Page 30 of Dragon Charmed

Her expression relaxed. Had he passed?

“Yeah. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze. How about you meet me at my place. It will take a couple minutes for me to pack a bag, and then we’ll go.” She rattled off her address.

He must have had a surprised expression since she continued. “I wasn’t going to let you know my address, but then I thought that was silly since you’re a PI. I’m sure you could find out where I live in no time, right?”

He nodded even though he hadn’t thought to search for her address when he was researching her at the library. He sucked at being a PI, even if it was imaginary.

Fifteen minutes later he pulled up to her apartment. Her car was parked next to it, and he parked across the street and headed to her building. He knocked and she opened the door.

“I just got here myself. Give me a couple minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.”

She headed down the hall, and he took in the cozy space. It had an eclectic mix of antiques and comfy furniture, which surprised him. He’d expected it to look like something from a magazine. But then he should have known better. So far Tessa had not fit into any mold. She was unique, which made her fascinating to be around.

He walked over to the bookcase and found several pictures. They were candids, not model shots. One was of Tessa and a redhead with their arms around each other. Another shot was of Tessa and a woman who had to be related to her—possibly her mother. He could see where Tessa inherited her beauty. The third shot was of Tessa holding a baby. He picked up the frame. He could tell by Tessa’s face that she adored her. Was she a mother and he didn’t know it? He didn’t see any baby toys or things that a baby would need in the apartment, so he didn’t think so.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he turned to find Tessa walking back into the room with a small duffel bag. Her eyes narrowed when she found him with the picture in his hand.

“She’s gorgeous. Is she your daughter?”

“She’s my best friend’s daughter and she is gorgeous, but she’s so much more. Smart, bubbly, with an infectious smile and personality.”

He set the picture down. Interesting that she immediately spoke about the girl’s other attributes beyond her looks. He motioned to the duffel. “Do you have any other bags you need me to carry?”

She must not have liked his question because she dropped her bag on the couch and crossed her arms. “You were doing so well, and now you’re in danger of failing.”

He crossed his own arms. “I didn’t realize I was taking a test.” A bit of a white lie since he’d thought she was testing him earlier, but compared to all the whoppers he’d been telling lately, this was nothing.

Her eyes sparked with challenge. “It’s pretty straightforward. It’s called the do-not-assume-you-know-best test. In my experience, men tend to score low.”

He tried to keep a serious face. “Why don’t you fill me in.”

She held her hand up and started to tick off things. “First, you let me work with you on the investigation instead of telling me I couldn’t help.” She held up her second finger. “Then you let me ask some questions when we spoke to Alisha instead of insisting you lead the investigation.” Up came her third finger. “You weren’t upset that I had someone help us search online for the case.” Fourth finger. “You didn’t insist on driving.”

“That sounds like I am acing this test that I didn’t even know I was taking.”

The corners of her mouth ticked up. “I’ll admit up until this point I’ve been pleasantly surprised. But just now you acted shocked that I wasn’t packing multiple suitcases to take with us. Did you think this duffel bag was just my makeup and I would need a bag for shoes and another bag for clothes?”

“No… Okay, maybe just a little.” Why the hell did he just admit that? Especially when her almost-smile melted away.

“I’m sure you looked me up online by now, and unlike you, my life is all over the Internet.”

He nodded. “You have your own Wikipedia page.”

She cringed. “Well, don’t believe everything you read out there.”

“You mean that you were an amazing model who got a degree and now uses her experience and smarts in a job with an up-and-coming fashion designer in Nashville?”

Did she almost smile again? “Up and coming? Maybe I should hire you for our PR team.”

He shook his head. “Not my area of expertise. I’m only speaking the truth, and I have to say, I’m impressed.”

She uncrossed her arms. “You may have just saved your test score.”

He smiled. “I may need to be scored on a curve before this is all done.”

She laughed and his new plan was to make her laugh every day. “If you’re ready to go.” He headed toward the door and then jerked to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.