don’t know how to find any naked pictures of Heath Ledger, and I haven’t figured out how to send a death ray to spammers, but I do the website for the bakery.” It was a basic one, but Izzie was pretty proud of it.
“I hear ya. So you know how to enlarge pictures? Other than ones of naked movie stars?”
Izzie grinned. “Yeah, give me a sec.” She looked at the newcomer. “What can I get you?”
“Espresso and a cannoli.”
“Sorry, Lilith took the last.”
Settling for just the espresso, the woman paid her and waited for her drink. After making it, Izzie went over to Lilith to see what help she could offer.
It wasn’t much. It turned out the medium needed to enlarge a grainy newspaper picture in order to see a ring on some guy’s finger. And Izzie just didn’t have the know-how to do it.
The newcomer in black leather, however, did. Joining them, she asked a few questions, then bent over Lilith’s computer and went to work. Watching her type, her fingers flying on the keys, Izzie figured she was experienced at this. But when the woman acknowledged that she was hacking into the newspaper website to try to find the original photo, she suspected there was a lot more than simple ballsiness to the woman.
She was mysterious. Maybe even a little dangerous.
They both seemed that way, really. Lilith with her supposed psychic abilities. This woman with her risky, who-gives-a-damn attitude. So unlike little Izzie of the bakery.
Maybe, however, not too unlike the Crimson Rose. She wondered what these two would think if they knew she wasn’t quite the sweet, simple bakery worker she appeared to be.
“Who is this guy, anyway?” the stranger asked. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to figure out if that ring is a wedding band and he’s the asshole you’ve been dating for the past three months.”
“Ew.”
“So he’s not your lover.”
“Say that again and I’ll dump the dregs on you. He’s a jerk I’m investigating.”
“A jerk?” The stranger snorted. “What makes him different from every other man on this planet?”
“Good question,” Izzie muttered, though her heart wasn’t really in it. Nick had always been one incredibly good guy. The fact that he wouldn’t have sex with her as a stripper didn’t mean he was a jerk.
Even though he was.
She wandered away from the other two, cleaning off the empty tables in preparation for closing. As she worked, she kept up with the other women’s conversation, trying to stay out of it, but unable to when she heard who Lilith was currently dating. Hearing that the sexy medium had hooked up with Mac Mancuso, a nice boy-next-door type turned Chicago cop, she had to put her two cents in. Mainly because their situations—whether Lilith would believe it or not—were very similar.
“Mac’s not a jerk. He grew up just a few blocks from here. Our families know each other. I’d think any woman would love to catch a good, honest cop like him.”
The stranger in black immediately stopped typing. “You’re sleeping with a cop.” Somehow, Izzie suspected the woman was allergic to anyone official—especially the police.
“I’m sleeping with him, not married to him,” Lilith insisted. “Trust me when I say that my definition of right and wrong varies from his by huge degrees.”
Huh. Sounding more and more like Izzie’s situation. She almost wished she and Lilith were alone so they could talk.
“Keep working and your next ten espressos are on me,” Lilith told the other woman.
“I won’t be around that long, but thanks for the offer.”
“Add her to my tab,” Lilith told Izzie. “Any time she stops in, coffee’s on me.” Glancing at the stranger, she asked, “What’s your name?”
“Seline.”
Amused since Lilith’s tab currently took up two pages in her accounts book, Izzie asked, “Does that mean you’re actually going to pay it someday?”
Lilith shrugged in unconcern, watching as Seline kept working. When she finally struck pay dirt and got Lilith the information she wanted, they both seemed triumphant.
Izzie only wished her problems with Nick could be solved with an internet search. Unfortunately, if she searched for the stuff she wanted to do with Nick Santori on the internet, she’d probably get inundated with spam from sites like bigpenises.com from now till eternity.
Finishing up her cappuccino and shutting down her computer, Lilith thanked Seline for helping her out, then turned to Izzie. “Thanks for the sugar boost and the wi-fi.”
“Anytime.” Unable to help it, Izzie called out, “Lilith, don’t be so quick to write off a great guy