Now and Always Read Online Free PDF Page B

moment of quiet before having to return to the crowd. As she rested, she stole an occasional glimpse at the grainy color monitors. There was little activity going on at the moment. In what seemed like minutes instead of an hour, she was back at work, strolling around inside with the fundraiser patrons while Jeff waited in a car outside in case they needed to go after the suspects.
    Connie was standing to one side, watching the people exit the hall, when she saw him. Not her suspect, but the tall, good-looking man who had been eyeing her earlier that night. He was at least six-foot and leanly muscled, with classic features. Light eyes, she surmised although from this distance it was tough to tell the exact color.
    Not her type
, she lied to herself.
    “Anything, Connie?” Jeff asked over the earpiece.
    “Nothing,” she replied and reminded herself she was here to catch a counterfeiting suspect and not check out handsome men.
    She scrutinized the patrons in the lobby again, but had no luck. If their man was around, he was hiding well. Connie was about to head outside to the steps of the center when someone stepped in her way.
    A broad chest blocked her view and she looked up into the face she had been admiring just moments earlier. Warmth drifted up her neck at the thought he might have noticed that persual.
    As her gaze met his, she realized he had blue eyes. Incredibly blue and gorgeous.
    “Excuse me,” she apologized, uneasy at being that close and needing to get by him to head outside.
    He raised his hand in apology. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to just run into you.”
    Connie hoped he wouldn’t notice the flush on her cheeks. He held out his hand and began to introduce himself. “Victor —”
    “Look, I really have to go,” she replied, moving away from him, but he grabbed her hand, keeping her beside him, and a jolt of warmth traveled up her arm from the contact.
    “Please, don’t go,” he said, smiling. A smile that had her taking a deep breath to slow the quickening beat of her heart.
    “Connie. Connie! What’s going on?” Jeff bellowed.
    She winced from Jeff’s volume and pulled her hand out of the stranger’s grasp. “Look. You seem really nice, but I’m working.”
    A stunned look crossed the man’s face. “Working? You’re a working girl?”
    “Gotta run,” she said and rushed away, searching the crowd for their suspect.
    Victor watched her go. When had hookers gotten so upscale?
    Well, maybe the high class call girls
, he thought, thinking it a shame. She had too much refinement to be a prostitute. He shrugged, slipped his parking ticket stub out of his pocket, and hurried outside. His obligation to his mother was done and he wanted nothing more than to head home and slip into bed.
    Sadly, to an empty bed.
    He walked outside and handed the valet his ticket. As he stood on the steps, a flash of sapphire blue caught his eye. His working girl was at the curb, leaning into the window of a car, and speaking to someone. Apparently she had found her companion for the night.
    Victor smiled with some measure of satisfaction as he realized they wouldn’t be going anywhere real soon. The car had gotten boxed in.
    The man in the car got out, and as he did so, a black Jaguar that had been parked at the far end of the curb, clear of the other traffic, pulled away with a screech of tires against the pavement.
    The young woman he had admired earlier waved at the older man and pointed toward his Corvette as the valet brought it around. The man flagged down the valet who stopped and got out of the car, a puzzled look on his face.
    It took Victor a second to realize that his working girl and the older man were both flashing badges as they jumped into his car. Victor sprinted down the steps, but they slammed shut the doors of the Corvette and peeled away from the center, tires burning rubber from the sudden acceleration. Victor’s Corvette quickly made up the distance on the Jaguar and was right on