“She hired me because she liked what I’d done with her friend’s living room. She kept going on and on about it.”
A shot of pride burned through Jonas. “You’re going to get a reputation soon. It won’t be long and you’ll be turning down clients because your schedule is so full.”
Deanna laughed. “I don’t know about that, but it’s a nice dream.”
“So, are you still frustrated with me, kitten?”
“That depends.”
“On?” he gently prodded.
“Do you intend to tell me which clients I can take and which ones I can’t?”
Jonas’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “That seems like one of those questions that could get me into trouble.”
Deanna sighed. “It’s a simple yes-or-no question, Jonas.”
“Then, no, I don’t intend to pick your clients for you.”
“But?” she asked. “Do I hear a but?”
“But,” he confirmed, “I do think I have a right to know who they are. And I do think I have a right to protect you from danger. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, Deanna.”
“No, it’s not. I just don’t want to be ordered about.”
He relaxed at once, glad that she appeared to be softening toward him. “By the way,” he said, remembering the printout he still had tucked in his pocket, “I have a picture of Valdez. I’ll bring it by tomorrow.”
“That’s what you said earlier. By the way, I have an apology to make about that.”
That shocked him so much he nearly ran a red light. He slammed on his brakes and barely kept from ending up in the middle of the intersection. “You do?” he asked.
“Yes. Don’t let this go to your head, but you were right when you said it’s highly unlikely that there are two Terrance Valdezes living in Zanesville. I did a quick search and only one popped up.”
Jonas couldn’t have been more surprised if someone had yelled fire. “You ran a search on him?”
“Nothing fancy like you. Just an online search engine. And don’t laugh, Mister Computer Genius.”
“I’m not laughing,” he murmured. The light turned green and he hit the gas. “That’s the first thing I do. Amazing what you can find out about people when you Google them, huh?”
“Yeah. I think I might be doing that more often too. Still, I do want to see the picture, just in case.”
“No problem.” He turned down his street and wished like hell he was heading to her house instead of his cold, lonely bed.
“Jonas?”
“Yeah, kitten?”
“Earlier, you asked if I had Skype. I got your friend request and accepted.”
“Thanks,” Jonas said as he pulled into the parking lot to his apartment. “Can I call you back in about fifteen minutes?”
There was a beat of silence, and then, “I’ll be waiting.”
Damn, he liked the thought of that. Jonas kept his voice gentle when he ordered, “Have your Skype up, kitten. I’m going to call you on that.”
“Okay.”
Jonas sucked in a breath at her one-word reply. Already he could picture her all tucked under the covers and looking sexy as hell. His dick urged him to move his ass along already. “Do you know how turned on I am right now?”