Page 20 of An Impossible Love

“Wecanwalk. Let me explain evolution to you,” he joked, and she laughed, shedding a little of her tension.

“Okay, pedant, may we walk?”

He followed her outside, grinning. “Feeling guilty because of the flirty-flirt with the pres?”

“Duke.”Emmy shook her head. “Seriously, if anyone heard you… Anyway, it’s weird when you ask me about my non-existent sex life.”

“Em, you’re my friend. I do not want tothinkabout you having sex, let alone hear about it. No offense.”

“None taken.” Emmy studied him. “There’s nothing going on.”

“Hey, boo, you like him, right?”

“Yes, but I’m also committed to my job.” She lowered her voice. “Duke… Zach gave his life protecting Kevin McKee. Do you honestly think he’d be happy if I threw everything I’ve worked for away? I cannot, Iwillnot dishonor his memory like that.”

“He’d want you to be happy, Em. Look, would it really be such a big deal? Jeez, you’ve heard all the rumors about presidents over the years. They’ve sneaked more women into this place than foreign heads of state.”

“Yeah,” she lowered her voice, “but they weren’t protecting him, for Chrissakes.”

“We’ll deal with that if it comes to it.” Duke shrugged nonchalantly, and strangely his casual attitude made her feel better.

“Can we talk about something else now?”

Duke gave her a smile. “Sure. So, when’s Karlsson coming in?”

“Thursday. Let’s go prep what we’ll ask him.”

If Orin and Emmy thought that only two people in the world knew about their kiss, they should have known better. An observer had looked through the window, seen the exchange, the blatant lust in both their eyes. Orin Bennett and Emmy Sati wanted each other…badly.

Whether or not the observer would keep the information to themselves… it depended on how useful that information would be.

The observer smiled inwardly now, grabbed the burner phone and went to call Max Neal.