Chapter 15

“I sure hope so.” He turned, intending to thank him again. For a brief second, he thought he saw naked desire in Merrick’s expression before the man smiled. I was reading something into it that wasn’t there. He hoped that was it. He liked Merrick. He’d even entertained fantasies of their becoming more than friends, but now was not the time. Not until…until I’ve proven I’m worth his patronage. Because that’s what he is—my patron.

“You’ll need these,” Merrick said, taking a keyring from his pocket. “This key is for the front door. The other’s for the back door. You’ll also need the security code. Do you have a pencil and…” Merrick laughed. “Of course you do.”

Chuckling, Ryan got a pencil from one of the cases, and a small sketchpad from another one, then wrote down the code. Tearing off the page, he folded it, putting it into his wallet.

“I’m starving,” Merrick said. “It’s much too late to go to the movie, so how about I fix us some hamburgers?”