gorgeous.”
I smiled at him. “You look alright,” I replied. “Let me grab my keys.”
A few minutes later we were stepping into a black SUV with dark-tinted windows and pulling away into the packed streets of New York. I tried not to tap my leg on the floorboard, but I couldn’t stop it.
Phillip shifted the gears of the vehicle with ease. I wondered how his hands would feel controlling my body like that. He glanced over at me. “You really are like a little ball of glowing energy, aren’t you?” His eyes twinkled.
I stopped bouncing my leg. “Sorry,” I said. “It drives everyone I know absolutely to distraction.”
Phillip changed lanes in the crawling NYC traffic. “I actually think it’s kind of fucking adorable,” he said, his face unchanged.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. So I shifted in my seat and starting jiggling my other leg.
“Struck speechless, finally?” he retorted as he pulled up in front of a brownstone on a quiet side street. He killed the engine and the lights.
I twisted my body to look around. There were a few people walking home with grocery bags in their hands. “Is this where the fundraiser is? Someone’s house?”
Phillip was tracing his mouth with his long fingertips. “We’re just waiting for someone,” he replied.
“Waiting for...” Then it struck me. He was waiting for her to walk out of her place so he could follow her. “Ah, so you know what your girlfriend is doing tonight, just not where she’s doing it?” I leaned back in the chair. “This is weird as fuck, Phillip.”
He shrugged. A black Sprinter van with darker window tints than Phillip’s rental SUV pulled away from its parallel parking spot. Phillip waited five seconds and then pulled into the road.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked him. I had clearly been wrong.
This wasn’t about a girlfriend. What woman took a Sprinter van to anywhere?
Phillip was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. I saw how he kept his distance precisely where he wanted it from the van we were now clearly following. He had done this before. This was professional. “Oh Jesus,” I said under my breath. My stomach dropped through my feet. “You’re a private investigator, aren’t you?”
Phillip had his mouth set in a firm line. “The less you know, the better.”
“This was the favor? I’m your cover, aren’t I? Why did you lie and tell me that you were a corporate mergers guy? What was all that shit last night about ‘the greatest good’ and all of that? How can you lie that easily?” I said all of these things in one great rush of breath.
Phillip glanced over at me. “I need you to trust me,” he said.
“Trust a guy who had no issue nearly letting an elderly man die in front of him? You don’t get to play God, Phillip ,” I hissed. “Was he the one you were spying on last night? Was that woman his girlfriend?”
Phillip cleared his throat. “I told you, the less you know, the better.”
“Is he even alive? Because you know, right?” I’d tried calling the hospital but no one would tell me anything. In all likelihood Dr. Wilson had told them to freeze me out.
“He’s alive,” Phillip said. “Entirely thanks to you, obviously.”
There was a bitter edge in his voice. I laughed darkly. “So you clearly hate the guy. You wish him dead because he’s cheating on his wife with some young bimbo?”
Phillip shook his head. “You can’t possibly know the things this guy has done. And you shouldn’t know, okay? Like I said, the less you know the better.”
We sat in silence as Phillip drove. We made it to downtown Manhattan and the Sprinter van pulled into a parking garage. Phillip slowed down to push the button for the ticket. It spat out a white, crisp receipt that he tucked into the pull-down visor. He eased the SUV up five, six, seven stories. We made it to the top level just as the Sprinter van parked near the elevator.
A man hopped out
I smiled at him. “You look alright,” I replied. “Let me grab my keys.”
A few minutes later we were stepping into a black SUV with dark-tinted windows and pulling away into the packed streets of New York. I tried not to tap my leg on the floorboard, but I couldn’t stop it.
Phillip shifted the gears of the vehicle with ease. I wondered how his hands would feel controlling my body like that. He glanced over at me. “You really are like a little ball of glowing energy, aren’t you?” His eyes twinkled.
I stopped bouncing my leg. “Sorry,” I said. “It drives everyone I know absolutely to distraction.”
Phillip changed lanes in the crawling NYC traffic. “I actually think it’s kind of fucking adorable,” he said, his face unchanged.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. So I shifted in my seat and starting jiggling my other leg.
“Struck speechless, finally?” he retorted as he pulled up in front of a brownstone on a quiet side street. He killed the engine and the lights.
I twisted my body to look around. There were a few people walking home with grocery bags in their hands. “Is this where the fundraiser is? Someone’s house?”
Phillip was tracing his mouth with his long fingertips. “We’re just waiting for someone,” he replied.
“Waiting for...” Then it struck me. He was waiting for her to walk out of her place so he could follow her. “Ah, so you know what your girlfriend is doing tonight, just not where she’s doing it?” I leaned back in the chair. “This is weird as fuck, Phillip.”
He shrugged. A black Sprinter van with darker window tints than Phillip’s rental SUV pulled away from its parallel parking spot. Phillip waited five seconds and then pulled into the road.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked him. I had clearly been wrong.
This wasn’t about a girlfriend. What woman took a Sprinter van to anywhere?
Phillip was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. I saw how he kept his distance precisely where he wanted it from the van we were now clearly following. He had done this before. This was professional. “Oh Jesus,” I said under my breath. My stomach dropped through my feet. “You’re a private investigator, aren’t you?”
Phillip had his mouth set in a firm line. “The less you know, the better.”
“This was the favor? I’m your cover, aren’t I? Why did you lie and tell me that you were a corporate mergers guy? What was all that shit last night about ‘the greatest good’ and all of that? How can you lie that easily?” I said all of these things in one great rush of breath.
Phillip glanced over at me. “I need you to trust me,” he said.
“Trust a guy who had no issue nearly letting an elderly man die in front of him? You don’t get to play God, Phillip ,” I hissed. “Was he the one you were spying on last night? Was that woman his girlfriend?”
Phillip cleared his throat. “I told you, the less you know, the better.”
“Is he even alive? Because you know, right?” I’d tried calling the hospital but no one would tell me anything. In all likelihood Dr. Wilson had told them to freeze me out.
“He’s alive,” Phillip said. “Entirely thanks to you, obviously.”
There was a bitter edge in his voice. I laughed darkly. “So you clearly hate the guy. You wish him dead because he’s cheating on his wife with some young bimbo?”
Phillip shook his head. “You can’t possibly know the things this guy has done. And you shouldn’t know, okay? Like I said, the less you know the better.”
We sat in silence as Phillip drove. We made it to downtown Manhattan and the Sprinter van pulled into a parking garage. Phillip slowed down to push the button for the ticket. It spat out a white, crisp receipt that he tucked into the pull-down visor. He eased the SUV up five, six, seven stories. We made it to the top level just as the Sprinter van parked near the elevator.
A man hopped out
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