Page 12

CHAPTER 11

“W ell, this is fun,” Shayne said, sighing heavily as he dropped down on the couch while Tristan and Marty sat there, glaring across their desks at each other.

“Ye’d think after two weeks that this would get old, but it hasn’t.” Shayne drawled.

Tristan ignored him as he usually did during their daily standoffs.

After another glare in his direction, Marty returned her attention back to what she was working on while he took advantage of the move and ran his eyes over her. His lips twitched into an appreciative grin as he took in her conservative, but incredibly sexy, black blouse that showed a hint of cleavage and hugged her breasts the way that his hands ached to. He groaned inwardly when he thought about the short, black skirt and heels that she wore today.

Was she trying to kill him?

“Tell me something, how exactly are you supposed to catch me today if you’re wearing heels?” Tristan drawled even as he ran his eyes over her and nearly fucking groaned.

He liked the sexy way she’d pinned her long hair back into a lazy bun that left several long strands dangling over her neck, the sexy little business dress, and let’s not forget those long legs and high heels. He could definitely picture those heels digging into his ass while he slid inside her.

Without looking up, Marty opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a pair of tennis shoes. Tristan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you really think that you’ll be able to change your shoes fast enough to catch me today?”

For the past two weeks, he’d taken great joy in pissing her off. There was honestly nothing better than watching Marty get adorably pissed. Her eyes would narrow on him while she struggled to bite a growl of frustration that was honestly too fucking adorable for words. It was probably wrong to purposely piss her off for his own enjoyment, but…what the hell.

He couldn’t remember enjoying himself this much at work before. There was last year when he ran off the previous occupant of that desk, but that was completely different. He didn’t enjoy fucking with him, well, yeah, he did, but his reasons had been simple then. He’d just wanted the little prick out of his office.

“Are you going to send me to another strip club to pick up your lunch again?” she shot back, making him chuckle.

Since she was supposed to be his assistant, Tristan decided to see how far he could push her. He heard The Fluffy Bunny had great ribs, not that he’d ever go to one of those places much to Shayne’s dismay, but he thought it would be funny to send Marty in there to pick up his lunch.

She came back an hour later, glaring at him. Without a word, she dropped a huge brown paper bag on his desk and stormed off. The ribs were dry as hell and tasted like leather, but he’d sat there smiling while he ate every last bite.

“Or are you going to trick me into getting out of the car again and then ditch me on the side of the road, leaving me to walk back to the office?”

“I eventually came back for you!”

* * *

She really loved his smile.

It reminded her of the time when he used to be her world when his smiles came easy and-

God, she missed him so much.

If his pranks made him happy, then she’d let him have them. They really didn’t bother her that much since it made him smile, and of course, she always got him back.

Like with the ribs.

The girls at the strip club did her a favor by giving her three-day-old ribs and fries that she may have dumped an entire salt shaker on, along with a pint of soured coleslaw, but he ate every last bite just to rub it in her face. He’d paid for it later, Marty thought, biting back a smile, remembering the two bottles of antacid that he was forced to drink.

“You snuck through the woods and scared the hell out of me! I thought you were a bear, you jerk!” Marty said, watching as he laughed harder.

She still couldn’t believe that he was able to sneak up on her like that. He had his arms around her and growled in her ear before she knew what was happening. She may have screamed…a little.

* * *

“Ah, good times,” Tristan said with a heartfelt sigh.

He really loved working with her, which he really shouldn’t. She couldn’t stay, but until she left, he didn’t see why he couldn’t have a little fun.

Someone knocked on the door, making Tristan sigh. It was time to get back to work. Of course, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t consider his next move. There was always the interrogation room. He chuckled at the memory of her pacing the room while glaring daggers at the one-way mirror, where she knew that he was watching her.

Granted, she didn’t know that he had half the force in there with him drinking soda and eating pizza while they’d watched her rant about what an asshole he was and what she was going to do to him when she got out. Hell, even Hank pulled up a seat and had a slice as he took in the show.

“Come in,” he said.

Stacey, a uniformed officer in her early thirties, opened the door and walked in holding the large pile of yellow envelopes that he’d been waiting all morning for. Tristan walked over and took them from her. As she pulled back her hand, she ran her fingers suggestively over his.

“Thank you,” Tristan said absently, hoping it would be enough to send her on her way. He hated dealing with her. She always came on too strong and wouldn’t take the hint that he wasn’t interested. She knew that she was beautiful and any guy here would be happy to have her. The problem was that more than half the guys already had and he wasn’t interested in joining their ranks.

If that wasn’t enough to keep him from asking her out, the fact that he felt like he was cheating on Marty anytime he so much as looked in the direction of another woman was. He couldn’t explain it, but he’d never been attracted to another woman. Over the years, he’d forced himself to ask out a few women, but they’d all left him feeling like a cheating asshole for simply taking a woman out to dinner.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Detective?” Stacey practically purred.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Marty watching this little scene intently. Interesting. Maybe he should let it play out to piss her off. He couldn’t help but notice how adorable she was when she was jealous, and she was definitely jealous. There was no doubt in his mind. She wanted him, but not as much as he wanted her.

That was simply impossible.

He would never purposely hurt her. Jealousy was a bitch that messed with your mind and tore at your heart. He knew that all too well since she made him jealous at least a hundred times a day.

That was another reason she had to go.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you, Officer.” He purposely didn’t say her name, knowing that any familiarity would only encourage her.

* * *

Marty watched as Stacey’s smile slipped, but she still managed to send Tristan an inviting look before she left the office.

Marty cleared her throat delicately. “She was pretty,” she said as she watched Tristan toss the envelopes on his desk and sat down. That was followed by wondering what the hell was wrong with her?

He looked up with a knowing expression and grinned. “Jealous?”

Yes!

“No,” she said, only to glare when the bastard chuckled.

* * *

“What are those?” Marty asked, well, more like demanded as he grabbed the first envelope and opened it. She was a bossy little thing, he’d come to realize over the last couple of weeks.

Tristan sighed. This was really going to set her off. “The files of the missing girls from Massachusetts, Vermont, and a few towns south of here.”

“I thought we were going to look at those together?” Marty said, already pushing away from her desk before the last syllable left her mouth.

“This is just a hunch I’m playing out, nothing official. Therefore, I do not have to include my little stalker in it,” Tristan drawled as he spread out the files on his desk, preparing to create a database from them. He could have looked at the files online, but he always preferred physical copies.

“I’m helping,” she stated, not asked.

“No, you’re really not.”

“You still can’t type that well with your left hand. You need me,” Marty pointed out, looking so damn smug that it took everything that he had to bite back a smile. She was definitely a manipulative little thing.

“I can type fine. Besides, I’ll be doing most of the work at home.”

* * *

As she watched him organize the files something in her snapped. She was sick of him keeping her from doing her job.

“I’m helping,” Marty said firmly. “I wasn’t hired just to drive you around, pick up your food, and put up with your bullshit, Tristan. This is part of my job and I’m going to do it whether you like it or not.”

His hand stilled on the file he was moving as he looked up and met her glare. Perhaps she’d gone a tad too far? Yeah, she definitely went too far this time. He dropped the file on the desk and sat back in his chair, never taking his eyes off her.

“I don’t have a choice?” Tristan drawled, cocking an arrogant brow in her direction.

“No, you really don’t,” Marty said, keeping her gaze locked with his.

When Tristan only glared, she cleared her throat and-

“Fine,” he said, taking her by surprise.

“I’m glad we have an understanding,” Marty said, simply because she couldn’t resist rubbing it in as she walked around the desk to take a closer look at the folders.

“Oh, we definitely have an understanding,” Tristan said as he grabbed hold of her arm when she tried to grab a folder.

“I’m helping,” she reminded him with a pointed look at his hand.

“Yes, you are. But I need the files over here,” he murmured softly, that calm tone alone sent shivers down her spine even as warning signals went off in her head.

“Okay, let me get my chair,” Marty said, trying to pull her hand away.

“No need. There isn’t enough room over here for two chairs,” Tristan explained while Marty looked pointedly at the large space behind his desk. He gave her arm a gentle tug that had her falling onto his lap. Before she could react, he wrapped his arm around her. Her hands shot out to grip the desk as he shifted the chair forward, trapping her between the desk and his large body.

“That’s better. Now, let’s see what we have here, shall we?” Tristan asked in a casual tone that had her swallowing hard.

“I-I can do this from my desk,” she mumbled.

There was a heavy sigh and then…

“There isn’t enough room at your desk for both of us, Marty. Would you please focus? I’d like to get some work done if you don’t mind,” Tristan said casually, but she could hear the humor in his voice and that pissed her off.

“Fine. Let’s get to work,” Marty said, purposely shifting on his lap. His reaction was rather pleasing. He sucked in a breath and tensed beneath her. A moment later, she rethought the move when she felt him harden against her bottom. She swallowed hard as he continued to grow. Were all men this big? Marty had to wonder.

She could practically feel his smug smile when he realized that she could feel him. The bastard. Deciding that she wasn’t going to be intimidated, Marty opened her mouth to egg him on, which, of course, she knew was stupid, but it really couldn’t be helped.

“Tristan, do you mind?”

“Mind what?”

“Do you mind shifting? There’s a small tube of Chapstick in your pocket poking me.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have emphasized small. Guys were kind of sensitive about that sort of thing, right?