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Peter barely processed her words through the fog of rage clouding his brain. Whoever the hell this was had no right to bring Gigi into this.

“I promise we’re not all bad.”

“I haven’t m et a good one yet.” Peter stalked back to his SUV not bothering to wait for her. He pounded his fist on the steering wheel as Carrie jogged toward him. Whoever was feeding her information clearly knew him personally. That made it a very small circle, and he intended to get to the bottom of it and get Carrie out of his life for good.

10

“COME on, pick up, pick up,” Carrie muttered, with the phone pressed to her ear.

It had been two days since her strange almost fight with Peter at the rest stop on Wednesday. Things had been icy. But hanging out at her desk all day was making her stir crazy, and her coworkers were starting to talk.

It wasn’t like Carrie to sit in her cubicle all day, which was part of why she didn’t think she wanted the EP job. As an investigative journalist, she preferred getting her hands dirty. Talk in the newsroom was that Tom had benched her for getting arrested.

Tom thought she was working hard on her investigation into Corbit Upwood. Carrie was having a hard time holding it together. The bright fluorescent lights and lack of fresh air were getting to her.

Peter’s cell kicked her to voicemail again, so she sent him a text.

Going crazy here. We have to make a better plan.

Carrie stood and paced while she waited for a response. Ten minutes later, her phone dinged.

I’m working on it.

She flashed her middle finger at the phone with a scowl on her face and then sent him the middle finger emoji just because she had that technology. Stoic Agent Mercer didn’t seem like the emoji type, so she wasn’t really expecting a response.

Her phone dinged again.

Behave and I’ll buy dinner. Whatever you want. My treat.

Behave?Did he think she was twelve? Choosing to ignore him, she sat at her desk and did her best to keep her mind off the fact that she couldn’t leave. Then again, there was nothing stopping her from hopping in a cab to anywhere she wanted to go. Other than the fact that someone had tried to kidnap her and set her apartment on fire, of course.

The promise of dinner with Peter sounded appealing, especially after the rest stop incident. They still hadn’t talked about that or their rooftop rendezvous, and she was dying to pick his brain and see if she could figure out how he fit into this.

A half hour later, her cell phone rang. The name on the screen made her smile.

“Edith, what’s up lady?”

“Do you want to come out and play tonight? It’s Gage’s last party before Exposure opens.”

Her heart fluttered with excitement, then fell. She was supposed to have dinner with Peter.

“What time?” Maybe she could do both.

“Oh, you know how these things are. Doors open at seven-thirty, but it won’t really get hopping until after nine.”

She made a split-second decision. “OK. Look, I won’t have time to get back to my apartment. Do you think you could pick me up at the studio?”

“Oh, I’m so glad you can make it. I’ll pick you up around six-thirty?”

“That sounds perfect. I hope it’s OK that I’m coming in my work clothes,” Carrie said, feeling better already.

“Honey, I don’t care how you come so long as you do it nice and loud.”

“Edith! I’m at work!” Carrie gasped in mock horror, which sent her friend into a fit of giggles.

When the call ended, she felt torn. Was this the right thing to do? How dangerous could going to a BDSM party with close friends be?

As intriguing as dinner with Peter might seem, she was confident that wouldn’t end in the same kind of fun going to a party with Edith would. He’d been clear their rooftop tryst was a onetime deal, and after the way that left her feeling empty, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go there again. No matter how much her body reacted to his presence.

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