Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1)

by Melissa Schroeder

  Adam nodded. Del looked out his window. The sun was setting and another day had disappeared. Since they had the National Guard helping in the rescue, he had some of his time back, and they could pursue leads. Well, if they had any leads that is. Right now they had next to nothing. Even another visit with Susan’s friends yielded nothing. With Jin Phillips fueling the fires, it had caused even more scrutiny of his team.

  “Why don’t you go home, Boss?”

  He glanced at Adam. “Sick of me?”

  “Well, there has been a discussion about your smell.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve had showers here and changes of clothes, but getting out of the office might do me some good.”

  “You have the bike here, right? Go for a drive, clear your head. I’ll call if there is anything.”

  “Make sure you ping me as soon as you hear.”

  Adam nodded, but they both knew there would be nothing. Not tonight. They both had a sense about these things, unfortunately.

  “You’re doing everything you can. Take an hour or two, come back refreshed.”

  So, less than ten minutes later, he was on his bike, but he didn’t head out to Hawaii Kai. Instead, he found himself parking his Harley by Emma’s condo. Like last time, he flashed his badge and went up. He knocked, expecting her to take her time coming to the door. Instead, it flung open.

  He blinked at the vision before him. What the hell had happened? She was a mess. Her hair was sticking up on one side of her head. It was as if she had twisted it around her finger over and over, a habit when she was concentrating. It was easy to see she hadn’t had any sleep. The delicate flesh beneath her eyes was bruised. Del was pretty sure she probably hadn’t been eating either.

  “Any word?” she demanded.

  It hit him, and he realized that she had been waiting just as they had. He shook his head and she stepped back. “I thought you might call if something broke.

  “Nothing has.”

  She emitted a sound of disgust, then turned on her heel and marched into the living room. He followed, then stopped as soon as the room came into view. Good God, it looked like a bomb had gone off. When Emma started working, some things would go to hell. Her clothes, and there would be research crap all over the place. But…this was a whole other level of chaos. The usual papers and books littered the floor and tables. Candy wrappers, empty energy drink containers, plus takeout containers were stacked everywhere else.

  “What is going on here?”

  She glanced around and shrugged. “I’ve been working. I have yet to find anything between the two women. But, I have been finding some interesting things in Japan. They had a couple of killings last year. It took a bit of digging, and I still need to get more background, but a few reports talk about some women and tattoos.”

  She was talking too fast—almost manic. He should have made Sean come over and check on her. With the press hounding his every step, he’d avoided leading them to Emma’s door. Her brother should have been stopping by though. Sean knew she was working on this case and knew she could lapse into an episode.

  “They probably had more than just a few.”

  “I meant like these. Both of the women were tattooed. I am still searching for more information, but I haven’t found what the tats were of or if it had the same MO.”

  She stuck the pencil in her mouth and started typing on her computer. He knew that crazed look in her eyes, and the use of run on sentences. It was when she was about to go into the deep end. Too much info and too much to think about. All of it became a mass of unending thoughts that she could not seem to split apart. She could continue on like this until she had a meltdown. She was brilliant, but this was one of those times when she needed someone to push back. Del elected himself as that person for the night.

  “Hey, are you hungry?”

  It took her a second to turn to face him. When she did, it took more than just a moment for her gaze to focus on him. “What?”

  “Eat, as in have food?”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine. I had Skittles for breakfast.”

  He shook his head. “You eat like a teenager.”

  “What does that have to do with the investigation?”

  He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from her laptop. “Come on. Let’s go eat.”

  “I think I have things here. And I have work. Lots of work. I have to read over the reports as soon as I get them sent to me. I must be here.”

  There was a tinge of desperation in her voice, and he knew it well. Their first case had affected her like this. She’d almost lost it then, but he knew how to reel her back from the edge.

  “Most of your food is probably unhealthy.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You just told me you had Skittles for breakfast, and there are enough empty energy drink containers to fuel a football team for weeks. You need real food.”

  She dug in her heels. Panic was definitely setting in. It shimmered in her voice. “We could order in.”

  “No. We need to go out.”

  “Need?”

  “Yeah. Fresh air will do you good, and because your bed is just a few feet away.”

  She yanked her arm away from him. “So?”

  The woman knew just how to push every last one of his buttons. One of these days, the two of them were going to have it out, but it wasn’t the right time.

  “I am in the mood to finish that kiss I started the other day.”

  She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.

  “Yeah, there’s that.”

  She suddenly looked wary of him. “You haven’t said anything since then.”

  “We’ve both been too busy, other things in the way.”

  “But you don’t want to act on it?”

  He could give her a line, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Del was starting to realize just how important she was to him.

  “Yeah. I would give anything to strip those clothes off you and kiss every inch of your sweet, soft skin.”

  “What’s stopping you?”

  “We aren’t ready.”

  She frowned. “We aren’t?”

  “No. Now, let’s go eat.”

  She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Not really hungry.”

  “Okay, let’s just go for a ride. Get some long pants on.”

  “On your Harley?”

  He nodded and held his breath. When she got set on a path, it was very hard to divert her, unless he physically carried her out of her condo. But he didn’t want to do that.

  Then, inch-by-inch, her mouth curved.

  “That sounds brilliant.”

  She hurried away and Del started to realize that making her smile had given him a high he had never experienced before. Just the sight of her happiness had his hormones humming, and his mood suddenly seemed lighter.

  Damn, he was in a lot of trouble but, at the moment, he didn’t really care.

  * * *

  Emma hated to admit it, but Del had been correct. The ride through the night had lifted her spirits and eased her mind. By the time they stopped to eat, it was already dark. Emma had enjoyed the fast trip up Pali Highway, then back down into Honolulu. She couldn’t remember ever just going for a ride for fun, and especially not on a Harley. Her Moped just did not measure up. They parked at the Fort DeRussy parking garage and walked over to Wailana Coffeehouse.

  Once they were seated, Del looked over the menu.

  “What are you going to have?”

  “Roast turkey sandwich. It’s not as good as Randy’s, but it still tastes pretty good.”

  He glanced up. “Randy cooks?”

  “Well, some. He seems to be in charge of Thanksgiving, but he’s also made roast turkey sandwiches for Sunday dinner before. They are amazing. All three of them have their specialties. Sean is amazing with a grill, and Jaime is the baker.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but the waitress showed up.

  “Hey, Emma. The usual?”
>
  She nodded. “Sure thing, Peg. And some hot tea, please.”

  Del looked at her, and then at the waitress. “I’ll take a burger, medium, a glass of water, and coffee, no cream.”

  “I’ll get it right to you,” she said with a smile, and left them alone.

  “Come here often?”

  Emma chuckled. “While this is a cosmopolitan city, there aren’t a lot of places that cater to insomniacs, and it took me awhile to find a place that wasn’t loud and close to my condo.”

  He nodded and waited to continue as Peg brought them their drinks.

  “So, how do you handle your brother’s lifestyle?”

  She shrugged. “It is a little different, but then, what do I know about family? My father and mother were…well odd. Add in the fact that my father never told me I had an older brother, so it doesn’t really give me a good basis. But, Sean is the only family I have left, and I really want him happy.”

  “Yeah, I got that idea during the takedown of Letov.”

  Those days, to her, were still a horrific memory. Having a deadly terrorist plotting to kill her brother had consumed her. Saving him had been her only goal for months. The idea that they had been brought together by Letov to punish Sean was just icing on the cake for her. He had wanted to break both of them, but what the bastard had done was bring them together.

  “But, they are really happy, so I don’t have an issue with it. I mean, so what three people live together. Who cares? Well, there is one problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I have to text before I come over.”

  “That’s Sean’s rule?”

  “No, mine.” She sipped her tea. “If you ever eat over there, you will be glad to know that the kitchen counter has been cleaned with the strongest antibacterial cleanser there is. I insisted on it.”

  He snorted. “So, walked in on something, did you?”

  “There are just some things a sister does not ever want to see. I mean, how do I get that out of my memory?”

  He said nothing, but smiled at her. Something tickled at the back of her throat, as she felt her body heat. His eyes had turned darker…warmer. It was harder to ignore these feelings after that kiss. Before, she was convinced that he wasn’t interested in her. Now though, she wondered what was going through his mind.

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “It’s been a long time since we talked like this.”

  When she had first settled in Hawaii, she had stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It suited her needs, and she liked that she could get to know where she lived before finding a place.

  When Del first started to pop up to her room, she had thought he was doing it to be nice. Then, she realized she’d started counting on those early morning chats. She didn’t know a lot of people, and she hated to socialize, but with Del, she hadn’t minded.

  Coffee in the mornings together had been one of her very few social outlets. That had all stopped when they had their blowup at work.

  “Oh.”

  “I missed this.”

  She hadn’t realized how much she had come to depend on those chats until they had stopped. She had been too much of a coward to seek him out though. She didn’t really want to face her attraction to him. Not now. And not then.

  She didn’t respond because she couldn’t. Emma just didn’t have it in her to talk about feelings, especially these. She was still raw from their blowup and while they had sort of made up, she wasn’t sure how long it would last.

  “And then, I had some bad moments when I thought you might be dating Drew.”

  She shook her head. “Dead Guy Drew?”

  “I didn’t know you knew about his nickname.”

  “Just like I know the team calls me Beautiful Mind.”

  He made a face.

  She smiled. “No, really, I don’t mind. It’s kind of cool.”

  “You think it’s cool you have a nickname like that?”

  “At first I was kind of upset, but when I talked to Sean, he explained it was their way of making me part of the group. He said in situations like the one we work in, nicknames are kind of their way of accepting me. Like how everyone calls Graeme Goldilocks.”

  “I thought that maybe you would go out with him.”

  “Him? Graeme?” It took her a moment to comprehend what he was talking about. “Oh, Drew? Because we’re both odd?”

  He blinked. “No. I thought because you had common interests.”

  “I don’t like dead people.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Peg said, as she set their plates in front of them. “Anything else?”

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  Del agreed. Peg left them alone again and Emma’s stomach grumbled.

  “So, you thought I was dating him?”

  “You two seemed to spend a lot of time together when you first started working there.”

  That much was true. When she first started working at Task Force Hawaii, she and Drew had hit if off. Both of them were gamers, and he had been a soothing balm to her libido. She’d had no feelings for him other than those of a friend. With her hormones working overtime, she had needed the distraction. Drew had needed someone to talk to about his own obsession.

  Emma rolled her eyes. “I think he just wanted to get the low down on Cat.”

  “Cat? My Cat?”

  She blinked at his tone. “She’s yours?”

  “Not like that. I mean, on my team.”

  “Yeah. I have a feeling he’s been very interested in her for a very long time. For some reason, he thought he could get information from me.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “That he wanted information from me?”

  “No, that he’s interested in Cat.”

  “Well, on the whole, asking me for information was a tipoff, Del.”

  He looked up from his burger and stared at her.

  “What?”

  “You hardly ever call me by my nickname.”

  She shrugged.

  “So, back to Drew.”

  “What about him?”

  “It was just his questions?”

  “No. Whenever he would talk to her, his eyes would dilate.”

  He stopped drinking his water and looked at her. “What?”

  “When a person is attracted, his eyes can dilate.”

  “Oh. So, you think the feeling is mutual?”

  She frowned as she thought about it. “I don’t know. I just noticed it with Drew because he kept dropping things and running into walls and tables when she was around. I thought he had a concussion, so I looked closely at his eyes.”

  “That would definitely be an opposite-attracts kind of thing.”

  “Like you kissing me?” She asked.

  “We are not opposites.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to pretend you don’t think I’m odd.”

  “Odd.” He cocked his head to the side. “Not what I would call you.”

  She snorted. “Then you’re the only one.”

  “No. I would call you quirky. I like quirky.”

  “The nice way of calling me odd. That’s okay.”

  “Why is it okay?”

  “I have never fit in, and I am at a place that I am okay with it. Some people will never fit in with the crowd, but that also makes me very unique.”

  “You are definitely unique. And, I disagree that we aren’t the same.”

  “Indeed? What do we have in common?”

  “Other than we apparently both like to ride a Harley at night around the island?”

  “Who doesn’t like doing that?”

  “You would be surprised. My sister for one person.”

  “Marlena?”

  She had learned about his sisters over the last few months. Emma had soaked up any bit of information about his life, his normal life. She might have accepted that she would never fit in, but it didn’t mean she didn’t want to know more about the man.

  “Sh
e freaked when I took her up on Pali Highway.”

  “Let me guess, she didn’t want to hold on tight enough?”

  He nodded.

  She chuckled. “Del, your sister didn’t want to hold on to you.”

  He frowned. “Why not?”

  He was very smart when it came to his job, but he had a hard time understanding women. She had seen it more than once.

  “I held on to you because, well…I liked it. Your sister does not. Now, if you had been another man she was interested in—”

  “Stop right there. My sisters are all virgins and have no sexual feelings.”

  She blinked. “Is that a fact?”

  “You want to talk about that scene in your brother’s kitchen again?”

  “Truce,” she said with a smile.

  “There is something else we have in common.”

  “Yeah, what’s that?”

  “I think both of us are tenacious. We will not give up when we get our teeth into something.”

  She thought about that for a second, then she smiled. “You might just be right—for once.”

  * * *

  Del walked her to her condo. It had been ingrained in him during his youth to look after his date. And that was what this was. He wasn’t sure how Emma looked at it, but he was counting this as their first official date.

  They arrived at her door. Del watched as she unlocked and opened it.

  “You coming in?”

  He smiled. “I’d like to, but no.”

  She frowned, and, for some odd reason, that made him happy. Maybe knowing she was disappointed that they were not going to spend the night together was the reason.

  “You want to explain to me why?”

  She was standing in the doorway, the light from her hallway lighting a halo around her head. From the moment they had met, she had knocked him off balance. Like right now while she looked at him with those mermaid eyes of hers, he felt slightly dizzy.

  “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Whatever.”

  She turned to leave, but he caught her arm, then slowly drew her closer.

  “I’ll try to explain, though,” he said, slipping his arms around her waist and enjoying the feel of her pressed up against him. “I think we both need to get used to the idea of this, and I am not too sure that we should just jump in.”