Page 51 of My Temptation

“Not a damn thing.”

“Shit,” Brody cursed. “And nothing yesterday at the bookstore?”

“No. Like I told Kyle last night, Mila worked all afternoon scouring the search history of every computer in that bookstore and found nothing.”

“Where are you now?”

“Back at the hotel, but we’re heading to the lake later. We’re hoping he’s one of the locals attending the festival. We have a picture of him, but we’re basically looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“The festival draw a crowd?”

“You have no idea, man.” I thought back to yesterday and shook my head. “This thing is huge. Wraps the entire lake, and there’s shit going on every day this week. We walked through some of it last night but never saw anyone remotely resembling the picture, so we decided to start fresh today.”

He sighed. “Without any leads, this might be a waste of time.”

“Maybe, but give us a little more time,” I replied. “The room’s already paid for. Besides, if we don’t find something, Striker’s coming here to look.”

Brody’s tone lightened. “You’re right about that.” When he paused, I waited. I’d known him long enough to recognize when he had something else to say. “You doin’ alright?”

My forehead wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“With Mila.”

I could lie to him, but there was no point. He’d know and call me out, which would only extend a conversation I didn’t want to have. I leaned over the balcony and stared down at the pool. I didn’t see Mila, but I knew she was down there. “I’m handling it.”

“She with you?”

“Not right now,” I explained. “She went down to the pool. We thought it might be good to split up for a few hours and talk to people. I was just about to go back down when you called.”

“Whose idea was that?”

“Mine,” I admitted.

“You needed a break,” he surmised, but I didn’t reply. There was nothing I could say. He already knew I needed some space. “If you feel like this is becoming a problem...”

“It isn’t.”

“If it does?—”

“If it does, I’ll call you.”

I wasn’t just saying that. I would reach my breaking point, but I hoped I’d last long enough to be productive and find something to help this case before I threw in the towel. I’d already slept next to her for two nights, and both times, I’d woken up during the night with my arm around her waist. I immediately rolled to the other side, putting some much-needed distance between us, and prayed for sleep. That prayer hadn’t been answered, though, and it was showing in my mood. I continued to remind myself that this was my first big assignment, and if I had any hope of getting another one, I needed to keep this professional by putting aside my feelings. But that was a hell of a lot easier said than done when I slept beside the woman I wanted every fucking night.

Needing to change the subject, I moved on. “Talked to Everly this morning. She said Dr. Campbell’s fiancée, Millie, called her. I guess Millie wanted to get to know her before she starts next week. Sounds like they have a lot in common. You have anything to do with that introduction?”

He chuckled but basically ignored my question. “Millie will be good for her.”

“Not sure it’s a good idea to become friends with your boss’s fiancée.” I snorted, just thinking about Everly and Millie becoming friends. That had the potential to backfire, and I didn’t want anything to force Everly to move again.

“Colin has a way of separating his personal life from his professional life. As long as Everly does her job and doesn’t hurt Millie in any way, she’ll be fine.”

“Everly wouldn’t hurt a fly.” I frowned. “That’s why her ex is still a problem.”

“He still contacting her?”

“She said he texted over the weekend.”

“She answer him?”

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