Read Triple Time for Free Online

from the table, stretched out her long legs and crossed her arms, waiting for him to begin.
    â€œAll right, but don’t blame me if you’re bored. Seems to be a common complaint where I’m concerned.” He wanted to bite back the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.
    â€œAh, we’re back to that again.” She bit her lip, a move only slightly less enticing than licking them. “Look, about that night...”
    â€œYou don’t have to explain.” He reached for his burger.
    â€œYeah, I do.” The tone of her voice—low and somehow desperate, almost urgent—stopped him, and he put the sandwich down. “You’re not boring, Gabe. And if Holcomb’s telling you that, whoever he is, he’s a moron.”
    â€œHe’s my boss. And I’ll let him know you feel that way. I’m sure it’ll make a big difference.” He didn’t feel inclined to mention that his ex-girlfriend was on the Gabe’s-a-snoozefest bandwagon, too.
    â€œI’m just trying to help. You don’t have to get all snarky on me.” She shot up, her chair scraping against the hardwood floor, and reached for her gigantic shoulder bag.
    â€œDevin, wait.” He half rose and put a hand on her wrist, deciding it was better to risk another sexual lightning bolt than let her leave in a huff, and she hesitated. “I’m sorry. I guess it’s a sore spot with me.”
    She lowered herself back into the chair, dropping her purse beside her. “Apology accepted. Now what can I do?”
    â€œNothing.”
    She rolled her cornflower-blue eyes, eyes that seemed so at odds with the rest of her coloring. Pale mocha skin. Jet black hair. “That’s not what your friend Jack seemed to think.”
    â€œHe’s not my friend.” And he wasn’t exactly thinking with the head on his shoulders.”
    â€œYou want your boss to endorse you for something, right?” Devin plowed on as if he hadn’t even spoken.
    Gabe took another swig of root beer and nodded. “District Attorney when he leaves office.”
    â€œAnd he won’t because he thinks you’re too stuffy.”
    â€œIn a nutshell.”
    â€œSo let’s unstuff you.”
    â€œUnstuff?” His voice rose an octave, and several people turned to stare at them. Could this get any more embarrassing? What was it with him and public humiliation lately? Maybe he should avoid restaurants altogether for the foreseeable future.
    â€œSure.” She got up and walked around the table, surveying him from every angle as if he was a prize steer. He half expected her to pry open his mouth and check his teeth. “You’re good raw material. I can work with that. And let’s face it, I’m probably the least repressed person you know. By a long shot.”
    Raw material? What did she think this was?
Cool Eye for the Uptight Guy?
    â€œThanks, but no thanks.”
    â€œI’m not taking no for an answer.” She sat back down across from him, pinning him with those blue eyes, now a deeper almost denim. “Consider it payback. For Victor.”
    â€œI haven’t found him yet.”
    â€œBut you agreed to try. That counts for something.”
    â€œYou’re Holly’s friend.” And, since their kiss, the object of his late-night fantasies. Yet another reason this idea of hers had
train wreck
written all over it. “It’s the least I can do. I don’t need to be paid back. I’ll take my chances at the Feast of San Gennaro.”
    She tucked her hair behind the ear with four piercings. “What’s the feast got to do with it?”
    Damn
. It was like looking at her made his brain shut down, leaving his mouth to run free. “Holcomb wants me to go with him. Prove I can relate to the ‘common man,’ whatever that means. Get them to vote for me.”
    â€œThat gives us...” She pulled her smartphone from her