Page 22 of The True Garza

“Shouldn’t you already know that?”

“Probably. But I’m really only overseeing this job and stepping in if needed,” he informs me. “This is all you and Allard. You send reports to Walter, and Allard sends reports to me.Buthe hasn’t been working with me long enough to get that I’m a lazy reader. Gotta pick up the phone and call me.”

“So, what, you’resupervisingus?”

He laughs as we slow to a stop at a red light. “Pretty sure you can hold your own, Bridge. Allard’s new with us, and this is his first solo job. I’m… evaluating.”

Ah. Well, after spending time with Sacha, I’m certain that man can hold his own as well.

“You came to that meeting late on purpose, didn’t you?” I ask.

“Yup.”

“Does he know he’s being evaluated?”

“Nope.”

“Hm. Well, tonight is about getting Raffi’s attention.”

Under his breath, he mutters something along the lines of, “Don’t think you’ll have a problem with that.”

But it’s so low that it’s possible I misheard him, so I ask, “What was that?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing.” The light turns to green. “Heard you were a big deal back in Denver. Why’d you leave all that glory?”

Huh. He’s been looking into me. “I missed my family.”

He lifts a fist to his mouth and coughs, “Bullshit.”

“Or maybe I missed the dry weather and the superficiality of LA. What do you care?”

“Just making conversation.”

“How about we just keep all our conversations strictly work-related?” I suggest. “Sacha and I have already made comfortable acquaintance. Since you’re just ‘overseeing’ things, you and I don’t need to.”

He snorts. “Think you and I have made more than ‘comfortable acquaintance,’ Bridge.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t think you know me just because you’ve seen me naked.”

This time he emits a light chuckle. “‘Seen me naked,’ she says, like I just walked in on her in a dressing room.”

Oh, my God. I want to strangle him. But he’s right. He’s more than seen me naked. He’s been inside me.Deepinside me. Had histongueinside me. His mouth on every inch of my body. Oh, he’s had an entire week ofknowingme, all right.

“Look, can we just pretend that never happened?”

“Impossible.”

“Okay, how about we never, ever talk about it ever again?”

Another snort. “You don’t wanna talk to me at all. I’m good with that. No skin off my nose.” With that, he turns on the stereo and ups the volume.

Minutes later, wearrive outside Sheer Nights.

I unbuckle my seatbelt. “You’re not going in, are you?”