Brett nodded. “I agree. She’s as sweet as the littles we know back home.”
Warrick looked up when a plate was set before him. “This looks good, honey.”
She smiled. “I’ll tell Benny you said so.”
“Who’s Benny?”
“He’s the cook.”
Warrick’s stomach twisted at the way she said the guy’s name, worried she might already have a boyfriend. “What’s he to you?”
She looked confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Is he just the cook here?”
“No, he owns the place.”
Shit. “Anything else?”
“I like to think of him as an honorary grandfather. He’s been very nice to me.”
So, the guy was older. That helped. But he wanted to find out what kind of nice was this guy. Was he a perv who liked really young women?
“I’ve got to go. I’ll be back to check on you.”
“Okay.”
Reid patted his shoulder. “Dude, if it’s the guy I keep seeing in the window into the kitchen, you don’t have to worry. He’s old enough to be one of our fathers.”
Warrick relaxed and nodded. “Thanks.”
The three ate and talked about their job to wrap up for the police department headquarters. The contract was to make sure no one could hack their computer network, and it was taking longer than they thought.
Shelby came to stand in front of them. “How is everything?”
Warrick studied her. He’d noticed she looked tired. She was paler at that moment than she had been thirty minutes ago, telling him she was running out of energy. The light coming through the window emphasized the darkness under her eyes, telling him how deep her exhaustion went.
“Honey, are you getting any sleep?”
She looked surprised. “Yes.”
“Enough?”
She shrugged.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“My upstairs neighbors like to fight and … stuff.”
He caught the blush that covered her face and knew what she meant by thestuff.
“We’ll see if we can’t fix that.”
“How? Will you talk to the manager? I try to talk to him on the phone, but he says he likes to talk in person and looks at me funny. It makes me uncomfortable.”
Since he knew what the guy was doing, he cursed in Russian. He was shocked when she gasped, pressed her hands over her mouth, and tried not to laugh. “You cursed.”
“How in the hell did you know that?” Warrick asked.