Page 84 of Deep Tide

“And you shouldn’t consider it either,” he told her. “Luc Gagnon is not the kind of client you need.”

“What, you mean wealthy people who entertain? That’s exactly the kind of client I need.”

Sean gritted his teeth. Now she was just trying to piss him off. He couldn’t believe she’d come up with this scheme.

But then again, he could. She’d been nosing around his work ever since she’d figured out about the possible link between Amelia and his investigation.

“Forget it,” she said now. “It was just an idea. I haven’t even accepted the job yet. I can always tell her it’s too last-minute and we’re booked.”

“That sounds good. Tell her that.”

“I hate leaving people in the lurch, though.”

What she probably hated more was sending people to her competition. Sean glanced at her. She seemed annoyed by his reaction, but he didn’t give a damn.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the screen. “Siena’s texting me. I need to get back.”

They turned around and headed back toward the bridge in silence. He trudged through the sand, absorbing everything she’d told him. All of it made him extremely uneasy.

Luc Gagnon was a thirty-six-year-old jet-setter who routinely did business with some of the most notorious lowlifes on the planet. Sean didn’t want Leyla anywhere near the man, or near anyone in his orbit, for that matter. Just the idea of her inside Gagnon’s house, waiting on a bunch of rich assholes who’d been getting loaded all day, put a tight knot in the center of Sean’s chest.

“It was just an idea. Relax.”

“I am.”

“Sean, I can hear your teeth grinding.”

They neared the bridge and she veered away to toss her drink into a trash bin. Watching her, he wondered whether she’d really had a text from Siena. Maybe she just wanted to get away from him because he’d pissed her off again.

They reached the steps, and she unrolled her cuffs and slipped on her sandals.

“So... I was thinking.” She smiled up at him. “Does that dinner invitation to the Nautilus still stand?”

“Yes.”

“How about Monday night?”

She gazed up at him with those big blue eyes, and he considered how to respond. He couldn’t believe he’d even hesitate. Since the moment he’d met her, he’d been on a mission to get her to spend time with him.

But the more she did, the more she became intrigued by his work. Leyla wouldn’t even know about a possible link between Amelia and Luc Gagnon if she hadn’t been at Sean’s place the other night. Leyla was observant, she was intuitive, and she was deeply interested in the case he was working on. It was a dangerous combination.

And to make things worse, Sean continued to show bad judgment. He’d allowed himself to get distracted, resulting in dumb mistakes. Letting the gas tank get low. Inviting Leyla up to his apartment when he’d left his computer out. Bottom line, he was distracted as hell by everything about her. He needed to get his head in the game before he did something really stupid that couldn’t be undone.

She looked up at him expectantly.

“I’ll let you know,” he said. “I may have a late-day meeting at the Brownsville office.”

“Oh.”

It was a lie, but that was too bad. Giving her the truth—even little scraps of it—had backfired.

She dusted the sand from her palms and tucked her hands into her back pockets. She looked at him, and he got the distinct feeling the whole dinner-date conversation was an attempt to change the subject.

“What are you going to tell Gagnon’s assistant?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’ll probably just tell her we’re booked.”

Probably.

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