“How’s it going to work? With Avery here?”
“It’s going to work how it works.” Dane tipped his beer to his lips, then continued. “She’s our employer. Like Evelyn. We’ll be professional.”
“Professional,” Noah repeated.
I didn’t blame him for looking skeptical. We’d all cared about Evelyn — loved her even — but none of us had wanted to fuck her.
“Yes.” Dane’s voice was steady. “Professional.”
Noah laughed. “Speak for yourself.”
4
AVERY
I lookedout the window of the parlor and watched as Sheriff Crowe’s squad car disappeared down the driveway. She’d been the last of the police, and it was strange to feel the house settle into quiet. It had been a hive of activity since the moment I’d stepped into the entryway, and my shoulders sagged with relief.
No more white forensics van out front, no more police cars or uniformed officers passing by the windows.
The table lamps — clearly on a timer — blinked on, casting the room in a cozy glow, and I realized with surprise that it was almost dark.
I was thirsty, starving, and really had to pee. Again. I’d used the bathroom right when we’d come inside after the police arrived, but that had been hours ago.
I stepped into the hall, used the powder room I found near the stairs leading to the upper floors, then followed the sound of voices to the back of the house.
I passed a library lined with books that went all the way to the ceiling, complete with one of those rolling library ladders that looked totally magical. There was a media room with a projector screen and movie-theater-style seats, a wood-paneled room withanother TV that looked like a living room, and a sunroom lined with windows, the property lit up like a high-end resort on the other side of the glass.
The voices got louder as I reached the end of the hall until I finally stepped into a massive kitchen that looked like it ran the entire length of the house. The man named Beck was there, stirring something on the stove, along with the two other guys who’d found me in the gazebo.
And holy guacamole. They were as hot as I remembered.
I’d kind of started to think I’d imagined it, that I’d gotten confused by the whole “dead body” thing, and I’d convinced myself that when I saw them again they’d have turned into grizzled old men, like a twisted version of Cinderella at midnight.
But nope. They really were hot.
Beck was stirring whatever was in the pot while the blond who’d been holding garden gloves at the gazebo sat in one of the chairs at a kitchen island as big as my entire apartment in the city.
The black-haired guy leaned against the counter, looking annoyed and grumpy.
Tattoos crawled out from under their clothes, and I could practically smell the testosterone in the room.
“Hey,” Beck said, spotting me in the doorway. “All done?”
“Done?” Why did I sound like an idiot?
“With Sheriff Crowe.”
“Oh, yeah. She just left. I think they’re all gone now.”
The blond stood and pulled out one of the chairs at the island. “Have a seat. You must be beat. I’m Noah by the way. Noah Bennett. I do the landscaping.”
“Avery,” I said on my way to the chair.
Dimples dented his cheeks as he flashed me a grin, and my heart almost stopped beating. “I remember.”
Right. I’d introduced myself at the gazebo.
But who could blame me for losing my cool? His sun-bleached hair made me think of summer picnics and rumpled sheets in the afternoon, and there was a calm in his green eyes that made me feel like I was sinking into a tropical pool of water.