Page 36 of Shadow

She frowned and glanced at her phone. “I didn’t think they were open tonight.”

Ripley laughed. “You have been away for too long. They’re open five nights a week now. Not just on the weekends. They’re only dark on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.”

She felt bad for not knowing that. Though Carrie had probably told her at one point or another and it just hadn’t registered.

“Wow. OK. I guess it would be nice to go back again. I’ve been hiding for a while.”

He picked up a lock of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. “Why is that?”

She shrugged away from his touch. “I don’t know. Embarrassment. There was no way I could take Mario there. He never knew about my kinky side. My cosplays were too exotic for him. He would have choked if I’d taken him to a place like Exposure.”

Ripley shook his head. “That’s a damn shame. His loss, though. Kink is such a huge part of you. I’m sorry you felt like you had to hide it.”

His phone rang, and he held up a hand as he slid off the barstool. “One sec, baby.”

She waved him off and turned to her computer, typing numbers from the contractor’s initial estimates into a spreadsheet. A burst of pride rushed through her when she realized it wouldn’t set her back all that much thanks to her hefty savings account and the fact that both of her bars were profitable. Even if the insurance company didn’t pay anything, she was going to be just fine.

She’d worked hard for what she had and had no trouble feeling pride about her accomplishments.

“We’ll be there in half an hour, maybe a little longer,” she heard Ripley say.

When she turned to look at him, he tucked his phone into his pocket and sat next to her again.

“Who was that?”

“Savko from Peter’s office. Wants us to come look at some stills he pulled from a camera that didn’t get erased the night of the fire.”

“It’s the twenty-first century. Can’t he email them to us?”

Ripley laughed. “This isn’t the sort of thing you email, babe. Especially not when our perp has tech skills. Or at the very least, has an accomplice with tech skills.”

Fine, so he was right. He was always right.

“OK. I just need to finish this up, and we can go.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Good girl. I’m going to wait outside and make a couple of calls.”

“Oh sure, now you’ll wait outside since you can’t be a nuisance?”

He fisted a hand into her hair and leaned down so his mouth was against her ear. “You might want to think about how much you sass me, little girl. I promised you another dose of my belt, and I can always make it worse.”

Her face warmed when she spotted Niki coming back from the office.

Ripley stepped away and gave a little wave to her bar manager. “Good to see you again, Niki.”

Niki stared after him as he walked out the door and shook her head. “How do you get the hot guys, Olivia?”

She frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Niki shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just that Mario was super-hot-celebrity-chef-guy, and now you’re with even-hotter-mystery man.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “What makes you think I’m with Ripley? He might just be my security.”

Niki patted her shoulder. “You can tell yourself that, but he kicked me out of your hotel room in Vegas, boss. Pretty sure you’re with him.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. We’re together. It’s complicated. Ripley predates Mario. And hot or not, I’d rather pretend Mario never happened.”

Niki cleared her throat as she picked up a stack of papers to straighten them. “Soooo… Is Ripley aware that Mario will be in Vegas?”

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