Page 39 of The Verdict

One night to become a thief once more. This time, to steal every moment and look and touch from the man who made me feel real—a man I had nothing more to offer than a life of lies. And it would be the only crime I’d be proud to have committed—and I would forever regret what it would cost me.

Chapter Eight

Rhys

Merritt threw her head back and laughed at something Daria said, distracting me just as my pool cue went flying, the cue ball veering off course and slamming into the side of the striped red eleven instead of the center.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath, struggling to take my eyes from her.

She was… intoxicating. The way her almond eyes sparkled when she laughed. How her thick hair danced in waves around her face, the midnight color catching the low light with the same vibrancy as a mood ring. But nothing was more seductive—not even the way her borrowed clothes molded to her curves—than the taste of her vulnerability and the drops of it that trickled through the seams of her armor.

“And what if you lose them before they get a chance to see—to know all of you?”

I wanted to know all of her, if she’d let me.

“Had I known you were going to play with your dick rather than your brain, I would’ve picked Dare as a partner,” Talon grumbled next to me, and I shot him an angry glare.

He’d come back to Sherwood for dinner and pool after helping us all afternoon at Wheaton’s place. The more eyes we had scouring the house, the better. This time, we weren’t looking for the flash drive; it wasn’t there. We were looking for any clues as to where he’d hidden it. Storage locker. Safety deposit box.Anylocation we hadn’t uncovered yet. We were desperate. Even Rob’s contacts who’d known about the drive hadn’t known where it was.

My eyes flicked around the room, catching on Dare’s for a second; he was watching me… watching her.

I gritted my teeth and gripped the pool cue tighter. I’d kept my hands to myself—did my damnedest to keep things professional—but who was I kidding? Trying to hide how I felt about her was like trying to block out the goddamn sun.

Merritt Manning held my lust in a chokehold so that it only breathed for her.Never had I felt like this about a woman.And never had I had to deny it.

From the moment I’d met her, she’d broken me. She’d broken my mold. Severed my safety net. Gone was my string of one-night, no-questions-asked distractions. One night with Merritt had ruined my rakish habits like a long scratch across a vinyl record; I tried to sing the same tune afterward—perpetual bachelor. One-night stands. Meaningless hookups—but the song skipped and skipped and skipped, never getting over her.

“You might as well have forfeited the game if you were going to do that. Dare can’t play pool for shit.”

We’d all gathered in the rec room after dinner for pool and drinks, a fire popping and spitting in the large stone hearth. Daria and Merritt played Talon and me, while Dare, Ty, and Harm watched our game from across the room.

“You’re not advertising yourself any better.” Dare shot over his shoulder from the bar where he stood, mixing up another whiskey sour.

I didn’t acknowledge him. To argue was only to prove him right, and that was the last thing I needed when all eyes were already on me. Watching. Waiting for proof that I’d somehow fallen for this woman.

Foolishly,Dare would say. His distrust of her was no secret.God only knew what the hell he’d have to say if he knew I’d found her snooping around in Ty’s office earlier.

I believed her when she said she was there looking for information. What other reason would there be? But there was more to it—more she wasn’t ready to trust me with. Whatever her truth was, it was protected by a bodyguard of lies. Maybe if I could find this goddamn drive—give her some kind of answer, some kind of security that she wouldn’t be forever a fugitive—she’d trust me with whatever she was hiding.

Her laugh caught my attention again, and when our eyes collided, her smile faltered, the catch of her breath only noticeable to me.

“What’s so funny?” I wondered, hardly paying attention as Talon eyed up his next move.

“Daria was telling me about the night you sang to her,” Merritt offered, coming to stand next to me. Her arm brushed mine, and I swallowed a groan. Desire moved through my veins like an electric current.Pop. Sizzle. Swish.

I exhaled slowly, and my free hand cuffed around my tattooed wrist, my thumb brushing over the inked numbers. It didn’t matter how I’d tried to keep my distance, the moment she was within reach, there was no hiding the fireworks.

“Did she?” Of course, I recalled when Harm first brought Daria to Sherwood for her own safety. I’d watched himhover over his enemy’s daughter like the Beast over his Belle, so I’d sang “Be Our Guest.”

But I didn’t want Merritt as our guest; I wanted her as mine.An impossibility,I reminded myself, until we’d solved this case.

“Yes!” Talon threw a fist in the air as he sank one of our striped balls into a pocket and then winked at Merritt as soon as he had her attention. I practically snarled at him, turning and coughing into my elbow instead.

Fuck.Her hold on me was dangerous. There was no other word for it, but I couldn’t stay away.

I gripped my cue and focused on the game, needing to hit something but forgetting which goddamn set of balls was even ours.Solids? Stripes?Who the hell cared? As long as it was a distraction.

And then Merritt put her hand on my arm, and I froze.Pop. Sizzle.Heat ricocheted over my skin.Swish.

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