Page 31 of Hot Pursuit

“Breathe, Parker. Breathe,” Leo joked and slapped him roughly on the back.

He shut his phone off.

But the image was burned into his brain. The lace hugging her petite waist. The flash of his hands sliding up beneath it. The garter highlighting her long legs. The flicker of those thighs wrapped around him. The curves, too many curves to keep straight. He could spend hours studying the lines of her body. Tracing them. Touching them.

If she weren’t a criminal.

Or his target.

Or a royal pain in his ass.

“She’s unbelievable,” he muttered, tossing his phone to the floor and resisting the urge to stomp on it. Breaking the damn thing would only cost him. “She’s really unbelievable.”

“You’ve got that right,” Leo commented under his breath, though his tone sounded a lot more appreciative and a lot less annoyed than Nate’s.

The phone by his feet buzzed.

Leo opened his mouth.

“I don’t want to know,” Nate interrupted before he could speak.

His partner plowed on anyway. “‘Should I wear this under my dress for the gala?’”

“Gala?” Nate perked up and lifted the mic to his lips. “Boss, did you hear that? Gala?”

“I did, Parker,” he said slowly.

“Do you think she’s telling the truth? Do you think it’s a ruse to distract us from Ryder? I can’t imagine she gave up their plan, just like that, just to get a rise out of me.”

“Unclear, Parker.”

Gala.

The gala was at the townhouse they’d been watching. A rich man hosting a charity event. Nothing too unusual, and there hadn’t been anything within the silent auction that had particularly stood out to the team as something that would be of true interest to Robert Carter, but was that in itself a clue? They’d chosen it as the least likely option between the three possible locations. So was she throwing them off the scent? Or had she made a mistake?

Or is she just trying to drive me completely insane?

The latter.

Definitely the latter.

“So, Parker.” His boss came through the comm again. “When you said you needed a day to work Jolene Carter for information, what exactly did you mean…?”

Leo snickered.

Nate groaned. “Not…that, sir.”

“Professional, Parker,” his boss ordered, the command in his voice clear, hardened by age and experience. “Keep it strictly professional. And if you get anything we can use, I’ll see what I can do about an immunity deal. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Nate said, unable to stop his gaze from dropping to the tablet still perched against the steering wheel. He snatched his attention away, turning instead to the window. Jolene Carter, fully clothed this time, walked out of the store, not bothering to turn her face in their direction. But her smug expression let him know exactly what was on her mind.

It wouldn’t be there for long.

He was going to turn her.

He was going to give her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

He was going to win…as long as it didn’t kill him first.