Page 94 of Lethal Danger

Jazz’s musical laugh floated in the cool night air. “That’s perfect. Most people say ‘intense’ or ‘intimidating’ after they first meet her.”

He nodded. “Those work, too.” He gave her a smile as they slowed by the rear bumper of Jazz’s SUV. “I assume she must be more relaxed around the agency with people she knows.”

“Nope.”

“Oh?” Intriguing. His writer’s imagination started to percolate.

“You’re curious about her, aren’t you?”

He pushed his hands into his pants pockets and shrugged. “She does seem mysterious.”

“She is that. She’d probably make a better heroine for your novels than I would.” She looked away, but he caught the disappointment in her voice. Like she expected to get dumped for someone else.

“Not at all.”

That brought Jazz’s attention back to him in a quick jump. Her eyebrows lifted.

“I don’t think a heroine based on her would be relatable enough. A little mystery and a few secrets can go a long way. A lot can be too much.”

“Too much, huh?” Her smile flashed in the shadows that competed with the light from the nearby lamppost. “Then I’d better be sure to tell you everything about me so you can choose how much to keep secret.”

“I’d like that.” His gaze locked on hers, dipping into the pool of her emerald eyes. Until he realized what he’d said—how it sounded. “We’ll need to have another interview so I can get more facts…for the character.” He still couldn’t pull his gaze away from those hypnotic eyes. Maybe because of the way they were fixed on him. Like she couldn’t look away either.

A car door slammed.

They both startled and jerked back. He hadn’t realized how close they’d been standing to each other. He twisted to look toward the noise.

Only Dan Harris getting into his sedan to leave. Hawthorne had thought Dan had the overnight shift. Must’ve gotten him confused with someone else.

“Well…” Hawthorne turned to Jazz, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck while he tried to get his ragged heart rate to settle down. “Thanks for telling me about Patch. Not surprising he has a criminal background.”

“Yeah. I’m glad I have the meeting with him tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“If there’s even a hint of danger or anything off, text or call, and I’ll be there as fast I can.”

“Thanks. But I’ve got it, remember?”

“Right.” He grinned. “I keep forgetting I’m talking to a thriller heroine.”

“Dangerous thing to forget.” Her eyes twinkled as she laughed.

“Yes, it is.” Almost as dangerous as forgetting to keep his guard up and keep his distance. Women didn’t usually worm their way past his defenses. He was in and out too quickly for that at any location. Especially since he’d become a Christian, he wouldn’t go in for short flings, and he knew he was better off single. Meant to be single.

He couldn’t let a woman even as special as Jazz interfere with what he knew was best. Having a spouse would limit what he could do. And he could end up like his parents, tied down to someone who would up and decide to do something insane like join a cult. And he’d be trapped. Or she could suddenly change personalities, reject God, turn out not to be a real Christian at all. He’d seen it happen to friends.

Jazz wasn’t even claiming to be a Christian, so what in the world was he getting all worked up about?

He was going to tell her about the names Rebekah had given him of guys Sam could have stayed in touch with outside the cult. But the urge to get while the getting was good welled up inside him. He could tell her later, if the leads amounted to anything.

“Well, have a good night.” He spun on his heel.

Her faint, surprised, “Goodnight,” reached his ears as he kept walking away. Running away was more like it.

But isn’t that what the Bible told him to do? Flee from temptation?

His quick flight landed him by his car in fifteen seconds when it probably should’ve taken him twenty. He unlocked the driver’s door and slid in behind the wheel.

Something white and square caught his eyes, stuck to the windshield.

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