Page 54 of When He Fights
Her lush lips pulled down.“Please, tell me what you really think.”
He stepped closer.Her scent—summer nights, jasmine, innocence—teased him.Gray shook his head because…what in the hell had just happened?And how the hell did anyone smell like innocence?
Clearly, he’d been working too long.A vacation to some tropical paradise should be in his future.Once he had Logan back in custody.
“I think,” he began, trying to stay somewhat careful with his language, “that you are a civilian who should not be playing with fire.”Another step toward her.“And if you didn’t have mommy’s political power behind you, the fire would never have been started.”Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been quite so careful with his words.Sue him.
Her eyes narrowed.“I’m here because of my own qualifications.My mother has nothing to do with it.”
“Really?Because I got a personal phone call from her—and my boss did, too, by the way—saying that we had to play nicely with you or we’d find ourselves being called in for a full accounting in the senator’s office.”
A furrow appeared between her eyebrows.“What?”
“See, that’s a fun little tell.”He reached up and touched her between the brows.A light, quick touch.
Electricity surged through his whole body.
Gray snatched his hand back as if he’d just been burned.Because he had been.“Shouldn’t have touched you,” he said instantly.He meant those words with every fiber of his being.“My mistake.It will not happen again.”He backed up.
“What?What just happened?”
“Won’t be touching without permission,” he rasped.
Her head tilted.Her hair spilled against her shoulder.“And what happens if I give you permission?”
“FBI Agent!FBI Agent!”A bellow that echoed from holding.
“Will you assholes shut the hell up?”The other prisoner in holding, still just as annoyed.
Gray didn’t move.His gaze never left Emerson.“You didn’t know your mother was pulling strings.The surprise showed in that cute—” No, shit, he was tired and being sloppy.“The surprise showed in the scrunch between your brows.Watch the tell.”And he needed to watch himself.No more slip-ups where he referred to anything about her ascute.
“FBI Agent!”Turner bellowed again.
“He really wants your attention,” Emerson told him.
“The longer he waits, the more desperate he’ll be.Free pro tip for you.”
“Thanks so much,” she gushed, widening her eyes.“That is a real gem of knowledge you’ve bestowed upon me.”
He did not miss the sarcasm.Herthanks so muchsounded an awful lot likefuck you and the horse you rode in on.
Gray bit his lower lip.
“Something amusing you?”Emerson inquired.Very polite.Very cool.
“Nope.”He cleared his throat.
“How did your suspect slip up?”
“He had a tell, too.His watery eyes got too blinky.”
She straightened from the wall.“You’re assuming Logan Catalano is in town because your suspectblinked?Blinked too much?”
“Yes.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s field experience,” he corrected.“That is having spent years facing the worst criminals in the world and not just helping on a handful of cases.”
