something else I can do, I can build up a credit.”
Sofie stood, then reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the wad of cash. A guy willing to wash dishes in a diner to pay his bill couldn’t be all bad, could he? She peeled off enough to cover the lunch and a tip for Millie. “That should take care of it,” she said. “You can pay me back later,” she said to Cameron. “Come on.”
Turning on her heel, she headed to the door. Everything inside her told her that this guy wasn’t what he said he was. But at the same time, he seemed nice enough. She’d just maintain her distance until she was sure. She glanced over her shoulder to find him standing there. “You’re hired.”
He picked up his bag and ran after her, pushing the door open for her. “Thanks,” he said. “Hey, you can take the lunch out of my first day’s pay.” He paused. “You are going to pay me, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And I’m going to need a place to stay.”
“We’ll figure that out later,” she said.
“I’d kind of like to get it figured out now,” he said. “I’ve only got six dollars to my name.”
“Sheriff Wendall lets people sleep in the jail when it’s not occupied. But I think I can find you a place to bed down.”
“Great,” he said. He held out the six dollars and she waved him off.
“But before you start work for me, I have to do a background check,” she said, putting her straw hat back on her head. She stood in front of him, her hands hitched on her waist, observing him shrewdly. “Is there anything in your past that you’d like to confess to right now? Because, I guarantee, by the end of the day, I’ll know everything about you.”
“A background check? What do you want to know?”
Sofie stared at him for a long moment. In truth, she wanted to know what it felt like to kiss him. She wanted to know whether he tasted half as good as he looked. She wanted to know what his naked body looked like beneath those fancy clothes and what it would take for her to get him out of his clothes and into her bed. And she—
“I don’t have any secrets,” he said.
She blinked, startled out of her daydream. Sofie cleared her throat. “How old are you? Where were you born? What do your parents do?”
“I’ll be thirty in two months, I was born in Seattle, and my parents died when I was a kid. At least I think they’re dead.”
Sofie saw the look that crossed his face, a mix of resignation and pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up—”
“That’s all right,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t mind talking about it.”
“You said you thought they were dead. Don’t you know for sure?” She sucked in a sharp breath. Though her first instinct was to interrogate, she realized that there was a polite limit to her questions. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
“They disappeared while ferrying a yacht across the Pacific. We don’t know if they were lost in a storm and sank or drowned or what happened. One day they were there, and the next day, they’d disappeared. What about your folks? Are they alive?”
Sofie regretted questioning him in such a businesslike manner, but she wasn’t about to drive out into the desert with a guy she couldn’t trust. “My father is a cop. And my mother is an artist. They live in Albuquerque, where my mother has a gallery.”
“And how old are you?”
“I’m asking the questions,” she said.
“You’re quite good at this,” he said. “You’re making me kind of nervous.”
“I’ve had training. Do you have a photo ID with you?”
Cameron pulled out his wallet and handed her his Washington state driver’s license. Sofie groaned inwardly. He even managed to look gorgeous on his license photo. This man was just too good to be true.
“Anything else you’d like to know?”
She shook her head. “I guess that will do for now.” She gave him back his license.
“Good.”
Sofie pointed to a battered Jeep sitting a short walk down the main street. When they reached it, Cameron tossed his bag in the backseat and hopped it. The Jeep had no doors, so he fastened his seat belt and braced his feet against the floor.
Sofie slid into the driver’s side and grabbed a pair of sunglasses off the dash. “We’re going to need to get you a proper hat,” she said.
“Like yours?”
She grinned, then took her hat off and placed it on his head. “Yeah, just like mine,” she said, turning the key in the ignition. “It’s a good look on you.”
Sofie made a wide U-turn and headed east out of town. Though her thoughts still strayed into fantasy-land when she looked at the handsome stranger sitting beside her, at least she had a reason to keep him close by. She needed an extra set of eyes and ears to investigate the case she was working on. And with his looks and charm, he’d be the perfect undercover investigator.
2
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” Cameron shouted.
“Into town,” Sofie said over the sound of the wind and the Jeep.
“Weren’t we just in town?”
She shook her head. “We’re going to Holman. It’s a bigger town. I’m going to check you out, and then, if you’re cool, we’re going to get you some work clothes and get started.”
“So tell me about the case,” he said.
“I’m working for a woman whose husband may or may not be cheating on her. There’s a prenup, but she needs proof before she can file for divorce. Her family has a lot of money and he’s a pretty powerful guy in Albuquerque politics. It’s going to be a messy divorce.”
“What do I do?”
“Mostly anything I can’t,” she said. “No one knows you, and as a guy, you can go places that I can’t without being noticed.”
“Like where?”
“Strip clubs,” she said. “Roadhouses.”
“You’re going to make me go to a strip club?” Cameron asked. He chuckled to himself. Now, this was a job he could get behind.
Maybe his grandfather had the right idea. When would he ever have had the chance to be a private investigator? It was the last thing in the world he could imagine doing for a living. He sat back and turned his face up into the sun.
Though Seattle was home, he couldn’t help but like the midday heat of the desert. And though he first thought the landscape was bare and
