Body Movers: 3 Men and a Body

“I hope you understand why I couldn’t get involved, Wes.”

“I do.”

“Good. But I’d like to make it up to you.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What did you have in mind?”

“Come over tonight.”

His cock twitched. There was no denying the woman was a looker, and great in the sack. But he wasn’t sure he could trust her.

Of course, she had no reason to trust him, either. He had ransacked her files on his father’s case in her guesthouse, the place where she stored her archives, as well as “entertained.”

“Maybe,” he said. “I’ll let you know.”

“Don’t take too long,” she said, then hung up.

He put away the phone and walked into the building, thinking he could do worse for evening entertainment. But he’d been planning to cook a nice dinner for Carlotta, considering she’d been so worried about him, and that her already pathetic kitchen skills were now further hampered by the cast on her arm.

Even though his own dexterity would be curbed somewhat by his bandage, he could outcook Carlotta using only his thumbs and elbows. It was a good thing she was so damn pretty—no man was going to marry her for her culinary skills.

He walked into the now-familiar office and nodded to the now-familiar surly woman behind the check-in desk. “Wesley Wren to see E. Jones.” He scanned the waiting room as nonchalantly as possible. The Carver had once sent a man here to remind Wesley that he was behind on his payments, and the thug had punctuated the message by snubbing out his cigar on Wesley’s hand. That wound was still pink and puckering. If he didn’t find a way to get out of debt soon, his entire body would look like a strip of badly cut meat. Thankfully, though, no one in the room seemed to care he was there.

The old bat at the window sniffed. “You can go on back.”

He walked to E.’s office door, adjusted the sleeve of his shirt so that it didn’t emphasize the bandage underneath, and rapped.

“Come in.”

He swung open the door and miserably pondered the tightening of his chest when Eldora Jones lifted her green-eyed gaze to his.

“Hello, Wesley.”

“Hi.”

“Have a seat.”

He did, across from her desk. She wore a white buttoned-up blouse that might have been prim if not for the curves it clung to.

“How are you?” she asked. Her voice sounded friendly, but he’d been meeting with her long enough to know that even an innocuous question was usually leading somewhere.

“Good.”

“Why did you miss our appointment yesterday?”

He shifted in his chair. “I … was with some guys, lost track of time. Sorry.”

“You couldn’t call?”

“Battery on my phone died.”

“Your sister was really worried. She was afraid you were hurt.”

“I’m fine.” He smiled and lifted his hands, but the motion pulled the tightened skin under the bandage. The sudden pain took his breath away and made his arm jerk involuntarily.

“Did something happen to your arm?” she asked.

“Bicycle accident,” he said, continuing with his lie. “I scraped it.”

She studied his face with a half smile, her green eyes saying she didn’t believe him. “Sounds as if you were lucky. You could’ve been hurt much worse.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“You do realize that missing your scheduled meetings is a violation of your probation?”

Wesley wet his lips. “Thanks for letting me reschedule.”

“Next time you won’t get off so easily.”

He nodded.

“But I’m glad you’re okay,” she added softly.

He glanced up sharply at her tone. She sounded as if she … cared. But E. averted her gaze, cleared her throat and opened his file folder, back to business.

“I heard from Richard McCormick. He said he was very impressed with your computer knowledge when the two of you spoke. He said if your community service work goes well, he might even consider hiring you.”

Wesley knew it was meant to be a compliment, but he had no intention of toiling away in a cubicle for city wages until he keeled over. “He seemed like a nice enough guy.”

“When do you start?”

“Monday.”

“Is that going to be a problem with your body-moving job?”

“Nah, Coop’s cool with my community service. He said he’d work around it.”

She made a couple of notes, then closed his folder. “Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”

“Thanks for the concert tickets. I heard Elton was great.”

“Yeah, the show went on after they took your sister to the hospital. I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Thanks.” He fidgeted. “Did your boyfriend enjoy it?”

A little wrinkle appeared in her forehead. “Leonard? Yes, he enjoyed the concert.”

Wes’s mouth watered. He wanted so badly to tell her that the concert wasn’t the first place he’d met Leonard.