Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery 1)

“I got a message from the tech department,” he said as they neared the car.

“Please tell me it’s a hit on the video of the keg?”

“Bingo. A white car dropped it off, but apparently the license plate is out of frame.”

“Damn,” she huffed. “I already checked with the building next door. They’ve only got video surveillance inside. And the camera on the business across the street is pointed in the wrong direction.”

Luke cursed. “You know what we’re going to have to do.”

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Simone said, putting a hand to the small of her back with a grimace.

There were lots of businesses on the street that fed to the alley, and most of those places had cameras of some kind. Every one would have a different angle, and they knew from bitter experience that every feed would have a slightly different time stamp, too. Luke and Simone were going to spend a lot of hours collecting video feed, and unless they wanted to wait a year for tech to go through them all, they were going to spend time staring at monitors. His eyes hurt just thinking about it, and Simone was obviously prepping for back pain.

But it was a lead.

“We’d better start praying for a fingerprint on that keg.” Simone sighed. She was reaching for the car door, when someone caught her eye. “Can you wait a sec? Shelly wanted some advice about applying for detective next year. I forgot to call her back.”

“Sure.”

Simone walked over to one of the uniforms and Luke waited next to the car, staring down at the little creek that ran through a gully just past the parking lot.

He opened his phone, telling himself he wasn’t hoping for a message from Tessa. Even when he found no message, he smiled. She’d put him in a damn good mood. It didn’t hurt that he kept catching her scent. After using her shampoo, he smelled like kiwi and citrus, and he’d been sure everyone could tell. Simone had caught him smiling once and raised an eyebrow, but she hadn’t said anything about his fruity smell.

He should thank Tessa’s brother for the drop-in this morning. If Eric hadn’t put a damper on the situation, Luke would be strolling around whistling show tunes and slapping random strangers on the back.

The fact that he hadn’t lost any of his good mood after being called to a death scene was a testament to Tessa’s powers. Maybe he’d absorbed some of her happiness by sleeping next to her for eight hours. Or maybe having the best sex of his life was enough to cheer a guy up.

Hell, he didn’t even regret not waking her up this morning. He’d meant to. He’d even smoothed her hair back from her shoulder and kissed her spine just the way he’d planned the night before. But she’d sighed and curled up like a kitten, and Luke had found himself watching her sleep. In retrospect, that was either creepy or pitiful, or both. But Luke was in such a good mood, he didn’t care.

Just as he glanced up to see if Simone was ready, his phone rang and flashed Tessa’s name.

“Hey,” he said past a grin. “How’d it go with Eric?”

“Ugh. I don’t want to talk about it. We reached a truce, but you’d better avoid both my brothers for a little while.”

“Trust me, I’ll do my best.”

“Listen, I’m just about to leave. I figured you were off by now…?”

“We’re out on a late call. I’ve got to check in at the station and then I’m free. Can I take you out to dinner?” Too soon, the male ego inside him shouted. Too soon! He wouldn’t have taken his internal alarm too seriously except that Tessa hesitated over the invitation.

Luke glared at the water that rushed over piles of stones.

Finally, Tessa said, “Sure. I’ll meet you at the station.”

“Oh.” He blinked and glanced at Simone. But what the hell? Simone certainly wasn’t going to raz him. “Okay. No problem. You know where it is?”

“Sure, I’m in and out of jail all the time.”

“I had my suspicions. All right, I’ll meet you at my car in a half hour.”

Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot and spotted Tessa right away. The sight of her in her ponytail and brewery shirt made him smile, but when he realized what he was doing he snapped his mouth straight. It was no use. The smile was back as he walked toward her and saw the way she brightened up when she saw him.

Still, instead of greeting him, she held her hand out to Simone.

“Hi!” she said brightly. “I’m Tessa Donovan.”

Luke cleared his throat. “Simone, you remember Tessa from the brewery.”