Page 40 of Home Team Advantage
After dropping Anna off at Mrs. Campbell’s, Matt turned the Rover around and headed back into town. He wasn’t in the proper headspace to go home and hang out. His mind was too scrambled. The urge to kiss Anna before she got out of the Rover had been nearly overpowering, but he couldn’t break that seal. He feared he wouldn’t be able to stop if he did. Something about that woman tested his control like no other.
He didn’t like it.
“Someone’s been busy,” Ian said when Matt sidled into the pub. “Heard you spent the afternoon with the lovely Anna. I guess she couldn’t resist your charm after all.”
News traveled fast. Matt took a seat at the bar and accepted the beer Ian placed in front of him. Using his charm on Anna didn’t feel right, especially when it was backfiring so spectacularly.
“Uh-oh. Is someone feeling a pang of conscience?”
“Maybe,” Matt said.
It had been so long since he’d had one that he wasn’t sure what it felt like anymore. But Anna Black was no cold-blooded con woman. The panic he’d felt run through her was real. So was the passion. Either that or she was one hell of an actress.
He didn’t think she was a fabulous actress. The chemistry between them was insane, and it wasn’t because of shared interests or great conversation. This—whatever the hell this thing was between them—was almost primal in nature. And it wasn’t just lust. It was like he had this deep-seated need to protect her or something.
“Look at it this way,” Ian said. “Clearing her of wrongdoing would actually benefit her, yeah?”
He supposed that was true, but it didn’t feel that way. And she was still hiding something.
“Did you learn anything useful? Besides how to slip in under her defenses, I mean.”
Matt frowned, shifting his thoughts to a mental review of their conversations. He hadn’t slipped under anything, had he?
“Nothing we hadn’t already known. Every time I brought up her past, she bobbed and dodged like a pro.” Which was yet another reason he needed to stay objective. She couldn’t be both guileless and cunning. “How about you? Any news?”
“Eddie was in here earlier. He didn’t look happy.”
“I guess the investigation isn’t going well.”
“The cop is refusing to continue until Eddie pays him what he already owes.”
That was interesting. “So, Eddie is having money troubles?”
“More like a liquidity problem, at least according to him. He claims everything’s tied up in investments.”
“Easy enough to verify.”
“Yep. Next on my list.”
“What about Chicago?”
Ian leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Those rumors about the gubernatorial candidate having ties to the mob? They’re not rumors.”
That niggling feeling that things weren’t adding up grew stronger. “Did you find any connection to Anna?”
“None whatsoever. But we have a meeting at Sanctuary tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter Twenty-One
ANNA
Despite her conviction to remain completely unaffected by the likes of Matt O’Connell, it was hard not to like the guy. He had a way of making a woman feel special. For the past couple of hours, his focus had been solely on her. He was kind, funny, and attentive. That was some heady stuff for a girl who had never been allowed to date or hang out with anyone outside her father’s approved circle.
Then, there was that barely leashed power simmering just beneath those gorgeous good looks. No matter the pretty packaging, Matt O’Connell was a dangerous man. When he’d stepped up behind her in mock attack, she’d felt the power in that hard body. The strength in those hands. He could have killed her between one heartbeat and the next.
She shuddered. Violence had never been her thing. Sometimes, however, there was no choice.
She took his hoodie into the laundry room, glad that she’d made it home before Faith and Mrs. Campbell. Walking in wearing his zip surely would have spawned some erroneous assumptions.
