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Naomi threw open the door.Perhaps she threw it open a wee bit too hard because it slammed into the wall and bounced back toward her.She hurriedly raised a hand to halt its progress before it could fly right at her, then Naomi shoved the door again, only less hard this time.Less ragey.
Eb whirled toward her.His eyes widened.First with alarm, then with relief.
What a world-class liar.
It takes one to know one.
He rushed toward her.Staggered to a stop inches away.“Naomi!”His hands lifted, but he didn’t touch her.Caught himself just in time.“I was afraid you’d seen…” His words trailed away.
Henry slipped past her and bumped into Eb.Rubbed against him.She almost called her beloved dog a traitor, but, no, she held that back.“Afraid I’d seen what?”Naomi asked, all innocence.“Eb, I’ve been looking for you.”
Relief definitely flashed in his eyes.Then his hands reached for her.He pulled her against him.The stupid electricity surged through her veins.So much for that attraction dying.Even knowing what his real intentions were with her, the physical reaction Naomi had to him was the same.
Well, not quite the same.The electricity was there.
But it also felt as if her heart was shattering.
Dammit.Fine.So you could fall for a person far too quickly.One of her many mistakes.
“Naomi!”Clark thundered.“You can’t be in here!”
She heaved a sigh.“I came for my ride.”Making sure her expression was controlled, Naomi eased away from Eb.Her brows lifted.“After we were, uh, detained at Ivan’s bar, I was driven here in the back of a patrol car.”She rose onto her tiptoes and peered around him—at the watchful Madeline.“But I think your connected friend let you drive your own vehicle to the station, right, Eb?Nice to have perks, huh?”
Madeline pursed her lips.
Naomi glanced back at Eb.“You’re my ride or die.”Emphasis on the die.“Will you take me back to the guesthouse?”
He opened his mouth to respond.
“Are you done interrogating the suspect so quickly, Detective Anderson?”Madeline asked, voice brisk.“Thought you’d be busy longer.”
Ah, so Madeline had been involved in making sure Naomi knew Eb was just using her.Such a fun setup.Was she supposed to be grateful to the other woman for ripping away the blinders?Was she supposed to be a beaten ball of mush?What was the end game?
“We’re not going back to the guesthouse,” Eb told Naomi.“I have a safer place for you.”
Safer, hmm?Henry had backed away from Eb.Come to her side.She gave him a little pat even as she said, “Good.I need a safer place.”And an actual hero on her side.“Especially with the hitman out there.”
“Hitman?”Eb seemed to choke.“What hitman?”
She craned around him once more.“Didn’t you tell him?”
Madeline blinked.
Naomi jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the detective’s direction.She could practically feel Clark breathing down her neck.“My buddy informed me that Ivan the Terrible placed a hit on my head.”
“I amnotyour buddy,” Clark denied.“Not.I am not your friend.I am not your buddy.I am not?—”
“It’s cool, buddy.”She smiled at Madeline.“He also said that you would be taking care of the hitman for me.”
“What hitman?”Eb’s voice had gone lethally soft.
“Again, the one Ivan hired to kill me.”Wasn’t this obvious?Eb really seemed to have trouble following along.“The cops found info about the hit on Ivan’s phone.Seems Ivan was super pissed after our visit, and he called for an end to my life.Some people just can’t handle their emotions well.They explode.Attack.”She felt like doing some attacking, but Naomi was holding tightly to her control.
“Ivan put out the hit.Yet Ivan is the one who died.”Madeline’s heels tapped on the floor as she closed in on Naomi.“Funny how that worked out.”
“Hilarious.”She wanted out of there.She wanted away from Madeline.She wanted away from Eb.
No, she wanted Eb to pull her close.To hold her and tell her that he’d been lying—lying to Madeline.Not to me.I don’t want him to be lying to me.She wanted him to say that he didn’t trust Madeline.That he’d been playing a role in front of the agent.As impossible as it was, Naomi wanted…