Page 85 of The Grand Duel

Luna goes to sit at her feet, her tail going a mile a minute.

I sit back in my chair and watch them.

“See. Good girl,” she says, rubbing behind the dog’s ears.

She eventually looks up at me and smiles.

“Heading home for the day?” I ask.

“Soon. I have some things to work on still if you don’t mind me hanging around for a bit tonight. I want to take as little to HQ as possible.”

I frown. “Of course. Do you mind switching out the lights and locking up?”

“Yep.” She takes the keys from me when I hold them out. “You will be leaving at seven tonight, I presume?”

She’s relentless. “If I can get myself caught up here. My assistant keeps making impromptu plans that derail my entire week.”

“What a bitch,” she says, grinning. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Her eyes linger as she backs away, a reluctance in the way she turns and walks from the room.

I frown, watching as both dogs follow.

Kind of get it, though.

When seven ten rolls around and Lissie’s still not been back to say she’s leaving, I stand from my desk and head to her office.

She doesn’t notice me at first, her eyes glued to her computer screen, pen gripped and hovering over her notepad.

“Lissie,” I say before I can allow my brain to admire her.

She startles, blinking up at me. “Sorry.”

“It’s late. Why don’t you get home now?”

She looks down at her watch. “Crap…shit, it is late.” She quickly jots something down then looks back up at her computer screen. “I’ll be a few more minutes. I need to finish this else I’ll be thinking about it all night. I can lock up after myself if you want to head off.”

I eye the dogs lying spread out across the two-seater sofa that’s pushed up against the wall. “I’ll wait.”

I pick up Daisy and lay her across my lap, waiting as she gets comfy again.

“You don’t have a shift at the club tonight?” I ask.

She continues to work as she replies. “Nope. I should probably be at home putting my bed together, but I’m lazy and keep finding anything else to do but that.”

I wish she’d look at me. “You don’t have a bed?”

She shakes her head. “I moved out of my friend’s flat a couple weeks ago. I have a mattress on the floor, and it’s that comfy, I’ve grown a little too accustomed to it.” She frowns at something. “I’ll get it done eventually,” she says, a little distracted.

I watch her.

Her focus is lasered.

She didn’t even know what the time was, and yet I was sat in my office still trying to get my head into my case.

Has she eaten?

My fingers drum on the edge of the sofa as I watch her. “Turn off your computer.”

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