Page 45 of Cruel Ice

“I thought I was your PI.”

“Youaremy PI.”

“Bullshit.” She called it exactly as she saw it. “I’m your pampered princess. You lied to me.”

His face tensed.

“You brought me here so that you could sideline me.” Her hands lifted, and she paced around the desk. The better to close in on her prey.

He rolled his chair back, the wheels not so much as squeaking. As if they would dare. His gaze had gone hooded as he studied her.

She pointed at him. No, pointing wasn’t good enough. Her index finger stabbed him in the chest. “I willnot,”another jab of her index finger, “be sidelined.” Fury pumped through her. “I knew telling you about Sebastian Glass was a mistake. Now you think I’m some fragile, wilting flower.” Or, even worse…a victim who needed shielding from the world.

He cleared his throat. “You were shot.”

“A scratch.”

“Your blood soaked my limo.”

“I was only bleeding because I’d saved your ass!” How could he forget that important point? And how could he do this to her? “You’re putting me on the sidelines because you think I’m weak.”

A slow shake of his head as he gazed up at her. “I don’t think any part of you is weak.”

“You think I can’t handle danger and I—wait, what did you say?” Her mouth hung open in surprise, so she hurriedly snapped it closed.

“I said…” His hand rose so that his fingers could curl around her wrist as she continued to stab him in the chest with her index finger. “I don’t think any part of you is weak. I think you’re strong. Determined. Brave. Too brave in fact. You definitely dip into thefoolishlybrave category far too much.”

He’d praised her and insulted her, all within the span of a few seconds. Typical Declan.

“I also think you’re gorgeous. Probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

She snorted. Crap. Not the sound of a beautiful woman, was it? Oh, well. “You’ve dated supermodels. I’ve seen your press stories. Don’t try your tired lines with me. I’m not gonna fall for them.” Hopefully, she would not. But she had caught herself preening a bit when he said she was strong. And determined.

Nicest compliments ever. Then he had to ruin things by calling me foolishly brave. Like that’s a thing.

“Can’t help but notice, sweetheart, you call me a liar quite a lot.”

She hadn’t actually called him a liar. Just super heavily implied it. But…liar.She was not in the same category as his supermodel exes.

“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” His hand lifted her wrist. His fingers curled along the outside, and his mouth pressed to her inner wrist, right over the racing pulse. “The bravest. The most selfless. And the most stubborn.”

Her knees got a wee bit shaky when she felt the lick of his tongue along her wrist.

“Isidelinedyou, as you say, not because I don’t think you’re capable, but because I wanted you to heal.”

“A scratch.”

His lashes—stupid long for a man, now that she stared closely at them—flickered.Okay, fine, they are not stupid at all. They are sexy. I find way too much about this man to be sexy.

A man who’d confessed to murder when he’d thought she couldn’t hear him.

In the week that had passed, he hadn’t mentioned the confession again. Neither had she. But she’d certainly been digging. And the man who’d been more than happy to help her dig and send case files thatshouldhave been closed and confidential? Detective Parker Ellis.

He’d emailed the information to her five minutes after she’d contacted him.

Information that proved Declan had been abused by his father for years. That if he hadn’t stopped his father that long ago night, Declan would have been the dead one.

At least, that was what the cops had concluded at the time. No charges had been filed. Declan had been able to walk away while his father had been buried in the ground.

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