She darted towards the door, but stopped to wave before it closed behind her. ‘Thanks again, Nina and Rielle. ’Bye, Detective.’
She was gone in a puff of energy, and the detective shook his head as if dizzy. ‘Where is that stuff bottled, and can I get some?’
Nina wasn’t amused.
He turned to face her, and Rielle busied herself at her computer. Nina’s eyes narrowed. Some help her assistant was. She had to hold her ground on her own as the detective took in the stiff set of her jaw, her crossed arms and her tapping toe.
‘No dance from you?’ he said.
‘For you doing your job?’ Nina rolled her eyes.
‘Right,’ the detective said. Lowering his chin, he started towards her. Nina flinched when he caught her arm and directed her towards her office. ‘Shall we?’
She watched, dumbfounded, as he continued on his way as if he had the right. ‘No,’ she said tugging her arm away. ‘We shan’t.’
He gestured towards her open door. ‘I need to talk to you.’
Without waiting, he bulled right in. Nina’s jaw dropped. He’d visited her in her office before, each time uninvited, but now he was strolling in as if he was in charge?
She rubbed her arm absently where he’d touched her. It felt warm and sensitive.
Oh, hell, no.
Letting her arms fall to her sides, she marched after him. When she found him sitting with one hip hitched up on her desk, waiting for her, she skidded to a stop. Her heels dug into the carpeting, and her hands fisted.
Determinedly, she made them unfold.
‘Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?’ she said.
His eyebrows lifted, but then his onyx gaze slowly dropped. It glided over her with heat so banked and intense, she felt a flare-up in the pit of her stomach. Her reaction was so surprising, Nina glared at him. She didn’t like surprises, especially one as unexpected as this. Turning on the heel of her stiletto, she closed the door to her office with a soft click. She didn’t want Rielle listening in.
‘So how does the Foster girl factor in here?’ the detective asked. He picked up the blue glass dolphin paperweight on her desk, and Nina’s jaw locked. He was in her space and touching her things. ‘I haven’t been able to quite figure that one out.’
And he wouldn’t.
She summoned her calm and analysed him with the same scrutiny. Dark hair, unsettling onyx eyes and an athletic build. Sensuality. Self-confidence. A laser-sharp mind.
So many items on her own personal wish list.
Pushing back her hair, Nina walked past him to stare out of the bank of windows behind her desk. He was just poking around, trying to get a rise out of her. He knew nothing more about Luxxor than the first day he’d walked in. She’d dealt with worse.
But none who had unsettled her as much as he did.
Below her third-storey window, the street was busy. DC was awakening from its winter inertia. A temperate day had residents out and about, and she was sure the rare winter visitors were swarming the National Mall and monuments.
She turned to face him. ‘You were talking about Jason?’
She remained standing rather than taking her seat, and she kept the massive oak desk between them. He irked her with the way he still sat atop it with his muscled leg swinging slowly. ‘I was.’
‘I assume you found the video evidence that I told you about? The footage where the reporter put his hands on my employee?’
Technically, Kyle Pratt had only touched the ends of Sienna’s hair, but that was exactly what it was – a technicality.
‘I did.’ The detective nodded. He held the dolphin up to let the light shine through it. The piece looked so sleek and delicate in his tough hand, and he was holding it with such care. ‘Several weeks ago.’
Nina let one eyebrow arch. ‘You take your time.’
He cocked his head. ‘Yes, ma’am. I do.’
Arousal unfurled deep inside her, languid and stretching. Her fists curled again, this time until her fingernails bit into her palms.
‘Ridiculous. I’m sure taxpayers would love to hear how you spend your time.’
The man took a slow look around her office, and the heat building inside her became uncomfortable.
‘There was a lot for me to look into.’
The silky tone of his voice slithered along her nerve endings. No matter how much he provoked her, she had to remember this was a dangerous man. His curiosity about her and her business was like a prowling tiger. He could pounce at any time.
She needed to be ready. Better yet, distract him to something else.
He put the dolphin back down, precisely where he’d found it. ‘All charges have been dropped, and Mr Sloan has agreed to do some public service announcements on TV and radio.’
‘Jason settled?’ she said in surprise.
The detective shrugged, and his muscles bunched lazily. ‘I don’t get involved in the lawyers’ games, but, from what I hear, the ads will be focused on preventing violence against women.’
Oh, well, that was something she could see the tough defenceman getting behind. He was head over heels in love with Sienna, and he’d been protecting her from a jerk who’d been harassing her when everything had happened. Nina smoothed her hair behind her ear and touched her earring. ‘That’s admirable of him.’
‘Yes, it is,’ the detective agreed. His focus shifted slightly from her eyes to her ear, and Nina’s absent playing halted.
She folded her arms again and tilted her foot back on its heel. She’d never admit it, but her feet were beginning to hurt.
The detective cleared his throat. ‘But you’re right, the investigation took longer than usual with the holidays and everything.’
She accepted that. But why was he here, telling her all this? She was just a witness, one of many. That punch had gone viral on social media. Literally millions of people had watched it. He could have just called her to tell her the charges had been dropped, or not even that. Detectives didn’t follow up with witnesses to let them know how cases had turned out. She wasn’t stupid.
He was here for another reason.
‘Did you have a good Christmas, Nina?’
The question made her flinch. It was polite, something a stranger could offer as conversation, yet between them it bordered on being intimate. Before she could think of an appropriate response, he was standing up, and she found herself tilting her head back to look him in the face.
Her breath escaped silently between her lips. Prowling tiger wasn’t a bad description. This guy could eat her up and spit her out. Or brush against her in a nuzzling caress that she’d feel all the way down to her toes.
The lifted toe of her shoe came down fast.
‘It was very nice, thank you.’
‘I suppose New Year’s Eve is a busy night for Luxxor.’
Her breathing stopped, and cold flashed through her. What did he know? What had he found out? Or was he still searching?
She pressed her lips together and refused to let him see her tremble.
His eyes narrowed, but his jaw softened. ‘Anyway…you won’t be seeing me around here much any more.’
Thank God for that. She wanted to help him along, push him out of the door and on his way.
Yet disappointment wafted through her too.
She traced her fingertips along the hem of her jacket. It was just the disappointment of losing a worthy adversary, she assured herself. Nothing more.
‘Goodbye, Nina.’
‘Goodbye, Detective Morgan.’
He paused. ‘Josh.’
Her pulse thumped once. ‘Josh.’
His pupils flared, alarming her that she’d betrayed something, but then he turned. For a big man, he moved well. He crossed the room in silence, and her gaze raked over him hungrily. He opened the door with just as much stealth and closed it behind him before Nina realised she’d followed him halfway across the room.
Good heavens.
What was wrong with her
?
The tension inside her drained out, and she lowered her head. It was a good minute before she regained her bearings. Then, standing up straight, she smoothed her clothes. She turned back to her desk, but came to an almost immediate halt.
There was something on her desk that hadn’t been there before. A tiny box sat on the corner where the detective had just been.
She looked over her shoulder quickly, but she couldn’t call out. He’d gone. The way he moved, she wouldn’t even be able to catch him in the lobby now.
Not in these heels.
She eyed the box suspiciously and took a hesitant step forward. She was overcome by the curiosity of the big cat she’d compared him to, and she picked it up. It was about three inches square, but heavier than she expected. The box was royal-blue and wrapped with a grey bow.
She plucked at the bow’s end and it unravelled like silk. She gripped the box lid but stopped.
‘He did this on purpose,’ she told herself aloud. ‘Don’t let him get to you.’
He was a cagey one…with his sharp onyx eyes and the hint of silver at his temples…
She frowned. She should put the box down now. Wrap it up and return it.
Which was precisely why she lifted the lid and took a peek.
‘Oh.’
Slowly, she sank into the chair behind her. It was the one in front of her desk, not her power chair.
Carefully, she reached into the box. From out of its tissue paper, she lifted a blue glass figurine. A butterfly.
She looked at the dolphin on her desk and her collection on the shelf on the wall.
The guy didn’t miss a beat.
She set the butterfly in the middle of her palm. It was spreading its wings and about to fly.
‘Did you have a good Christmas, Nina?’ His sexy baritone voice rumbled in her ears.
She melted into the chair. Damn the man. He’d bought her a butterfly.
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Courting Innocence Page 25
