Page 116 of The Body in the Backyard
“He’s so pretty,”she mouthed back.
“I’m pretty too,” he hissed in her ear.
She patted his cheek. “Of course you are, Mr. West.”
“And this iswhat’s known as the quiet room,” Hector said, gesturing them through the open door. “It is where guests wait for their spa services.”
The room had dark paneled walls and a fire crackling merrily in the massive fireplace. Spa goers decked out in robes and flip-flops lounged in chairs or browsed the small beverage and snack buffet.
“Mind if we sample some of the goods?” Nick asked.
“By all means,” Hector said, opening his hands in invitation.
Nick grabbed a delicate coffee cup while Riley perused the snack selection. “Quarry spotted,” he whispered in her ear.
She stiffened and glanced behind them.
“Be cool. She’s in that alcove thing over there,” he said and jerked his chin to the right of the fireplace.
“I didn’t recognize her without makeup,” she confessed.
“Tell Hector you have the runs and go pump her for information,” he said.
She was already shaking her head. “Uh-uh. No way.”
Nick put the cup under the first thermos he spotted and opened the spout. “You’re just saying that because he’s hot.”
“First of all, I’m proud of you for finally recognizing another man’s physical appeal without wanting to challenge him to a pissing contest.”
“Usually it’s a push-up contest. Pissing contests are too messy and hard to judge unless you both have a liquid measuring cup.”
She ignored him. “Bella isn’t going to talk to me. She’s going to have no idea who I am, and I’ll have to waste five full minutes reminding her we’ve already met a dozen times. You, she remembers.”
He wasn’t a fan of the points Riley was making, mainly because it meant he was going to have to leave his girl alone with Mr. Effortlessly Suave. But she was right, and they didn’t have much time.
“Fine. But if that guy tries to get you in bed, I wanna know immediately.”
“Deal. Now try to look like you’re clenching your butt cheeks really hard,” she teased.
He rolled his eyes before heading in Hector’s direction. He was waiting patiently at the door. “Can you point me in the direction of the nearest restroom? That Taco Bell isn’t sitting right,” he said.
“Of course. Down the hall and on your right.”
“Cool. Don’t wait for me. I’ll catch up with you two.”
Nick ducked into the restroom and counted down from twenty. When he poked his head out the door, he saw Hector leading Riley in the opposite direction.
Riley held up a subtle thumbs-up behind her back.
Nick took his coffee cup of brown liquid and hurried back to the quiet room. Bella was still there with her face buried in a magazine that had Beth Weber on the cover announcing her comeback from cold case obscurity to being the country’s newest reality TV star.
He took the seat next to her and stretched out his legs. “You’ve been avoiding my calls,” he said.
A woman in a brown robe lowered her e-reader and shushed him.
Bella looked up, startled. “Oh, hi, Nick.”
“Don’t ‘oh, hi, Nick’ me. Your fiancé nearly got shot yesterday, and you’re too busy getting body parts oiled up to care? Seems a little cold to me.”
