Sleuthing for a Living (Mackenzie & Mackenzie PI Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free
Author: Jennifer L. Hart
it from."
He focused those intense dark eyes on me again. "I could make an educated guess."
I wasn't a blusher. No way no how, blushing was not my thing. But I found heat creeping up my neck and was having a hard time holding his gaze, as if the compliment weighed me down somehow. Warning claxons reverberated in my head. I really liked our new tenant, like stupid liked him. And I had a strict don't date the ones you could fall for policy. Last time I had, I'd ended up with two pink lines on a pregnancy test the same week as my Civil War midterm.
Lesson learned.
"So is Mac short for something?" Hunter asked.
"Yup, she's a Mackenzie too. Unfortunately, I hadn't decided on her name before she was born and no one told me how freaking painful childbirth would be or how exhausted I'd be afterword. In utero I called her Mini-Me. I blame it on my fascination with Austin Powers ."
Hunter was doing that thing where he looked like he was about to smile but it hadn't broken free yet. I wanted to see that moment when emotion overrode his considerable restraint.
"So there I was, whacked out on Demerol and more tired than I'd ever been in my entire life, and someone shoves a stack of papers in front of me and tells me it's for my daughter's birth certificate. So I see a space for a name, right? And I fill in Mackenzie Elizabeth Taylor because even in my doped-up state, I knew how to spell that one. So she became Mackenzie Elizabeth Taylor 2.0, the new and improved edition."
Bingo, there went the smile. And it was well worth the effort. "And her father?"
"He's not in the picture." I slid off the barstool and started fussing with things in the kitchen.
"I didn't mean to pry."
"It's a natural question. He's just not father material." I prayed he'd leave it at that.
Mac returned exactly five minutes later, backpack strap over one shoulder. "All set."
I eyeballed the hallway. "Where's Snickers?"
"In the bathroom."
Visions of the cranky little mongrel leaping up to bite my jugular assailed me. "What if I have to pee while you're at school?"
"You have lawyers to coerce into hiring you. Use their bathrooms."
"This is just a ploy so I set up your room sooner." I sent her a knowing smirk.
"Would I do that to you? My own mother?"
"Um, let me think about that for a second…hell, yeah."
Her quicksilver smile flashed. "You know me so well."
We followed Hunter out the door and were bitch-slapped by the chill autumn wind. October had copped-a-squat over Boston, and my hair whipped into my face in a sharp stinging sensation. Times like this made me envy Mac's short 'do. Hunter circled in front of our apartment and strode to the small gravel drive and the rickety shed behind.
"The anticipation is killing me," I grumbled while checking out our neighbor's stellar glutes.
"Down girl," Mac grumbled. "I forbid you to get naked with the good detective."
I scowled at her. "Who said anything about getting naked?"
Mac rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I'm choking on your pheromones over here. And it would make for dicey living conditions if he started giving us parking tickets because you nailed and bailed, so just say no."
"Remind me again who the parent is in this little duo? Because for a second I was sure it was me."
Mac actually snorted at that. "Says the woman who cried into her margarita and begged me not to let her make any more horrific life choices."
Damn, I'd forgotten about that. "You have a mind like a steel trap…hey, where did he go?"
Mac glanced around and did a palms-up. We'd been distracted by our verbal banter and somehow lost sight of Detective Black.
"Over here," a disembodied voice called from somewhere behind a row of rhododendron.
"Maybe he fell in the bushes," Mac hissed.
"Then shouldn't he be saying, 'I've fallen, and I can't get up'?"
"He's not eighty, Mom."
There was a scrape of wood on concrete as a door was dragged open. It seemed Hunter Black hadn't been waylaid by the shrubbery but instead was struggling
He focused those intense dark eyes on me again. "I could make an educated guess."
I wasn't a blusher. No way no how, blushing was not my thing. But I found heat creeping up my neck and was having a hard time holding his gaze, as if the compliment weighed me down somehow. Warning claxons reverberated in my head. I really liked our new tenant, like stupid liked him. And I had a strict don't date the ones you could fall for policy. Last time I had, I'd ended up with two pink lines on a pregnancy test the same week as my Civil War midterm.
Lesson learned.
"So is Mac short for something?" Hunter asked.
"Yup, she's a Mackenzie too. Unfortunately, I hadn't decided on her name before she was born and no one told me how freaking painful childbirth would be or how exhausted I'd be afterword. In utero I called her Mini-Me. I blame it on my fascination with Austin Powers ."
Hunter was doing that thing where he looked like he was about to smile but it hadn't broken free yet. I wanted to see that moment when emotion overrode his considerable restraint.
"So there I was, whacked out on Demerol and more tired than I'd ever been in my entire life, and someone shoves a stack of papers in front of me and tells me it's for my daughter's birth certificate. So I see a space for a name, right? And I fill in Mackenzie Elizabeth Taylor because even in my doped-up state, I knew how to spell that one. So she became Mackenzie Elizabeth Taylor 2.0, the new and improved edition."
Bingo, there went the smile. And it was well worth the effort. "And her father?"
"He's not in the picture." I slid off the barstool and started fussing with things in the kitchen.
"I didn't mean to pry."
"It's a natural question. He's just not father material." I prayed he'd leave it at that.
Mac returned exactly five minutes later, backpack strap over one shoulder. "All set."
I eyeballed the hallway. "Where's Snickers?"
"In the bathroom."
Visions of the cranky little mongrel leaping up to bite my jugular assailed me. "What if I have to pee while you're at school?"
"You have lawyers to coerce into hiring you. Use their bathrooms."
"This is just a ploy so I set up your room sooner." I sent her a knowing smirk.
"Would I do that to you? My own mother?"
"Um, let me think about that for a second…hell, yeah."
Her quicksilver smile flashed. "You know me so well."
We followed Hunter out the door and were bitch-slapped by the chill autumn wind. October had copped-a-squat over Boston, and my hair whipped into my face in a sharp stinging sensation. Times like this made me envy Mac's short 'do. Hunter circled in front of our apartment and strode to the small gravel drive and the rickety shed behind.
"The anticipation is killing me," I grumbled while checking out our neighbor's stellar glutes.
"Down girl," Mac grumbled. "I forbid you to get naked with the good detective."
I scowled at her. "Who said anything about getting naked?"
Mac rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I'm choking on your pheromones over here. And it would make for dicey living conditions if he started giving us parking tickets because you nailed and bailed, so just say no."
"Remind me again who the parent is in this little duo? Because for a second I was sure it was me."
Mac actually snorted at that. "Says the woman who cried into her margarita and begged me not to let her make any more horrific life choices."
Damn, I'd forgotten about that. "You have a mind like a steel trap…hey, where did he go?"
Mac glanced around and did a palms-up. We'd been distracted by our verbal banter and somehow lost sight of Detective Black.
"Over here," a disembodied voice called from somewhere behind a row of rhododendron.
"Maybe he fell in the bushes," Mac hissed.
"Then shouldn't he be saying, 'I've fallen, and I can't get up'?"
"He's not eighty, Mom."
There was a scrape of wood on concrete as a door was dragged open. It seemed Hunter Black hadn't been waylaid by the shrubbery but instead was struggling
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