Fired Up

offered.
    “Yes. But he couldn’t avoid the fallout from the gossip and rumors this time. The college is not going to renew his contract.”
    “Maybe he’ll be more careful when he picks his next short- term girlfriend.”
    “Maybe, but I doubt it. Fletcher is Fletcher. He’s got issues of his own. He just can’t admit it to himself. How’s the forensic financial-sleuthing business going?”
    “There’s progress, and there are dead ends,” Jack said. “Lots of dead ends.”
    “Fallon Jones said the organization was good at covering its tracks.”
    “What I’ve got so far is a closely held corporation that owns three fitness clubs in the Northwest, including the one here in Seattle. All three gyms were independently owned and operated until last year. All three were facing bankruptcy and about to close. That’s when they were acquired by a certain LLC.”
    “A limited liability corporation? Sounds promising.”
    “I think so. Something else very interesting about this particular chain of fitness clubs.”
    “What?” she asked, the investigator in her intrigued.
    “Before they were acquired by the LLC, all three clubs catered to the Pilates and yoga crowd. But now the clientele seems to consist entirely of hard-core bodybuilders.”
    “Like the pair that tried to take us out?”
    “Right.”
    She smiled. “You’re thinking like a detective.”
    “I’m starting to realize that I always think like a detective. It’s just that, until recently, the only thing I’ve been detecting is how to turn a profit.”
    “That’s useful, too.”
    “Sure, but after a while it gets old. You know, the night they grabbed me I had been speculating to my friend Jerry about what it would be like if I woke up one morning and discovered that Winters Investments had folded.”
    “Wondering if you could rebuild it?”
    He nodded and ate some more of his taco.
    “The answer is yes,” she said. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
    “Jerry said I was having a midlife crisis minus the blonde and the ’Vette.”
    “Instead you got me and a trip to Vegas.”
    Sexy laughter gleamed in his eyes. “Worked for me.”
    She finished her own taco and wiped her fingers on the napkin. “You like this, don’t you?”
    “You and Vegas? Well, you’re a definite plus, but I could’ve skipped Vegas if I’d had to.”
    “I’m not talking about me and Vegas. I meant working with Fallon Jones on this conspiracy he’s trying to shut down.”
    “It’s interesting,” he admitted.
    “You weren’t having a midlife crisis, Jack. You were just getting bored. You needed a challenge.”
    “I was also getting hit with the Winters Curse.”
    “It’s not a curse,” she said patiently.
    He finished the taco. “I’m pretty sure that you were what I needed.”
    She thought about what Fletcher had said concerning her intimacy issues. “Evidently we are therapeutic for each other.”
    He looked amused. “Is that an academic way of saying the sex is good?”
    No, she thought. It’s a roundabout way of saying that I love you. But if she said the words aloud she would put him in the position of having to declare his own feelings. That could only go one of two ways: Good or bad.
    It dawned on her that after all these years of trying to be honest with men, of trying to explain the serial monogamy concept and the fact that all her relationships were destined to be short- lived, she had finally found Mr. Right and now she was scared to death it wouldn’t be permanent. Who would have thought that falling in love could be so terrifying?

44
    CHLOE AND HECTOR WERE ON DAWN PATROL THE NEXT MORNING when Mountain Man emerged from his crib in the alley where he had spent the night. He adjusted the worn canvas duffel on his shoulder and leaned down to pat Hector.
    “Hey, there, Big Guy,” Mountain Man said. “How’s it goin’? Looks like that wound is healing okay.”
    “He’s feeling much better,” Chloe said. “How about you? Hector wants to know if you’re taking the meds they gave you at the clinic?”
    “Yep. Right on schedule.” Mountain Man reached into the pocket of his old fatigues and produced a small bottle of tablets. “Got ’em right here. Supposed to take ’em all week and then report back to the clinic.”
    “That’s great,” Chloe said. “Hector wants to buy you a cup of coffee. You got time?”
    “Sure. Got nothin’ but time.”
    They made their way to the coffeehouse on the corner. Chloe