Fair Game Inc (2010) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Setting the file folder down on his desk, he looked up at his brother, appraisingly.
    "She'd mop the floor with you, little brother."

Fair Game Inc (2010)

    ****
    Amber sat alone in the darkened office. Light from the distant street leaked through the vertical blinds, gilding the chrome furniture. From memory, Amber made her way across the office to the alcove at the back that contained her coffee maker. She poured herself a cup of coffee hours cold. Adding a splash of powdered creamer, she stuck the mug in the microwave to heat. It beeped, the only sound in the building besides the rush of an occasional car on the street. She jumped, startling herself from her dark muse.
    Retrieving the cup, she collapsed back into her leather chair. The coffee was foul enough to jolt her into wakefulness. She flipped on her desk lamp. It cast a puddle of golden light across her desk. With a deep yawn, she reached for the active file in her bottom drawer.
    Words in her own handwriting danced across the pages, refusing to make sense. The scent of Grayson's cologne clung like a ghost to her clothing. Her arm was still warm where he had touched her. She could almost feel the heat of him radiating over her as if he stood behind her still.
    Spooked by the intensity of her thoughts, Amber spun around in her chair. But the office behind her was as dark and as empty as she remembered.
    Fatigue worked its way into her muscles. Exhausted from their encounter in the courthouse, there was nothing she wanted to do more than go home and crawl into bed. But work that didn't get done today only piled up tomorrow. Her time was at a premium now that she'd been ordered to spend evenings helping Grayson.
    Stupidly, she thought she'd won the judge's support. They were all the same, she decided, judges, lawyers, men. How could he possibly have sided with Grayson Charles? Couldn't he see it was an honest mistake?
    The only one she'd ever made.

    Chapter THREE
    Amber peered through the binoculars at the nondescript brown building she'd been parked in front of for the past six hours. Resting the binoculars against the dash, she rubbed a hand across weary eyes.
    "Come on, come on," she chanted to the impassive building face as if the force of her will could penetrate the brick and the mind of the man who lived in apartment four. She drummed her fingernails against the steering wheel. "You feel the need for take-out Chinese, or you're out of soap and you've got a hot date tonight." But the occupant of apartment four stayed firmly ensconced. With a frown she glanced at her watch. "And I've got a date with Grayson Charles in half an hour."
    Leaning back against the headrest she vividly pictured the profits flying out the window. The long time girlfriend of the man in number four suspected she was not the only one in his life. Willing to pay for Amber's deluxe package, complete with videotape of the event, she nonetheless insisted on proof before sealing the deal.
    Were it not for Grayson Charles, Amber would be content to sit and watch until either the suspected cheater either left his apartment or the suspected new girlfriend arrived. A loaded 35mm camera with a telephoto lens lay on the seat beside her. But in six hours the most interesting visitors to the tiny building had been a squirrel and a couple of motley looking pigeons.
    Amber thumped her fist against the steering wheel. She'd bet the girlfriend would show up the moment she left for Grayson's office. Never failed. If she went out for coffee or to use the ladies on a stake-out it proved to be the five minutes she should have stayed put.
    Minutes passed with agonizing slowness. Investigative business of any sort just didn't keep regular hours. Couldn't the judge have understood that? Unlike Grayson Charles, she didn't go home at six in the evening. Often that was merely the beginning of her day.
    If she didn't snap off a few shots of the occupant in number four, she'd be sitting here again tomorrow. While all