Excerpt

I woke up inside the car. I was sitting up, leaning against someone who had his arm around me. Even the confusion of waking up from fainting didn't cause me to wonder whose arm it was. That I didn't mind made me want to turn myself over to Gloria Steinem as a real failure as a modern woman.

". . . think she'll be willing to be an agent?" It was a man's voice, but not Martini's and not the older man's, either. I kept my eyes closed and tried not to change my breathing too much.

"Hope so." This was Martini. "Be nice to have someone easy on the eyes around."

"Jeffrey, this isn't a dating service." This was the older man. "You'd better hope she doesn't slam that pen of hers into your groin when she comes to."

"I didn't give it back to her yet," Martini said with a laugh. I could feel him move a bit. "Can't wait to find out why she used this."

"It was all I had." I opened my eyes to see him holding my pen out to the others in the car. I snatched it out of his hand. It was still covered with slime.

"I'm more interested in how you knew where to stick it." The third man's voice. I looked around and realized Martini and I were facing the back of the car, Martini across from the older man, me across from this one. He was built along the same lines as Martini and the older man – big, handsome, and Armani-clad. He was also bald, and his skin was the kind of black that looks almost ebony.

"All the men handsome in this agency?" I asked the older man. "Because, if so, trust me when I say I can help you recruit all the women you want."

He laughed. "I'm Mister White."

"Right. And he's Mister Black?" I said, indicating the man across from me.

"Great sense of humor," the black man said dryly. "No, I'm Paul Gower. But thanks for the compliment. His name really is White. Richard White. Don't call him Dick."

"Unless he acts like one?"

"Not even then," Gower said with a small smile. "Now, you going to impress us with your manners and tell us your name?"

"No. I'm sure you all went through my purse while I was out." I looked up at Martini who contrived to look innocent. "Right. So, you know who I am."

"Actually, you woke up before I could find your wallet," Martini admitted. "I don't know how you found that pen – your purse is like a black hole."

"I prefer to think of it as Mary Poppins' carpetbag. Okay, okay," I added to the looks I was getting from both White and Gower. "I'm Katherine Katt, k-a-t-t, and yes, before you ask the obvious, my parents call me Kitty."

"I like it," Martini said with a sly grin.

"What do your friends call you?" Gower asked.

I gave him a long look. "You're not my friends yet."

White chuckled. "Fair enough, Miss Katt."

"Oh, let's call her Miss Kitty," Martini pleaded.

I wiped the slime on my pen off on his pants. "I'm not gracing that with a response."

"My God, I think I'm in love," Martini said with a laugh.

But he didn't take his arm from around my shoulders.

"I'll bet you say that to every girl who stabs some weirdo with a pen." I tried not to think about the fact I liked his arm around me. There was more going on, and I had to stop acting as though we were at a singles bar.

"Only the sexy ones," Martini replied, pretty much wrecking my not-a-singles-bar mindset.

"I'd have gone with beautiful," Gower said. "Women tend to prefer that compliment."

"But we want her because she's smart and resourceful," White said, and I could hear something in his tone that sounded like my father's when he'd finally had enough and wanted us focused on business.

Martini and Gower heard it too, because they stopped bantering and both looked more serious. Me, I didn't care about White's wants. Yet.

My phone beeped and I pulled it out. I'd missed a lot of calls. "Thanks for not letting me know people were trying to reach me."

"We could hear the phone," Martini said. "Just couldn't find it in that thing."

I took a look at my missed calls list. "Mister Brill, Caroline, Chuckie, Janet. Normally I'm not so popular at this time of day."

"Maybe they're lonely," Martini said. "Who's Chuckie?"

"A friend, why?" One of my oldest friends, actually, but I didn't see any reason to share this with Martini.

"He the one who has the 'My Best Friend' ringtone?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Just like to identify the competition early," Martini said with a grin.

"There is no competition, because we are not an item." There, I was back on firm, feminist footing. Besides, Chuckie and I weren't dating, and one fling a few years ago didn't count. "However, I really need to call these people back, particularly my boss, who I'm sure would like to know why I'm not back at the office yet."

White shook his head. "No, we can't allow that, I'm sorry."

My phone rang again. It was Sheila. Martini snatched the phone from me before I could answer it. "Look, that's one of my other oldest friends. I need to answer." The phone stopped ringing, but started right up again.

Martini looked at it. "Amy. Don't tell me, let me guess . . . another old friend?"

"Yeah. Sheila and Amy are my best girlfriends, Chuckie's my best guy friend. I've known them since ninth grade. I really think I need to answer my damn phone." It stopped ringing again and I snatched it out of Martini's hand.

"So, why does only this Chuckie guy get the special ringtone?" Martini asked.

"I'm not gracing that question with a response." I looked at my phone. Text messages were pouring in.

"I have to insist that you not contact anyone yet," White said, before I could type a response of any kind. "I assure you, we'll let you return calls in a short while."

I had the feeling White would suggest that Martini crush my phone in his hand if I argued, and Martini looked strong enough to do it. I gave up and shoved my phone back into my purse. "So, what's this actually all about? I mean, I don't think that was a movie set, so how did that man sprout wings?"

White sighed. "I'll tell you about it when we get to headquarters."

"Just where is headquarters? As I mentioned and my missed-call log shows, I'm supposed to be back at work."

"If you join us, you won't be going back there anyway," White said.

"Great health and dental," Martini offered. "Mental health benefits are the best going."

"What about vacation?" I asked as sarcastically as possible.

"I was thinking Cabo, maybe Hawaii. You must look great in a bathing suit, even if you do sunburn," Martini replied without missing a beat. "I'll make sure to put sunscreen all over you, though, I promise."

White gave another sigh, of defeat this time. "We'll explain it to you as soon as we can pry you away from Jeffrey here."

"Not gonna happen," Martini said cheerfully. "She's looking, I'm looking, no rules about intercompany relationships, so get used to us as a couple."

"Geez, you sure are confident I'm going to throw myself at you." I wondered if this really was his usual way with women, or if he was going to turn out to be some insanely desperate, smothering, clingy man who proposed on the first date and then stalked his exes after they ran screaming into the street to escape him.

"Nope. You just think we're all hot, and I know how to stake a claim early." Martini nodded to Gower. "Make sure you spread it around – she's mine."

Gower shook his head. "He'll propose on the first date, but don't let it panic you. He's not as mentally unstable as he seems, as unflattering as that last comment might be taken by you. Jeff here just knows what he wants quicker than most of us."

"Great." I looked back over to White, who seemed both amused and frustrated. "Where, exactly, is this headquarters? I'm asking because I live around here, and I know the fastest routes to the airport at any given time, and we are clearly heading to the airport."

White smiled. "You are just what I've been hoping for."