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My muscles tense, ready to go on the defense. For her? Or from her?
“What does he have that I don’t?” Derek whines.
I flex, unintentionally, of course. “Do you really want her to answer that, kid?”
“No.” His eyes fall to the floor and he slinks away.
“You pledged your heart to me, Amelia?”
She pulls back and flicks my chest. “Oh, I’m not done with you.” She presses in closer, ready to let me have it.
I’m almost ready to let her give it. Something tells me I’d enjoy it immensely.
“Hawthorne left out the back. We gotta go.” Cruz’s voice brings me back to why I’m here.
“Funny, I’m not done with you either.” I step forward, gently pushing Amelia back, until I’ve got her pinned against the beam. Her breath comes out faster and she bites her bottom lip.
Slipping off my jacket, I wrap it behind the beam she’s pinned to, pulling the fabric snug around her.
I drop my head and her lips part, her eyelids fluttering. I brush my nose along her cheek, bringing my lips to a stop right above her ear. She smells so good. Like flowers and sunshine. “I’d love to hear all the words coming out of your pretty little mouth,” I say, looping the limp sleeves in front of her stomach, and tying them in a knot. “But I’ve got to go.”
I pull back, flashing her a smirk as she realizes what’s happened.
It will only hold her for a few seconds. But that’s all I need. I turn and run.
“Are you kidding me? You tied me to a pole?” she yells at my back. “I’m going to kill you. And I don’t even know who you are!”
That makes one of us.
Amelia Quinn, you are a dangerous woman.
Chapter 7
Caleb
“And then,” Cruz leans over grasping the table in front of her to keep herself upright despite her obnoxious laughter, “Harris tied her to a pole.”
Four burly men cackle and heat crawls up my neck. I never should have told her how I tied up Amelia last night to get rid of her. It’s my own fault for supplying Cruz with that kind of valuable intel.
So much for coming into this job with a blank slate. I’m racking up the mistakes at record speed.
“I can’t wait to meet this woman,” Phillips says, kicking his feet up on the breakroom table. “Maybe she’ll show up at my stakeout next.”
A tiny sliver of jealousy erupts in my chest like shrapnel. But I bite my tongue. I don’t care what Amelia does.
“Did you at least go back and check, make sure she’s not still there?” Daniels, the most reliable of the group, asks.
“Didn’t have time,” I mutter, pouring a heavy shot of creamer into my coffee. At this point, it might all be creamer. I came in for a cup and ended up getting dragged through the mud by my partner.
“Was this before or after you lost your mark?”
I jump at the voice of my supervisor, Gavin Ford, and brown cream splashes onto my shirt. At least it’s barely hot anymore.
I stand at attention. Ready to accept my second tongue-lashing of the morning. The first had been from Director Roth.
How does one lose a suspect like that? Did he have someone with him?
I wish I’d had an answer to his questions. I’m afraid we chased after a ghost last night. I’d never admit it, but I’m worried Cruz might have seen someone other than Liam leaving. And as of this morning, he hasn’t returned to his hotel.