My guess? It was because of Banger.
Banger with her beautifully lithe body.
She was average height, but she had a body like a backhoe, or however Sam Hunt said it.
She was all curves. Great breasts, curvy, full hips. Plump lips. Shapely ass. Thighs that were made to grab hold of when you had her wrapped around your waist.
She had long black hair that was straight as a board, but goddamn did she have a lot of it.
Her skin was pasty white with almost Slavic features. I had a Russian aunt on my mom’s side that had the exact same coloring.
But, without asking Banger about her heritage, I could only guess.
Getting anything out of Banger was like asking a cat to cooperate with you.
In the end, she might or might not give you what you wanted, but it would only be after she had it her way first.
“What’s with that look on your face?”
I glanced up to see my very first employee, as well as my head of security, Donnelly, staring at me like I was a weirdo.
“I’m unsure what you speak of,” I lied.
He snorted. “I’m fairly sure you know exactly what I’m speaking of. You’re thinking of Angelina Jolie again, aren’t you?”
Donnelly was convinced that Banger resembled Angelina.
Though, body-wise, she did. Feature-wise she didn’t.
“She could be Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and you know it.” He read my thoughts.
“I believe that you believe that she could be,” I agreed. “But Angelina and Banger look nothing alike other than their body type and hair color. Their features are nothing alike. Plus, Banger’s much shorter.”
Donnelly rolled his eyes. “It’s the lips, man. She has them big, dick…”
I held up my hand and said, “For the love of God, Donnelly. Don’t.”
His eyes sobered as something behind me caught his gaze.
I looked over my shoulder to see Ashton shuffling out of his office, an empty coffee cup in his hands. “I’ll take care of that while you head out.”
I slapped Donnelly on the back. “I’ll be in town for a few more hours if you need me. I’m eating at Tiddie’s tonight.”
Tiddie’s, the bar that Banger’s dad owned that she worked at from time to time.
“You know,” Donnelly said. “She may not even be there.”
He was right.
She may not.
If she wasn’t, I’d be there just long enough to realize that, then I’d leave.
Which he damn well knew.
“You know what’s hot?” he asked as he walked backward down the hall. “The way she parks her big truck.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You’re such a shit,” I said as I turned my back on his laughter and walked away.
When I arrived at Tiddie’s, it was to find that Banger was, indeed, where I wanted her to be.
Damn, I really hadn’t paid attention if that’d happened without me noticing.
I took a deep pull from the bottle as she said, “I only take short ones in case my dad needs me.”
Then she looked at me with expectation.
I rested my elbows on the table, then went into detail on what I did.
“When I was in the FBI, I worked in cyber crimes for part of my career. Now, I do something similar to that, but I work for large corporations that don’t want to go to the police.” I paused. “Or, if there’s something more delicate that needs to be done, like tracking certain individuals that are doing things online that they shouldn’t.”