Page 19 of Bad Situation

I instantly lose her eyes and she focuses on her phone, skimming across the screen a hundred miles an hour. When she finds what she’s looking for, her eyes pause before jumping to my face. Right now, she’s completely transparent and I know what I see is my doing. After a shit day, I gave her this.

Relief.

An extrication.

Fuck. Even a balm to her soul.

Her tongue sneaks out to wet her dry lips, making me itch to taste them.

“Why did you come here to tell me this?”

I take a breath, deciding how to answer. “Do you know who I am?”

She frowns.

“I’d tell you to Google me, but the tap on you is probably still live, so don’t. They’re monitoring your internet activity.”

Her frown deepens.

I lean in and lower my voice. “I don’t like bad guys, Jen. I’ve been known to go to great lengths to put them away.”

“That still doesn’t tell me why you’re here.”

“I also don’t like lazy investigators or innocent people being wrongly accused. Shit like that gets under my skin and burns like a nasty rash.”

Her arms fall dramatically to her sides. “So, you believe I’m innocent?”

I hitch a shoulder. “Bree’s essentially accusing you of stealing from your own family. Why would you do that if you’re being groomed to take over the empire? From what I’ve seen, I think Bree’s investigation wasn’t thorough and I’ve said so. That’s why I was taken off your case. I don’t give a shit about stats or what might make the news, but some supervisors are greedy like that. I’m still trying to figure out my new co-workers—I can’t be certain, but more could’ve been done.”

Her eyes drop, unfocused to my chest. “I see.”

“Jen?”

She looks back to me.

“My intuition is usually spot-on but, when it comes to you, I’m not sure I can trust my instincts.”

She frowns. “Why?”

I take a step, crossing her threshold, but she doesn’t budge. She tips her head back and I’m so close, I can see the gold flecks in her eyes and smell her perfume that seeps through my senses. “Because while I was supposed to be doing surveillance on you, I got too close. I talked to you when I was supposed to be watching you. Then I did something I’ve never done before and lost my mind while working a case.”

“That’s why you were upset after we danced?” she guesses.

That’s an understatement. “Yeah. To say the least, I was upset with myself.”

She swallows and nods, her eyes wandering from my eyes to my jaw and then to my neck.

“Jen,” I call for her and she looks up. “Even though my instincts have been cloudy when it comes to you, I don’t think you created those dummy corporations.” I lean in, closing what little distance remains between us. No camera or microphone can pick up what I say. I brush her ear with my nose and feel her warm breath hitch and then grace the side of my face when I whisper, “You need to prove you’re innocent and, if you are, I plan to help with that.”

She says nothing but nods and when she does, her hair brushes my skin, reminding me what it was like when she was in my arms and how much I want her there again.

I really fucking need her to be innocent.

I reach into the pocket of my jacket and pull out the prepaid cell I bought on my way over here. Making myself move away, I lean back only far enough to look at her and shove the phone between us. “Your lines are tapped. You can call or text me from this phone whenever you want. But Jen, from now on, answer the fucking phone when it rings. It’ll only be me.”

She looks down at the cheap prepaid cell I put in her hand and her voice is small, like she’s talking to herself, “I don’t know if I should trust you.”

Tired of fighting that control I thought I had a strong hold on, I give in and put my hand low on her hip, giving her a squeeze.

---