Free Who Glares Wins (Lexi Graves Mysteries) by Camilla Chafer Page B

PDA," said Sam, crawling over to kiss me on the cheek.
    "Yuck. PDA," I agreed, kissing him right back.
    "Revolting," agreed Maddox, sitting next to the tree and pulling me against his chest, kissing the top of my head as he leaned us backwards. Sam eyed him suspiciously.
    "This is my friend, Maddox," I told him.
    "I know. Mom said you're doing the nasty with him." Sam paused and frowned . Traci winced and closed her eyes . "What is that?" he asked.
    "I don't know," I said. "I don't do nasty stuff." I waited until Sam shrugged and got back to coloring before pullin g a face at Traci. She mouthed “Sorry!” Behind me, I felt Maddox struggl ing not to laugh , his chest heaving, then he stopped and sigh ed .
    "Don't look now , but I see your boss stalking towards us."
    Obviously, I looked.
    In his black jeans and shirt, sleeves rolled to mid - forearm as a concession to the pleasant weather, Solomon stood out amongst the families. He looked like he should have “ DANGER ” written on his shirt as he focused on me. I watched with mild amusement as more than a few female heads—and at least one male —turned his way , following his path , the ir glances drifting from his handsome face to his lithe physique as he strolled towards us.
    He didn' t even look surprised to see us. H e just ambled over and crouched down next to me, laying his backpack on the ground, as if we'd planned the rendezvous . Maddox didn't adjust his hands from where they lay across my stomach , nor did I make a move to look less casual. This was my day off , and Solomon was date crashing, the epitome of rude.
    He held his hand out to Maddox and they shook briefly, the muscles of their arms popping. Traci sighed. I was vaguely aware of a drop of ice cream trickling its way over my thumb.
    "Got a minute?" Solomon asked me.
    I licked my ice cream. "I'm very busy," I told him. Lick, lick, lick.
    "I can see that."
    Sam looked up. "Are you my Aunt L exi's friend as well?" he asked, his crayon poised in the air.
    Solomon lowered his gaze to Sam. "Yes, I am."
    "Do you do the nasty with my Aunt Lexi too?"
    Solomon blinked. I think it's the only time I' d ever seen him stumped. "No," he said. "I only do nice stuff with your Aunt Lexi."
    "Good,” said Sam, with confused relief while his mother choked. “ Mom says Aunt Lexi does nasty stuff with Maddox."
    "Okay," said Solomon, with a nod. "I like you. Do you want to come and work for me?"
    "What do you do?"
    "Catch bad guys."
    "My dad catches bad guys. What do you do with them?"
    "Give them to the police."
    "Cool. My dad shoots them."
    Across the blanket, Garrett sighed. I thought now would probably be a really good time to take up Solomon on his request, before Sam got it into his head to ask if we all did the nasty together , and I spontaneously combusted.
    "Okay," I said. "Let's go talk. I won't be long," I told Maddox, squeezing his hand as I pushed up.
    "You want me to look after your ice cream?"
    "No. You'll eat it."
    Sam looked up sharply, probably wondering if that was the kind of nasty stuff Maddox did to women. I held my cone in one hand, brushing the grass that clung to my ankles off with the other . I followed Solomon over to the path that led to the lake. We walked a little way until we found a bench.
    "I came by your house," he said, sitting down and folding one leg across the other.
    "I'm not in." Slurp.
    "I figured that out."
    " So, w hat's up, ace detective?"
    Solomon reached into his backpack and pulled out a file. "The updated background check came in on the hotel's employees. Thought you should look it over before Monday."
    "That's what was so urgent? You could have just left them at my house?"
    "Files don't get left," Solomon explained as I trawled my memory for his lengthy list of rules. This was possibly item four hundred and thirty - nine. I'd got ten bored and tuned out at fifty. "Files get transferred hand - to - hand, kept on a person and..."
    "Locked up," I finished, taking a long swipe of