“Perhaps that’s what it is. Perhaps I want somebody complementary. I dance, you fall over. You solve crimes, I…commit them.” He grinned. “I don’t really. I go in for sins more than crime. Of the flesh.” He closed a hand around her breast and nuzzled her neck.
“Speaking of sins of the flesh,” said Tilly thoughtfully, “I wonder what actually did happen to Norman. I’m supposed to report back to his fiancée tomorrow. What the hell am I going to say?”
“She thinks he’s still running my class?”
“Well, yeah. You said he was seeing someone else?”
“I don’t know that for sure. It’s what one of my pupils said. I’ve never met Norman.”
“It’s hearsay then. I don’t think I can tell her that, if I don’t know for certai
n.”
Calum shrugged. “Just tell her he isn’t teaching the class any more. That should give her enough information to know that she ought to be cancelling the wedding.”
“I guess.” But she was uneasy. She needed the money, and technically, she hadn’t fulfilled her brief. “I’ll have to call her tomorrow. I think she’ll be quite shocked.”
Calum yawned, draining the last of his tea.
“Not as shocked as I am, to find myself in this flat with this sexy little minx at bedtime. Don’t you find tea quite invigorating?”
Tilly didn’t. But Calum did, and he showed her the evidence, in bed.
The next morning, after lazy sex and an energetic shower, he eyed her over a steaming coffee mug and said, “So?”
She froze, bread knife in hand. It was time for The Question, the one she would avoid until dire necessity forced her conversational hand. The song When Will I See You Again? popped annoyingly into her head.
“So?” she echoed, gripping the loaf for dear life.
“Well, I have to get to work soon. How about you? What are your plans for the day?”
“You have to go to work? Is there a dance school nearby?”
“Tango is my hobby. I’m a tax inspector.”
She dropped the knife and swung around to face him, laughing. “No way! You don’t look like one.”
“Well, I am one. And I hope you’re keeping proper records of your earnings and expenses, young lady, or I may have to take you in hand.”
Tilly giggled, wet again despite the thorough and exhausting workout she had been put to over the course of the night. “That’s one way to motivate me…not to do it.”
He made a low growling sound at the back of his throat and curled his lip at her.
“But what are you doing today? What do private detectives do, nine to five?”
She sighed. “I’ll have to call Melinda. And tell her that her beloved fiancé isn’t teaching a tango class any more. I suppose that’ll be that. Then it’s back to finding a new advertising angle. I need more clients pretty desperately.”
“Haven’t you ever considered doing something a little more stable?”
“What’s stable, in this economy?”
“Good point. But this honey trap stuff. It’s potentially quite risky, don’t you think?”
Calum was telling her off. He hadn’t earned the right. She tightened her lips and looked away. Despite her enjoyment of submissive sex, she didn’t appreciate criticism of her life choices.
“No? What if next time the man goes too far? You could end up being assaulted, raped even. Are you willing to take that chance? I don’t think I am.”
“It’s nothing to do with you.”