Page 17 of S.O.S. Perk

“I know somebody who might work in that role,” Sloane inadvertently blurted out.

Hell.Had she really said that? Was she actually going to throw Perk under the bus?

“Who?” the director asked curiously.

“Someone we trust,” she apprised, coming to grips with the fact that Perkwouldbe perfect for the assignment. “We’ve worked with Delancourt Songen over at SOS a number of times before, Chief.”

“Uh, forgive me if I’m being dense here, Sloane, but as good as Del is, he doesn’t look like a teenager.”

“Hedoesn’t,” Sloane agreed, “but his man Perkins does.” Sloane put aside her misgivings and jumped in with both feet.

“Really?” The Chief sounded skeptical.

Sloane fished out her phone and brought up a picture of Perk that he’d posed for at the wedding. She showed Baskins first, then flashed the photo around.

“Well, damn,” the director whistled. “He looks like a baby. And he’s on Del’s staff? How old is the guy, anyway?”

“Twenty-eight,” Sloane informed them, giving one last, appreciative glance at the picture before she closed it, not adding,and fucking gorgeous.

The chief pondered, stroking his shadowed chin. “I like the idea of someone going in undercover. I don’t believe we’ll get any useful intel any other way, so… Can you call him, Sloane?”

“Sure. Just give me a minute.” She wasn’t having this conversation right here, in front of her co-workers. There was no need for them to know she had a date set up with the baby-faced man. A date which…

Fuck.She was going to have to let go.

If Perk agreed to head into the high school undercover, nobody there would be allowed to know who he was because it could blow his cover. And that included Melissa. Not that Mel would give Perk away on purpose, but if she let anything slip…

Nope. There was too much riding on his anonymity to risk it.

Sloane simplycouldn’tgo ahead with the meet and great she had set up for Monday, and that sucked. Melissa was going to wonder why it was being cancelled, and Perk was going to pout. Of that she was certain. But until this case wrapped up, the highly delectable man would be off limits, at least in any kind of local or public setting. And there was no way she could allow Melissa to meet him as anything other than the transfer student who would be enrolling in the school where she worked.

This was the first time Sloane’s private life and her professional life had come into conflict with each other, and it sucked. But a girl’s wellbeing was at stake here, and it obviously took precedence over any of Sloan’s fantasies.

So…

She stepped out into the hallway, walked a few paces away where she wouldn’t be overheard, and dialed Perk’s number.

He picked up on the first ring.

“Hey. Did you miss me today?” he asked with so much happiness in his voice that Sloane felt like a witch, knowing she was about to ruin his mood.

“I knowIhad a hard time keeping you out of my head,” he continued. “It’s going to feel like a long time until—"

Sloane cut him off.

“I’m cancelling Monday.”

There was dead silence from the other end of the line, until Perk regained some part of his equilibrium.

“Can I ask why?” That growly, disappointed voice only made Sloane regret this all the more.

“You can. And once I explain, I promise it will make sense.”

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

CHAPTER SIX

Really? He was going to be a glutton for punishment? Why couldn’t he just admit to himself that Sloane wasn’t interested; that previous to regaining her mind, she’d only been reacting pityingly to his sweetly-worded overtures, and now she was trying to let him down easily. It had happened to him any number of times. Women he’d met in the past hadn’t been interested in looking beyond his handsome baby-face to understand there was a living, breathing, adult-male inside the adolescent looking package.

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