Page 51 of Smith

Without hesitation Aria followed Ivy out of the conference room. My gaze followed Aria. Unfortunately, this gave Zane anew opportunity to jump on me without Aria in attendance. Which meant it went from worse to seriously fucking bad.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he barked as soon as the women were out of earshot.

Well, not all of the women. Kira was still at the table smiling at her keyboard.

Before I could tell my boss to mind his business he pushed, “You don’t fuck a woman like her.”

My fist resting on the table clenched and my chest started to burn.

“You’re either in or you’re out. And by that I mean you’re either making moves to fix your head or you explain to her?—”

“I’ve explained,” I rumbled, unable to keep my voice modulated. “Like she told you, she’s a grown-ass woman. Out of respect I’ll give you this, she’s not looking for anything permanent. She has a business to run. One she’s determined to grow to give her father something when he retires. From what she’s said, I get the feeling she’s looking forward to him being close and them working together. The woman is nothing if not single-minded in her ambition. We both know what this is and what it’s not.”

“Doyou?” Zane inquired.

“Do I what?”

“Do you know what it is?”

I could be an asshole and pretend I didn’t know what the nosey bastard was talking about or I could be a man and own up to my stupidity.

I chose somewhere in the middle.

“I know exactly what it is, but more—I know what it can never be.”

“Dumbass,” Zane mumbled and looked at Kira. “Where’s the team at with their informant?”

For the next fifteen minutes I vaguely listened to Kira’s SITREP on my team. The informant had some good intel having to do with resumes and hiring practices at the electrical company they were looking into. Intel that led to more questions. Nonetheless, the team would be coming home tomorrow to regroup for the trip up to Vermont next week.

“Nebraska thinks she has a lead on a former security guard who worked one of the substations…” Kira’s eyes lifted to the doorway and she trailed off.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Aria said.

“No, come in,” Kira invited.

Instead of taking her original seat across the table from me, Aria walked around the table to the chair next to mine. I was in the midst of ignoring how that made me feel when Aria launched in. “I talked to Brittney. She said the upstairs was redone when she was a teenager. The summer between eighth and ninth grade. Her dad, brother, and George Jr’s friend Billy Rice did the work.”

“Did she tell you why they only did the upstairs?” Jonas got there before I could.

“Yeah, she said the upstairs was freezing during the winter. Her dad wanted to replace the insulation. Her mom was adamant the interior walls were to match. She said the first room they did, which was the master, looked like crap with two walls sheetrock, the others plaster. Brittney said it took the whole summer because her dad only had evenings and weekends with two seventeen-year-olds helping.”

Kira was already tapping on her keyboard.

“Did she give you anything else on Billy Rice?”

Aria looked at Kira and smiled. “Yeah, when I told her I wished I had a Billy to help me hang drywall she laughed and told me the story. Billy’s parents were divorcing. His home life was total shit, so he basically moved in with the Calvins whenschool ended and didn’t go home until after Thanksgiving when his mom got on her feet. She also told me Billy’s dad worked as a farm hand and they lived on the farm where he worked. But during the divorce Billy’s dad kicked him and his mom out of the house, another reason Billy lived with the Calvins. Billy’s mom couldn’t find a place to live she could afford so they were staying with Billy’s grandma in one bedroom.”

“Good work,” I said.

My praise was met with a sarcastic smile that rivaled Zane’s.

“And here you just thought I was just a pretty face.” She added a wink to her smug smile and the all but dead organ in my chest squeezed.

Jesus fuck.

Aria Taylor did it for me.

Period.

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