Page 78 of Illicit

“So he’s buying information, hooking them, and selling off the information. We need to figure out who his clients are,” I say. “I think it’s safe to say they aren’t in the US.”

“Agreed. I intercepted the calls to the tax offices. I’ll see where it goes from here. He just bought a shit ton of fresh contacts in Jefferson Parish we’re going to follow. Or I will, since you skipped town.”

“You act like I snuck out in the middle of the night. Anyway, you work your end. I have an idea for mine. I’ll make that call first thing in the morning.”

“Do you have a smoking gun?”

“Something like that.” I turn when I hear the bathroom door.

Fuck.

Teagan is standing there in a tiny robe. Tiny as in short. Like it barely covers her pussy short. She has it cinched at the waist, and the arms are so wide they hang past her hands. It lands somewhere on the scale between white and pink.

But that doesn’t matter.

It’s time for me to conduct a different kind of investigation. The kind to figure out what’s beneath that robe.

“I’ve got to go,” I mutter and push myself away from the counter where I was leaning. “Call me tomorrow. I’ll be driving most of the day. You can keep me company.”

“I can’t wait. Like old times.”

I don’t shift my stare from Teagan where she fingers the tail end of the belt that holds that damn robe together. “It’s like you forgot we worked together the day before last.”

“Yep. The good ole’ days.”

“If you don’t let me go, I’m hanging up on you.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll call you tomorrow. You’ll hurt my feelings if you don’t answer.”

I’m done. I disconnect the call and drop my cell into an open box. I hope to find it later, that’s how distracted I am by the woman across the room.

“This is a surprise.”

She lifts a slim shoulder. “Is it? We’ve been dancing around each other all day. So many eyes on us.”

I take two steps toward her. “I didn’t say it was an unwelcome surprise. And the secret was your idea.”

She winds the end of the belt around and around her finger. “After spending all day with my parents, you can’t tell me you aren’t grateful for the secret.”

I have to roll my lips to wet them. “I’d rather shout it from the rooftops. The only thing today proved is that privacy does not suck. I was happy to not be interrogated.”

“You’re ready to tell the world we don’t know if this is a sure thing when I haven’t even begged you to kiss me?”

“I’ll kiss you soon enough.” I erase every inch between us until we’re flush. Her tits brush my chest through the thin robe. “Do you know what I like?”

“Me?” The word is more than a guess. If a word could be a hope and a dream, that would be it.

I shake my head. “Give yourself more credit, baby. Like is not a strong enough word when it comes to you.”

I feel her breathe deeply against my neck. “Tell me what you like.”

I reach up and dust my fingers against her cheek. “I like that we don’t have to fuck around with the getting to know you stage.”

She hikes a brow. “So we can skip straight to fucking around stage?”

“I’ll enjoy any stage with you … but the getting-to-know-you stage?” My fingers play with the ends of her loose waves. I wind a curl around my finger to toy with it, the same way she was doing with the robe I’d like to rip off her. “I know you. You know me. Which is why I’m confident this won’t be a secret for long.”

“That’s pretty presumptuous of you. We’re not even on kissing terms,” she teases.

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