Page 43 of My Temptation

“Why?”

“Just haven’t worked with many guys who would bother.”

“You do now,” he replied simply.

“Is that an Elite thing or an Ethan thing?”

He seemed to consider that before replying. “Maybe both. I hate tension, always have, so I do whatever it takes to avoid it. But since joining Elite, I’ve learned that any shit lingering between members of the team will become bigger than they need to be if we don’t just clear the air.” He glanced at me, and I recognized the sincerity in his eyes. “We have a job to do. And I think we all want this case solved as much as Striker and Beth. Nothing can get in the way.”

“I agree.” I nodded, but his eyes were back on the road. “This is also a chance for us to prove ourselves.”

“You don’t have anything to prove.”

“What do you mean?”

“You wouldn’t be at Elite, and we wouldn’t be on this case if they didn’t already trust you and your judgment. You don’t need to try to impress anyone. They’re already impressed.”

A warmth spread through me, and I smiled to myself. I never felt good enough when I worked under my father, and he sure as hell never complimented me, but that wasn’t the case with Elite. It was still hard to accept the accolades since I wasn’t used to getting them. “Did Brody tell you that?”

“Pretty much,” he acknowledged, and again, surprise filled me. “He called you an asset. That’s about the highest praise you can get from him.” He glanced at me again. “Why does that surprise you?”

“I’m just not used to being appreciated for my work,” I admitted.

He frowned but faced the windshield again. “Not even from your father?”

“Especially not from my father,” I answered quietly, but I didn’t want to talk about my father, so I moved on. “Think Samson will be easy to track down?”

He snorted, and I was happy when he rolled with the switch in conversation without questioning it. “Doubt it. Nothing about this case has been easy.”

“That’s what makes it fun.” I smiled, looking out the windshield.

“You love this, don’t you?”

I glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. “I don’t love that my friend, maybe my only friend”—I laughed—“is in danger, but I do love this work.”

“Beth’s not your only friend,” he argued.

“She kind of is,” I admitted. “She’s really the only one I’ve gotten to know since I moved here. Nick’s a friend too, but he’s preoccupied with his family, as he should be.”

“That can’t be it.”

“I guess I could include Cam’s wife, Sydney, and Nick’s girlfriend, Maddie, but I only really know them from going to the coffee shop they own.”

He lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. “That’s how you knew.”

My eyebrows drew together. “Knew what?”

“That the cop Brody tackled broke his nose.”

I laughed. “Yeah, Sydney told me, but don’t tell the guys. I don’t think they’d like to know the girls shared that with me.”

“They must trust you if they shared that shit.”

I hadn’t really considered that before. They told me something in confidence that if it got back to Cam and Nick could mean an argument. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”

“What about friends from home?”??He moved on.

I wasn’t surprised he was curious about my story. I noticed that Ethan was generally interested in the people he worked with. I’d told him more about my life than I’d shared with most because we always seemed to be sitting in a car together with nothing but time on our hands. “My friends all scattered after college. Not long after I joined the FBI, I went undercover for two years, so I didn’t have the time or the opportunity to keep in touch with old friends.”

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