Jack andWadeare walking over now,”Archersaid toVince.

“Good.There’snot a lot of stuff, but it will go faster with more people,”Vinceresponded.

We each grabbed a few things and started our way into his building.Weheaded through a set of double doors at the back of the building down the hall to a freight elevator.Wewent to the fourth floor, which was the top floor, according to the elevator.

The elevator doors opened and dumped us into a hallway with a door to the right and a door to the left.Wemade our way to the left, andVinceopened the door.

“The first bedroom is on the right, along with a bathroom,”Vincesaid, leaning his head around the boxes he was carrying. “Let’sset everything in that bedroom for now and we can figure out what stuff you need, and then we’ll take whatever you don’t need down to storage later.”

We followed him to the bedroom, which had a queen bed, a nightstand on each side, and a dresser off to the side.Thebed was up against a brick wall.Theother two walls were drywall, painted a deep-gray color with a few pieces of artwork on them.Thefinal wall had big metal windows with huge gray curtains, matching the walls.

“Wow,”Valwhispered behind me.

After dropping our first few items off in the bedroom,ValandIheaded to check out the rest of the place whileVinceandArcherheaded back down to get more items.

“This place is really cool,”Valsaid.

Going back down toward the entry door, we passed the guest bath and a small laundry room.Itwas standard size, with everything we needed.Fromthere, we turned the corner, and the space opened up.Itwas huge.Theceilings were easily fourteen feet high, and the living room, dining room, and kitchen all flowed into each other.Themain back wall was all old brick, while the wall for the dining room was white.Thekitchen had one wall of brick and another white wall, forming anL-shaped space with dark gray cabinets and what looked like white quartz or granite countertops.Therewere four bar stools against the massive kitchen island.Vincewalked into the space behind us carrying his own bags.

“You’ve got good style,Vince,”Valsaid to the room.

“My sister did it all,” he replied. “Gaveher a budget, told her it had to fit the space, and look like a man lived here, and she took care of everything but theTV.ThatIbought myself.”

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