off from Paula to catch Tigo’s call before it went to voice mail. Still, she took care not to sound overly excited when she greeted him.
“Hey, Tig.”
“Hey.” His voice was like caramel over chipped ice—sweet, cool and with an edge that roused shivers that had nothing to do with a chill. “This a bad time?” he asked.
“No, no, not a bit.”
“You’re lying.” He sounded amused. “But I won’t hold it against you. I want you for dinner.”
“Do I get to eat, too?” Hell. Where did that come from? Sophia asked herself. The words had tumbled past her lips so fast she hadn’t even realized they’d been verbalized.
Santigo laughed, the sound warm and thick. Obviously, he was surprised by her comeback. “Sure you do, but I get the feeling you don’t eat much.”
“So is this your way of saving me?” Sophia returned to settle back into the hard metal chair.
“Trying to save myself, Soap.” The caramel smoothness went soft, quietly affecting. “I’ll see you soon, all right?”
He disconnected before Sophia could say anything else. She studied the phone, rolling it over in her hand. “Do you know what you’re doing, girl? Uh-uh,” she answered herself in the negative. She never knew what she was doing when it came to Santigo Rodriguez.
“Oh, hey, Sophia!” Dionne Battles, another of the switchboard crew, strolled into the break room on stylish six-inch heels. “D.A. Starker’s been tryin’ to reach you.”
“Thanks, Dee.” Sophia threw a hand up to the operator who was on the way to the candy machine in the corner of the dim room. Turning back to the papers in her hand, she told herself to get back to work—the only thing she did well.
* * *
Santigo Rodriguez and his partner Linus Brooks were trading amused looks as they subjected their partner and old friend Elias Joss to a series of twenty or more questions. Elias had just announced that he was taking a quick trip, and he stood behind his desk trying to convince his partners that it was all business.
“Ah, man, please. You need to squash that,” Linus grunted with a playful smirk.
Tigo chuckled. “Line’s right, El. Admit it. Business and Clarissa David don’t even belong in the same paragraph for you.”
Eli kept his gaze on the folder he held. “We’re professionals,” he said.
“Bull,” Tigo declared.
“Double bull,” Linus added in the same playful grunt he’d used earlier.
Elias rolled his eyes, two mesmerizing orbs of sky blue that contrasted against a complexion of creamy caramel. “I seem to recall all of us being in the same meeting, where we decided to visit the locales of the clubs.” Joss Construction had won the bid for the redesign of Jazzy B’s locations across the country. Clarissa and Elias were to set off on a series of trips meant to ensure Clarissa’s desires for the clubs were along the same lines as the architects’ working with Joss.
“Damn.” Santigo closed his eyes and raked both hands through the silky coal-colored waves crowning his head. “Line, man, help me out. What’s the word I’m lookin’ for?”
“Convenient,” Linus supplied, idly scanning the copy of Architectural Digest he’d grabbed from an end table.
“That’s it.” Tigo snapped his fingers.
Eli grimaced, but it was all in fun. “I’m thinking of a word, too.” He shut the folder he’d been attempting to browse. “Maybe two words—peaceful and quiet.”
“Ah, man.” Tigo threw up a lazy wave. “Don’t get upset because you can’t admit you’re using business to fulfill your pleasure.”
Elias tried to appear exasperated but only broke down in amusement. Soon all three men were enjoying a hearty round of laughter.
“Seriously, El.” Linus stood once the largest portion of laughter had been spent. “You and Clarissa, it’s a good look.” He slanted his friend a wink.
Elias reciprocated with a nod. “Doesn’t feel half-bad, either,” he confessed.
Linus walked over to shake hands with Eli, and then he took his suit coat from the back of the armchair he’d occupied and left the office.
Tigo left his place on the sofa and strolled the room to claim a new spot on the edge of Elias’s desk. “He’s right,” Tigo said.
Elias gave his friend the benefit of a quick and knowing smile before resuming his scan of the folder’s contents. “Think you’re in line for the same?”
“Huh?” Tigo’s hand stilled on the paperweight on the desk. He laughed abruptly at the look Elias sent his way.
“Don’t even try it.” Eli closed the folder and picked up another. “We all know you’ve seen Sophia. Even Clari could tell there was something up when she saw the way you were drooling over her when they had lunch that day.”
“Ain’t that cute? You and Clarissa already exchanging scoops about mutual friends. This is serious.” Tigo bounced the weight in his palm.
“All right, all right.” Elias laughed. “Keep your secrets.”
A few moments passed with only the sound of Eli sorting through folders dotting the silence.
“I want her back.” Santigo eased the chrome paperweight back to its stand on the desk. “I don’t plan to let her walk away from me again.”
“Hmm...let her walk away. Don’t you mean you don’t plan to tell her to walk away?”
“Don’t start, El,” Tigo warned through a clenched jaw.
Elias kept his gaze on the open folder. “This won’t work if you can’t be honest about why it didn’t work out in the first place.” He looked at Santigo. “You’re gonna have to own up to the ultimatum you gave her. You can best believe she hasn’t forgotten it. And last I heard, she was still a cop.”
“Right.” Tigo acknowledged the fact in a deep voice as tight as his clenched jaw.
“And that still bothers you,” Eli guessed. He took his suit coat from the rack in the corner.
“So what? It bothers me.” Tigo jerked his shirt cuffs with more force than was needed. “It doesn’t mean I can’t have her.”
“No...it doesn’t mean that.” Eli slipped an arm into the amber-colored jacket. “But if it bothers you the way it did before, you should ready yourself for the sight of her walking away from you again.” Elias finished donning the coat and grabbed the folders he’d been studying. He paused to pat Santigo’s cheek before making his way out of the office.
* * *
“All right, now we’re on the right track. This is evidence.” Paula Starker was speaking to one of her A.D.A.s while
