Page 51 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“What?”

“That was Brian,” he said, sitting next to her. “Apparently, a large deposit – about ten thousand dollars – was made into the account held by The Coffee Break at the Arizona Savings and Loan.”

“But that’s impossible,” she said. “I don’t even have an account with that bank.”

“What?!”

“All of my banking, both personal and business, is done at First Arizona Credit Union.”

“I need to see your books, Annie,” he said.

“You don’t believe me,” she said, feeling her stomach turn. Someone was trying to destroy her. But who?

“Oh, I believe you,” he said. “But I need all of your records to see exactly what is going on.”

“It’s all on the computer in my office,” she said.

“Let’s go,” he said.

The Coffee Break was eerily quiet when they went downstairs. Streetlights shone through the front window, illuminating their path. Annie led the way to her office. She flicked on the light switch and went to her desk. She booted up her computer and waited for it to run through all of its antivirus software.

Fisher took a seat at her computer and began to sift through her accounts.

Annie paced around the office, straightening her collection of cookbooks and thumbing through the photos of the more extraordinary pastries she had concocted. She paused at a snapshot of a huge cream filled swan. It had been her swan song, appropriately enough, as a pastry chef at the Lemon Grove Resort. She’d thought owning her own business would be a simple, happy venture. Now she was beginning to wonder.

“What’s in the Wedding file?” he asked from the computer.

“The accounts for the catering side of the business,” she explained. “Most of my commissions are for wedding cakes.”

“Like Eve’s?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“That was a spectacular cake,” he said. “Did I ever tell you how much I enjoyed that wedding?”

“Did you really?” she asked.

“Very much,” he said. His chocolate-brown eyes darkened to black, and Annie felt her face grow hot under his scrutiny. “Come here.”

Fearing that he’d found something, Annie stepped toward him with her eyes on the computer’s monitor. A spreadsheet of her deposits was on the screen. That was all she saw before Fisher pulled her into his lap, taking her completely by surprise.

Before she could even open her mouth to question him, he planted a kiss on her that singed her all the way to the bottom of her feet. The kiss was long and slow and deep and left Annie breathless.

“What was that for?” she gasped.

“Your pacing was making me nervous,” he said, pushing the hair out of her eyes.

“That’s how you react to pacing?”

“Well, that and the fact that I’ve wanted to kiss you all day,” he said. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“I thought you found something,” she said, half-heartedly slugging him on the shoulder.

“I did,” he said.

“You did?” She sat up straight and tried to scramble off of his lap. Fisher wouldn’t let her go.

“What I found is a perfectly meticulous set of accounts,” he explained. “Whoever is using your shop as a cover has a whole other set of books at work. I suspect someone has made off with your corporate identity.”

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