unit, he got ready with his camera. She paused, as if looking for something, presumably a doorbell, and then knocked on the door.
As soon as it opened, Ford began snapping away.
A spike of adrenaline coursed through him when he saw that the guy had brown hair and appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties. Wearing athletic shorts and a tank top, he was in good shape and looked “normal” enough.
Victoria smiled as she spoke, and Peter Sutter nodded in the affirmative. Ford was close enough that he could hear the murmurs of their voices, although he couldn’t catch their exact words. He watched as she presumably went into her speech about living on the next block, how the package got delivered to her place by mistake, et cetera, et cetera. Then she handed over the envelope.
Sutter grinned as he took the package from her. With a friendly nod, she turned to go, and Ford spied through his zoom lens as the guy—who very well may have been the dickhead who’d bailed on his sister—leered at Victoria’s ass.
Ford’s grip on the camera tightened.
“Hey, wait.” With a sly grin, Sutter jogged over to where Victoria stood on the sidewalk. “I didn’t catch your name, neighbor. Which block did you say you live on?”
Ford set the camera down on the passenger seat, thinking it was time for Peter Sutter Number Two to take his tank top and his pesky questions and mosey on back to his apartment. “We all set, babe?” he called out from the car.
Sutter started at the sound of his voice—clearly not having noticed him. Victoria looked over, appearing amused by this breach in mission protocol.
“Yep, all set,” she called back.
“Great.” Resting his forearm on the window, Ford leveled his gaze on Sutter. “How’s it going?”
“Uh . . . good.” The guy mumbled a thank-you to Victoria for bringing over his package, and then hastily headed back into his apartment.
Victoria climbed into the car and raised an eyebrow at Ford. “‘Babe’?”
“It felt like a ‘babe’ kind of moment.” He threw the car into drive, took off, and parked two blocks up the street. His camera was synched via Bluetooth to his phone, so he sent the best of the photos to his cell, and then texted them to his sister. “I told Nicole to be on standby this afternoon, so hopefully she’ll get back to us right away. If Peter Sutter Number Two isn’t our guy, I was thinking we could try our luck charming a few doormen.” He flashed her a mischievous grin. “You’ll want to brace yourself for another onslaught of sexiness, since I’ll be doing my reporter thing.”
He chuckled as she looked out the window, shaking her head and muttering something about his ego.
So much fun.
A few minutes later, Ford’s cell phone rang, sounding through the car speakers via Bluetooth. Seeing it was his sister, he answered on speakerphone so Victoria could hear. “Nic, hey. I’ve got Victoria in the car with me.”
“Yay, my favorite lawyer.” She sounded slightly winded. “Ford said he roped you into helping him find Zoe’s dad. Not sure how he managed that one.”
Victoria gave Ford a wry look that said she wasn’t quite sure how he’d managed it, either.
He winked, whispering, “All charm.”
Victoria turned her attention back to Nicole. “I assume you saw the photo Ford sent you? What’s the verdict?”
“It’s not him,” Nicole said without hesitation. “This looks like the kind of guy who gets your number at a bar and then drunk texts you dick pics at two A.M.”
Ford began to roll his eyes, and then paused.
Actually, he did look like that kind of guy.
“Oh, crap.” In the background, the roar of an L train drowned out Nicole’s voice. It took several moments for the sound to fade away—a sound that was replaced by that of Zoe crying. “Sorry, I’m out running errands—I have Zoe in the stroller and the L woke her up. Shit, and she’d just fallen asleep, too.”
Zoe’s crying grew louder, as if Nicole was holding her close to the phone. “I know, sweetie, that train was really loud. Anyway, like I said, it’s not our Peter Sutter,” she told Ford and Victoria. “Listen, I’ve got to go. Zoe’s totally melting down here. I’ll call you back later. And thank you.” She said a quick good-bye and hung up.
Ford glanced over at Victoria. “She sounded okay, right?”
“Nicole? I think so. I mean, it’s obvious Zoe is keeping her on her toes. Babies do that, I guess.”