Harper nuzzled deeper into Lucas’s shoulder. She knew this was going to end. In just a few moments, they’d get up and everything would be different. Rather, everything would be the same. At least they’d pretend it was.

Harper knew that she had to get up eventually.

Almost in unison, she and Lucas rolled away from each other. “How do you usually do this?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“The morning after. You pretend like nothing happened? Run out as soon as possible so the girls don’t hope that there’s a chance between the two of you? Or do you make a nice breakfast as a thank-you?”

“Ouch. Feeling an icy breeze blowing in over here.”

“I wasn’t judging. I was just... curious. I mean, this whole thing is so weird. You’re the more experienced of the two of us, right?”

“Experience is relative.”

“Relative or not, you are. So what do we do now?”

“Well, now that I’m more... collected, we go back to doing our jobs. Hopefully before the stupid forty-eight-hour countdown runs out.”

“Closer to twenty-four hours now.”

“Fuck. We’re never going to find her in that time.”

“We could.”

Assuming the countdown had started the second they showed up at the house, which was a safe assumption, they had just over twenty-four hours. The situation wasn’t looking great, but Harper didn’t like the word impossible. It tended to make her want to prove people wrong.

This was a good thing. What was the best way to cut through the awkward one-night stand? Distraction.

“Leo will get back to me in a few hours. Let’s move on down the credit card list. There was a hotel charge. We can go see if anybody from the hotel remembers her. Maybe she mentioned where she was going.”

“Let’s check out the coffee shop first.”

“Coffee shop? Why would that make a difference?”

“Because I went to the coffee shop with her. It’s down in SoHo, nowhere near the hotel she stayed at. Chances are, if she’s still around the city, she’s been back to the coffeehouse.”

“And you said your relationship with her wouldn’t help us at all,” muttered Harper as she started getting dressed.

“I didn’t recognize it at first. The credit card receipt didn’t say the name of it, just the address.”

“And you remembered the address?”

“Not off the top my head, obviously. I looked it up while you and your boyfriend were having your private chat.”

“Are you serious? I seem to remember when you were coming on to me—you were bragging about how worldly and experienced you are. Now all the sudden you’re bringing out the caveman jealousy for me?”

“I don’t mind you fucking other guys. It just bothers me that you lie about it.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You think I’m fucking Leo and lying to you about it?”

“No. I think you two used to have a thing and now you’re lying to me about it.”

“We weren’t even together! We still aren’t together, for that matter. What reason would I have to lie?”

“I have no idea. I think that bothers me more than the fact that you’re lying to me.”

“Ugh. Get dressed. We don’t have any more time for breaks. We need to find Lily.”

Before Lucas had a chance to respond, she slammed the bathroom door shut.

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Harper drove to the coffee place. She didn’t care whether Lucas had been there three times and she didn’t know where she was going. She needed to distract herself with something. Something to keep her mind off how stupid the fact that she’d given in to Lucas was. Something to keep her mind off how crazy he was being. Something to keep her from replaying their time in bed together over and over and over again. None of this was good for her sanity.

She needed to keep her wits about her and whenever Lucas was around, she tended to lose her head. She’d had some stupid idea that maybe by being with him, she’d be able to stop constantly thinking about being with him. Shockingly, that little plan had backfired spectacularly in her face. Now, instead of just using her imagination, she had vivid memories of exactly how he could be.

And damn if he didn’t back up some of that arrogance with talent. Maybe all that arrogance....

It was right around four o’clock when she drove by the coffee place. It seemed to be some fancy artistic hangout from the looks of the outside, but she wasn’t able to find parking for another block.

It was right on the verge of rush hour, so the crowds were just beginning to leave work. She had a feeling parking would be much worse soon. Once the car was parked, it took another thirty seconds for Harper to get her door open because traffic was so heavy. Whenever she was gone from New York, she missed it like crazy, and then when she got here, all the little annoyances rushed back to her. To be fair, right now it was one big annoyance that was causing her to be so grumpy. That annoyance happened to be walking right next to her, his butt looking much too good in those jeans. And once again she found herself remembering exactly how that butt felt as she was squeezing it.

She blinked away the memories and tried to force herself to focus. “So have you remembered anything else about Lily that could be helpful?”

“If I had, wouldn’t I have told you by now?”

She blinked a few times. Well, apparently she wasn’t the only one feeling a little grumpy.

“All right. So how often did you have coffee with her?”

“Umm... two, no, three times.”

“Three times? That’s a lot for you, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. She was only on break for a week. I kept her entertained while all her friends were out of town. It didn’t seem like too much to me.”

“I’m just saying that if you’re half as good as you keep on saying you are, aren’t you concerned about a girl like Lily becoming too attached to you over the course of three coffee dates? Remember, she was only eighteen.”

“That’s legal,” Lucas pointed out quickly.

“Okay, fine, but you don’t know the experiences she’s had. You’re the first real man she’s ever been with, I bet. And, I admit, you have your charms. You’re nice, polite, and sometimes you can even be respectful. It would be easy for a young girl to get swept up in all that. Especially when you’re giving her all of your attention.”

“So you’re saying it’s my fault that she made off with a hundred thousand dollars of Daddy’s money and framed me?”

“Of course there’s going to be blame to share. And obviously, anyone who commits a crime takes the bulk of that blame. But we don’t live in some black-and-white world. There might be a little bit of blame on your shoulders too.”

“What do you want me to do about it? Turn myself into the police? Apologize for seducing a young, vulnerable girl?”

“I’m just asking you to recognize that might’ve happened. You spent so long thinking about how lucky this girl was to be with you that you never considered the damage you would be doing.”

“Are you talking about you or Lily right now?”

A blush crept up Harper’s cheeks and she refused to respond to Lucas. Just then, they reached the coffee shop, and she shoved the door open, letting it shut back quickly in his face.

The entrance to the coffee shop was littered with various posters and advertisements. A lot were for local theater productions, some for acting lessons, art lessons, gallery openings. She had suspected this was an artsy place before, but now they were practically hitting her over the head with confirmation.

Once they were past the vestibule of the entryway, the ordering counter was right in front of her. To her left, she could see a room filled with soft, mismatched, eclectic furniture. She had a hard time imagining Lucas coming here. Would he and Lily hang out on one of those couches and talk about art?

Lucas strode up to the counter while he reached in his back pocket to grab his wallet. “Afternoon,” he said to the barista in front of him. “I’d like a double shot of espresso, and to know if you’ve ever seen this girl before.” He set his phone on the counter, the profile picture of Lily visible for the barista to study.

“Umm....” The barista, a girl with bright purple and pink hair, bit her lip as her brow furrowed in frustration. “Oh. Lily. Lily.... Crap. I can’t think of her last name. Lily Riley? Lily Rhinestone? I dunno.”

If Lucas was excited at this development, he kept to himself. “When’s the last time you saw her?”

The girl frowned. “What’s it to you?”

“She went missing and her parents are very worried about her,” said Harper.

“But Lily doesn’t like her parents all that much,” said Lucas quickly. “Her parents had some PI looking for her, and he’s probably been here already. The difference is that if the PI finds her, he’s gonna drag her back home, kicking and screaming. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Oh yeah? I got parents like that. Why won’t they just trust us and leave us alone?”

“I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately, I’m worried about Lily too. It’s not just overprotective parents. She hasn’t been online in over a week and hasn’t accessed her bank account once, not even to use a credit card. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

A look of concern shadowed the barista’s face. “That’s terrible. Why don’t you stay here one second, and I’ll ask my manager. She’s here all the time, so she’d know more about Lily than I would. Hold on one second!” she called as she went running off.

“You’re not going to drag her back, kicking and screaming?” asked Harper as she moved to stand next to Lucas.

“Everyone here is everyone else’s best friend. Remember that the PI the Reinhardts hired had the same credit card statement we did. They would’ve found this coffee place too. If they came up with nothing, we have to make sure that we don’t go down the same route.”

Her mouth hooked up, and Lucas must’ve seen it out of the corner of his eye. He frowned at her. “What are you smiling at?”

“You. You really are a PI, aren’t you?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Not surprised. I just like to see when people know what they’re doing.”

“Funny. Usually I feel like I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.”

The barista bounded back in, this time with a woman behind her. The manager of the place looked exactly like the type who would manage a coffeehouse like this. It was hard to tell the woman’s age; she could be anywhere between forty and sixty. Her brown and gray hair was a mishmash of dreadlocks held in a ponytail, and her face was accented by a nose ring, lip ring, and three more piercings in each ear. “Are you the couple looking for Lily?”

Harper forced herself not to ask what the woman meant by couple. “We’re very worried about her.”

The manager went over to glance at the phone Lucas held out once more. “Well, I hate to say it, but I haven’t seen her in a few days.”

“A few days?” asked Harper. That was a lot more recent than three weeks.

“Usually she’s one of our regulars, but now that you mention it, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. Did you say she’s missing? Shouldn’t the police be looking into this?”

“Trust me, the police are involved,” said Harper. The police were too busy arresting Lucas to actually look for Lily.... “We’re just trying to pick up any breadcrumbs. Do you know anyone she was normally here with? Did you notice any changes in her behavior?”

“No major changes,” said the manager. “Not that I knew her all that well. I mean, she was nice enough, but it’s New York. We didn’t talk much.”

“The last few weeks she’s been in here with that guy.... What’s his name?” The barista’s brows scrunched together. “Evan! I think her and Evan were, like, a thing. They started coming in together a lot last month.”

“Blonde spiky hair and too much jewelry?” asked Lucas.

“Yeah! You know him?”

“Yeah, I know him.... Why don’t you make that espresso a triple? It’s going to be a long night.”

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Lucas put just enough creamer in the espresso to bring it to a tolerable temperature and threw his head back, chugging it as though it were hard liquor. His face scrunched up. He swallowed it all and really wish he’d ordered something that would work as a chaser.

“All right, the suspense is killing me. Who the hell is Evan?”

Lucas shook his head.

“You can’t be serious? We’re in on this together, and I need to know who this Evan guy is. You can’t refuse to talk about him.”

“Sure I can. This is me not talking about Evan.”

Harper set a hand on her hip and glared at him. “Do you really think that’s going to work with me?”

He waved a hand at her. “You really think the cute little hand on your hip annoyed act is going to help you with me? I’ve been around you long enough, Harper. I recognize your moves by now.”

“My moves? Anyhow, this is how I act when I’m exasperated with you, so it’s no wonder you recognize my moves. I’m always exasperated around you.”

Lucas glanced around until he saw the free Wi-Fi sign in the corner of the room. He bet that if he had a few minutes with an Internet connection he could figure out where Evan was.

He went to the next room. Everywhere he looked, he saw memories of Lily. At this point, she seemed to be mocking him. What a goddamn fool he’d been. She’d seemed so trusting, so innocent, and now she was screwing him over like this.

He went to the darkest corner of the room and plopped down on some ugly purple velvet loveseat.

Harper, even though she’d been annoyed with him most of the day, sat down right next to him, not wanting to miss the things that he did on his phone. “You know you’re going to tell me eventually.”

“Yeah, I know. Why do you think I’m so annoyed?”

“Just get it out. Like you’re ripping off the bandages.”

“You know, they make those fancy new bandages that don’t hurt when you take them off.”

“You’re broke. You can’t afford any fancy bandages.”

“Ouch.” Well, she sure as hell wasn’t wrong about that. “Evan Park is my former partner. We got into the whole private detective thing together.”

“You? Work with a partner?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I don’t play well with others, but, like you just pointed out, I’m broke. I’ve been broke for most of my life. Evan had capital; we both had some free time, so we got in the business together.”

“Then what happened? Did you have a falling out or...?”

“No. We both recognized that it was too big a pain in the ass to work with someone, so we split off the business. He’d always handled the cheating spouse variety of cases and I always handled more... violent ones. It was an even split. Usually when I was in the city, I stayed with him so I didn’t pay for a hotel room.”

“Oh. You were probably staying with him when you were hanging out with Lily, weren’t you?”

“You got it. That’s how they met.”

“Okay, so all that makes sense. But why are you so pissed about it?”

Lucas started to say something, then stopped himself. He started again, and once again couldn’t get it out. “All right, I’m going to tell you something about my past. I don’t want your pity. And I don’t want you to tell me what you would’ve done in the same situation. Just listen. Okay?”

Harper stayed silent but nodded in agreement.

“Okay, so when I was younger, I always wanted to be a cop. It was my lifelong dream ever since I was old enough to pick out my own Halloween costume. Once I graduated from school, I was all set to run off to the academy and get my career rolling. But I went for one last summer vacation down in Cancún, and one of my buddies, one of my best friends at the time, shoved my bag full of black tar heroin and I got caught by customs once we got back to the States. Of course, the whole ‘my friend put it there’ defense is heard fifteen thousand times a day, so no one believed me. I spent three years in prison before I was released.”

He could see all the pieces clicking in place for Harper. His discomfort in the jail. His fear of flying. His anger at Evan. “So this thing with Evan is just one more betrayal?”

“I think whoever did this had access to my bank account information. Besides my former business partner, it’s not like there are a lot of people I was sharing that with. That, combined with the fact that he’s been hanging around Lily, doesn’t sit right with me. I’m thinking it’s looking more and more likely that I’ve been set up again.”

“Hey, we don’t know anything for certain. Why don’t we find Lily and ask her to tell us herself what happened.”

“I just want to get this over with. I don’t want some stupid jail sentence hanging over my head one more time for something I didn’t do.”

“Lucas, I’m so sorry you had to—”

“What did I say about pity? It’s a thing, it happened, and I moved on.”

“Then why did you tell me about it at all?”

“Because I figured you’d want to know just what the stakes are here. It was one thing when Lily’s parents were coming after me. But this is something else.”

“I get it. He was supposed to be a friend.”

Lily was a fling. If she ran off and decided to be crazy, that was one thing. But he still considered Evan a friend. Which was stupid. He’d more than found out exactly how little friendship meant to some people.

“So what’s the plan? Are we going to go visit Evan?” asked Harper.

“Yeah, but I’m sick of being one step behind. The landlord at Evan’s building knows me. I want to message him before I head over and arrange to get a key to Evan’s place.”

“The landlord is just going to give you a key?”

“I’ve had to head over to Evan’s apartment a few times. Both times I didn’t have the key, so the landlord hooked me up. I bet you if I give some sob story about Evan being in trouble, the landlord would have no problem letting us in. That way, Evan can’t refuse to see us.”

Harper raised a brow. “Not too shabby, Stone.”

“You have to stop being impressed with me. It’s insulting.”

“How is that insulting?”

“I guess it’s the fact that you’re so damn surprised every time you’re impressed.”

“What can I say? I like it when you surprise me.”