"I called her but she didn't answer. Probably screening my calls."
"I'll see if I can get through. Maybe she'll talk to me."
Connor picked up a piece of bacon, took a bite, and then tossed it down. He pushed away his mostly-uneaten food.
"Eat, man,” Zach urged.
Connor eyed Zach's own untouched breakfast. “Hey, don't talk,” he said. “At least I'm down about something real—not some ‘dream girl’ who keeps vanishing into thin air."
Zach tightened his lips. He let it go because Connor was hurting, but he'd seriously felt Ashlyn's attraction to him, which was why he just didn't get why she kept leading him on and then disappearing. Connor could scoff all he wanted, but there was something there. She was the most intriguing, exciting, arousing female he'd ever met.
The sour ache in his gut felt like he'd just drank a dozen cans of light-struck beer—skunky and foul.
"So what do you think about Steinbrau putting out that new ‘craft beer'?” he asked his brother to change the subject. “When I talked to Jack, he said the rumor is they got our yeast and our recipe."
"How the hell could they do that?” Connor asked. “It's impossible."
"I know. I can't figure it out. The only possibility I can think of is that someone who works for us is ... what do you call that ... a mole?"
"How could that be? And who could that be? That's crazy."
"I know, but think about it. How else could they get that stuff? I know they didn't get it from Jack. He's got more security than the White House. And since he was the one who told us about it, it's not likely he's the mole."
Connor thought about it and rubbed his face. “I don't know,” he said. “This is too much. On top of my marriage falling apart, now our business is going down the toilet."
"Oh, get a grip. Our business is fine. Even if they got our recipe and our yeast, they still can't replicate my blonde ale. But it is concerning. I have an idea, though. Why don't we hire an investigator to check into it? Maybe they can find out if the rumor is even true and if it is, who did it."
"That'll cost a bundle,” Connor grouched, ever the numbers man.
Zach shrugged. “How much will it cost us if they leak something really important? This is our future, Con."
"Yeah, okay. I'll do some checking and see if I can find someone to look into this for us."
"The good news is, my kitchen counter is being installed on Monday,” Zach said. “Then they can put the sink in and once they're done cleaning up, I can move back in. Probably Tuesday. And you can stay with me, of course."
"Thanks,” Connor said morosely, slumping back in his seat.
Chapter Four
Another unhappy customer.
Sometimes Ashlyn really wished she had the kind of job where the goal was to make the customer happy. But Mrs. Van Heusen was a lot cooler about it than Jessica Montgomery had been. Ashlyn wondered how long the Van Heusen marriage would have lasted in any case.
Thank goodness she was almost finished school. In a couple of months she'd graduate and be ready to start her new career. No more of the sex decoy, pseudo-PI work.
Lately it was just getting depressing. She'd been under no illusions about marriage and men and fidelity—she'd seen how her father's cheating had devastated her mom—but recently she found herself longing to find a guy, any guy, who wouldn't cheat. She found herself wanting so badly to believe that true, faithful love did exist.
But when she picked up her paycheck at the office that week, she squared her shoulders. Life was all about choices, and right now, paying her rent and tuition and gas to get to and from school was a priority. So she did her job and she did it well.
"Let's go out for pizza,” she suggested to her two roommates Thursday night. “I'll buy."
"Feeling rich?” Ben asked.
Ashlyn grinned. “For about a day."
"Let's go to Double Dan's. We can shoot some pool after we eat,” Doug suggested.
Ben and Ashlyn had known each other since high school. He'd started college while she took a few years off to travel, and when she came back to go to college, he was graduating. With lots of student loans to pay off, he'd needed a roommate. Then Doug, a co-worker of Ben's, had moved in, too, to share the rent. Ashlyn and Ben had been good friends, and she'd had no qualms about moving in with him, but she hadn't been so sure about living with two guys. Then she'd gotten to know Doug and found he was a really good guy, much like Ben—they were both computer geeks working as analysts at a big pharmaceutical company.
Ashlyn hesitated. “I don't know if I want to play pool."
"Why not? You love pool!” Ben stared at her and pushed his thick black-framed glasses higher on his nose.
"Yeah. You know you'll beat us. That will cheer you up,” Doug put in.
"What makes you think I need cheering up?"
Doug and Ben shared a look. “You've been acting weird for the last week,” Doug said. “What's going on?"
Should she tell them about Connor? She'd been feeling edgy and restless since meeting him. It was very uncomfortable. And she didn't understand it.
"I know it's stupid, but I can't get him out of my head,” she confessed over pizza. “Something about him just got to me."
"That's not like you,” Ben said.
"No way,” Doug agreed. “You're so cool about that stuff. What's with this guy?"
"I don't know,” Ashlyn sighed. “He seemed so nice."
"Apart from the fact that he cheats on his wife.” Ben rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up.
"Yeah,” Ashlyn agreed sadly.
"He's probably not married anymore,” Doug said. “Well, you know what I mean. If you're interested in him, go for it. He may be a cheater but if all you want is some hot sex, who cares?"
"I think that's kind of unethical,” Ashlyn said. “It's like deliberately breaking a couple up so you can have the guy."
"You didn't break them up,” Ben pointed out. “We've had this discussion a million times. You're the one who always says the guy doesn't have to put the moves on you."
"And their marriage must have had problems,” Doug added. “Or he wouldn't have wanted to cheat."
"I don't buy that,” Ashlyn said. “It seems like even guys with happy marriages cheat."
"Well, can you blame them? Look at you!” Ben said, and Ashlyn scowled at him.
But she was thinking about what her friends had said. What if Connor was separated from his wife? He'd seemed to be interested in her. Would it be that bad to sleep with him?
Unlike him, she had all his personal info, so she could track him down if she wanted to. If she had the nerve. But it did feel vaguely sleazy.
Aaargh! How could she even think such a thing?
On Monday, Ashlyn got a call from her dad. “What's up?” she asked. “More work for me?"
"Sort of,” he replied. “I've got a meeting with a new corporate client. They've got some problems. John, Ralph and I are meeting with them on Friday to talk about it. Part of it may be computer related, so I was wondering if you'd come and sit in. You're such a tech expert now."
"Sure,” she said with interest.
"I know you're not a licensed PI, but we could use your expertise. As a consultant to the team,” he added.
John was Farrell Investigations’ expert in physical and electronic surveillance, and Ralph their white-collar crime expert. A complicated corporate case could easily involve the whole team of people with their own specialties.
"The meeting is here at four o'clock. Can you make it?"
She'd miss her Linux Forensics class, but that was okay. She rarely skipped class.