Page 23 of Undercover Star
He looked so delectable, Josh wanted to call bullshit on the day and climb back into bed. He wouldn't. And the careful way he had answered his question meant Matisse knew it, too. Josh nodded his thanks and took his regrets elsewhere.
"Your thief. Did you see where he went?" Matisse asked when Josh returned to the bedroom in a cloud of steam, trailing the heady scent from Matisse's body wash. A T-shirt lay folded on the corner of the dresser, on top of a pair of jogging bottoms. They'd do until he made it home.
"He went into the crowd outside the gate." He answered Matisse's query while he dressed. "I didn't want to follow and put any of the fans at risk. He might have hurt one of them just to create enough confusion to get away, and I couldn't have that."
"What will you do now?"
"There's CCTV in the area. I'll request the recordings from last night and see if I can spot him. He wouldn't have known we set a trap for him in Kilbride House, so... we'll see."
"I'm still sorry I messed it up."
"And I'm still sorry you had to be there."
They smiled at each other—soft smiles laced with memories—until Josh turned for the door. "I'd best get going."
Chapter Seven
"How are you, Josh?" Tim's voice was kind. A warning sign if ever there was one. Montgomery had sounded like that when Josh had come to work the day after Paul's funeral. And when they'd been told the Italian police had shelved the investigation into Paul's murder. Montgomery was an exacting boss who looked after his people. He didn't usually wear his heart on his sleeve. That he did so now could only mean—
"You look like hell."
And there it was. Josh shrugged. He'd had a hell of a night in more ways than one. "I'm functional."
"But?"
Josh scrubbed both hands over his face. It didn't help, didn't take away the exhaustion that had nothing to do with the way he'd spent his night, or the throbbing in his side where the knife wound reminded him of its existence every time he moved. "Pulling Matisse into that op wasn't right," he said instead.
"Your objections are on file, Josh. Though I'm surprised you're still arguing. The kid is working out better than anyone could have dreamed. This is a cold case you're working in your spare time, Josh. The Italian police abandoned their investigation over three years ago. Nobody has ever gotten as close to the thief as the two of you did last night."
"And he got away."
"You're giving up?"
The smirk on Tim's face raised Josh's ire. "You expected me to fuck up?"
"Don't be an idiot. You did exactly what you were there to do. Don't look at me like that! I expected you to protect Matisse. He's a celebrity who agreed to help us. He didn't sign up to take a knife. Hell, he shouldn't have been that close to the perp in the first place."
