my mind off the situation.” He’d certainly done what he’d set out to do. All she could think about now was kissing him.
He straightened, took a step toward her and got close. Very close. “It was my pleasure.” He tipped her chin up and bent his head just as the doors opened wider and the elevator jolted. They braced themselves against each other and Abbey felt the muscled ridges of his abs.
“Let’s go you two, while the getting’s good,” the fireman said.
Blake grinned and resumed the position with his hands cupped low for her to step into. “After you.”
Chapter Five
Troy gingerly pulled up his jeans. It took him twice as long to do everything with his arm in the damn sling. Thank God he was right-handed or he’d really be screwed. Three days in the hospital had been three days too long, but he’d lost so much blood, he’d needed two transfusions and his doctors wanted to make sure his hemoglobin stayed at a healthy level. He couldn’t wait to get out.
He stopped in midzip and had to retract the thought. Spending time with Julie Fraser had been worth the price. She’d mistakenly put him on a pedestal, an interesting turn of events considering she was probably used to that type of thing.
He still couldn’t believe he was on a first name basis with her and that they’d actually chatted the past two days. Her round of questions had been a ball buster he hadn’t needed, but her friend Carrie Ann had broken it up easily enough.
Thinking back to Nowhere to Hide, Troy remembered Carrie Ann topless as she executed a pole dance and striptease. The over-the-top scene had been the nail in her review coffin. Hell, he’d been embarrassed to watch it, and it took a whole lot to embarrass him. He’d seen trailers of some of her other films, but none of them had achieved great success.
After dropping the hospital bag on the bed, he finished dressing and began gathering his few belongings before clearing out.
“Hey, sorry I’m late.” Troy’s new assistant, Blake, sauntered into the room. He was using Troy’s P.I. license as the umbrella for his required six thousand hours of on-the-job experience. “The wait for an elevator might take some time. One of them is very much out of commission.” The kid had brought him things from home and had been holding down the office during his hospital stay. Though young, Blake was eager to learn, and Troy had needed the help to keep up with the business coming his way. It seemed every time he saw Blake, the guy had grown another inch high and wide.
“Not a problem. The doctor just signed my release papers. I couldn’t have left before now anyway.”
Years ago, he’d worked for a woman to locate her sister. He’d found that needle in the haystack by being in the right place at the right time. The P.I. gods had looked down upon him with favor. After a year of searching, he’d been two seconds away from telling her that he was giving up. He’d worked his ass off trying to locate that woman. He’d had his cell phone in his hand, sitting at a sports bar when he’d seen the teaser. A picture of Trace Bradshaw had flashed on the screen and it was like looking at his client. In that second he knew. Instead of calling his client to tell her he could no longer take her money in good conscience, he’d called her to tell her to watch the All Sports Network. Another successful locate.
He’d worked for Trace Bradshaw’s brother-in-law after that, and because they’d been on a movie set, his name had been passed around and before he knew it, he had nothing but high-profile clients asking him either to do background checks or spy on cheating spouses. He hadn’t thought he’d feel dirty doing the work. On the other hand, the whole idea of “‘Til death do us part” was highly overrated in his book. He’d seen that up close and personal in the worst way imaginable.
“Did you manage to get any info while you were here?” Blake asked, interrupting Troy’s thoughts.
“Other than the fact that she’s had a stream of visitors a mile long, including Ari, no,” Troy said, shoving his wallet into his back pocket. He’d had to dodge Trace Bradshaw during her visit to Julie. It wouldn’t do any good to be outed by a former client’s sister—not to mention his most famous