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noticed the outline of an ankle holster against Detective Hayes’s left pant leg.
    A half smile cracked across the detective’s face. “This from the woman whose coworkers are blood suckers.”
    I rolled my eyes.
    “And clients are monsters.”
    “Demons,” I corrected, “and you shouldn’t judge until you know one.”
    Hayes crossed his arms. “I could tell you the same thing.”
    “I’m sure you have a very friendly bunch up here,” I said, doing a quick mental scan of the office: Cardboard file boxes. Super Big Gulp cup. Deeply stained coffee mug. Obligatory framed motivational poster propped on the floor behind the desk. No grinning, happily-ever-after wedding picture. No glossy black-and-white of a supermodel girlfriend. No “Proud Parent Of” bumper stickers, no five-by-sevens of a fat Michelin baby with cute brown curls and Detective Hayes’s bright blue eyes. Not that I was interested. I let out the tiny breath I didn’t know I was holding, and Detective Hayes raised one concerned eyebrow.
    “Everything okay?”
    I licked my dry lips and avoided his ice-blue stare. “Of course. Just checking out your office.”
    Hayes grinned again, leaning back in his chair and opening his arms. “Well, it’s not exactly as posh as the UDA offices. I don’t know if you know this, but us humans aren’t always great decorators. I hear vampires really have a knack for that. Am I right?”
    I rolled my eyes and Hayes chuckled, settling a coffee mug on a stack of boxes. “Besides, I just moved into this office not too long ago. They had me in a utility closet before this.”
    I was at a loss for witty banter, so I began rifling through my bag and stacking the file folders I had brought onto his desk. I decided it was best to go all business, especially since every flash of Parker Hayes’s blue eyes or sexy smile seemed to make my heart thump painfully while putting my female parts on high alert.
    “Okay, so I went through our files and I figured we’d start with the most likely candidates—or—suspects. So, I brought you—”
    “No, not yet.” Hayes was holding his hand up, palm forward. His sat up straighter, pulling his legs from the desk and planting them firmly on the ground. “Lunch first, work later.”
    I didn’t move, and he chucked me softly on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ll even buy.”
    “Such a gentleman,” I said, sliding the files back into my shoulder bag and standing up. “Shouldn’t we get to work right away? Isn’t this kind of pressing though? The case, I mean?”
    Hayes headed out the door, and I nearly had to run to keep up with his long, purposeful strides.
    “The case is definitely pressing. And lunch is more pressing. Besides”—he patted his trim stomach—“I work best on a full stomach.”
    We walked outside into the moist San Francisco air and stood on the curb, waiting for traffic to pass. Hayes had his hands in his pockets, his lips and forehead puckered as he thought.
     
    “So explain to me again how the UDA operates. And what is it, exactly, that the Underworld Detection Agency detects?”
    I shrugged. “We detect paranormal activity to some extent. And more or less, we detect who and what is traveling through the Underworld or becoming active in the other world.”
    Hayes smiled. “The Overworld?”
    I looked both ways and then stepped into the street. “Frankly, this world is rather wrapped up in itself. It doesn’t really recognize the Underworld as actually existing, so it’s pretty much just ‘the world’ up here. As for how we operate …”
    Hayes reached out and grabbed my shoulder, his fingers digging into my flesh as he yanked me back and a rusted-out van zoomed past us.
    “Whoa,” I said, my heart pounding. “That was close.” I looked at Hayes’s fingers on my shoulders as his grip softened, but he didn’t move his hand. “Thanks,” I said.
    Hayes didn’t look at me, but he was smiling. He dropped his hand to his side, leaving a sudden