New York, Actually (From Manhattan with Love 4)

“I’m free the night after.”

“Good.” The words were muffled as he trailed his mouth down her neck. “That will give me time to clear up the rest of the glass.”

Thirteen

“The father didn’t exercise his parenting time on any weekend in the first three months of this year, and his behavior isn’t consistent with—” Daniel paused as Marsha walked into the room and then returned to his phone call. “Yeah, that’s right. That’s what I’m saying… He missed two parent-teacher conferences so I don’t think so, but let’s talk later.” He put the phone down. “You’re wearing your serious face, but I can tell you nothing is going to stress me today.”

He’d had the best night of his life. And it hadn’t just been the sex, although he’d been thinking about that for most of the morning. It was more than that. The way she’d listened. The way they’d talked. He would have expected to feel a little uncomfortable about all the things he’d told her, but for some reason he didn’t. He could have talked to Molly all night. He could have had sex with her all night, too. In fact he had, for most of it. The only thing they hadn’t done was eaten, but he was going to fix that. He was going to take her to dinner somewhere special tomorrow. Somewhere romantic.

He sat back and smiled at Marsha expectantly. “Well? How do you intend to burst my happy bubble today? As long as you’re not about to tell me you’re leaving me, everything is good.”

Marsha’s expression told him that everything was far from good. “What did you do last night?”

It was unlike her not to get straight to the point, but Daniel played along. “I had a date with Molly. You?”

“Dinner with my girls.” She put coffee on his desk. “M

olly is the girl you met downstairs? With the gorgeous dog?”

“Yes, she’s the one. You’d like her. She’s smart, funny and a great listener.” And phenomenal in bed, he thought, not to mention sexy. One minute she was an athlete with her cute ponytail swinging across her back as she ran, the next she was rocking a dress and sky-high heels. Remembering made his whole body heat. He had a feeling there had been lace underwear, too, but he’d been in too much of a hurry to get her naked to pay attention. Next time, he was going to pay attention. It was more than a little annoying that “next time” wasn’t going to be tonight. He, who had previously not had the time or the inclination to date on consecutive nights, was feeling mildly irritated that she already had plans.

He forced himself to focus on work. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“You wanted Max to find out the identity of ‘Aggie.’”

“Judging from your expression, I’m not going to like what I hear.”

“I think she does good work. I don’t approve of your mission to unmask her and take her to task.”

“Aren’t you being a little dramatic?”

She gave him a long look. “Once you find out who she is, you’re going to wish you’d never asked.”

“So she is a person? I was starting to think Aggie might be a call center with a hundred people dishing out random advice based on something written by a computer. I’m glad to hear there is at least someone I can connect with and she’s human.”

“She’s definitely human.”

“Great.” He held out his hand for the file and Marsha hesitated.

“Sometimes it doesn’t pay to ask too many questions. We might find out things we would rather have not known.”

“Another topic on which we disagree. I prefer to ask as many questions as possible. Then I can make an informed decision.” He kept his hand outstretched and she handed the file over reluctantly.

“Aggie is the pen name of Dr. Kathleen Parker.” She said the name slowly, with emphasis, waiting for a reaction from him.

He glanced from her to the file, wondering what he was missing. “Doctor? Doctor of what? Deception? Bullshit?”

“Dr. Parker, Dr. Kathleen Molly Parker, is a behavioral psychologist.”

Daniel looked up. The blood pounded in his ears. “Did you say Molly?”

“That’s right.”

“My Molly?”

“I don’t think she’s going to be yours for much longer when she finds out you did a background check on her. Or maybe you already told her.”

“I didn’t do a background check on her. I did a background check on Aggie, although technically it was Max who did it.”