Page 50 of Seized by the Lawman

Chapter 17

“THANK YOU FOR the ride.” Nix eased his legs across the floorboard of the passenger side of her Lexus.

“See what happens when you drink too much? You have to rely on someone else to chauffer you.”

“We are going to the same place.” He’d let her continue to believe he’d drank too much. It was worth it to be near her.

Her cell rang from the console. Nix sat up straight and grinned. “You’ll want to take this.”

“Why? Who is it?” She darted a glance at him.

He picked up the phone, clicked ‘talk’ and turned the screen so she could see it. “Pops.”

“Shh.” She brought the phone to her ear. “Dad? Yes…it’s a surprise...this late…well…okay…see you in a bit.” She clicked off before tossing the cell back into the holder on the console. “He wants to see me.”

“Great. You can drop me off and then go have a nice visit with your dad.” Maybe Carson would finally come clean about everything.

“Drop you off? I can’t do that. Dad said he needed to see me right away.”

Nix laughed, but when she didn’t crack a smile, his humor fizzled. “Of course. You’re not joking.” He’d rather not be in between the two tonight.

“Maybe you and my dad can catch up on what’s going on at work. Talk a little office.” The sarcasm in her voice couldn’t be missed.

He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What are you not telling me?” She turned off the radio.

“Someone broke into my desk, found confidential information and sent an email to an informant from my computer. It exposed him, ruined the entire case. So you can imagine your dad’s not too happy with me right now.”

Was it his imagination or did she slow the vehicle?

“Does my father think you sent the email?”

“No, but he’s pissed. This put an undercover’s life in danger.”

“Sure, but there are cameras in the building? That’ll prove who did this.”

He looked at her profile. “If they were working.”

“Not working by accident or on purpose?”

Nix swiped a hand down his jaw. “That, we can’t be sure.”

“Dad is clever and he wouldn’t have brought you onto the team unless he was sure you could be trusted. He certainly wouldn’t have asked you to help me at the ranch unless he thought you were capable. You’re not a newbie who fat fingered a key.”

He swiped his eyes. “Yeah, but this doesn’t happen to me.”

“And you’re not the type to sit at a bar instead of chasing after the person who did this.”

“Oh, it might look like my internal chaos is because I can only think about you, but trust me sunshine, a lawman always has his head on an open case,” he drawled. “I’ll catch the bastard.”

“Hm. What makes you think it’s a male? Just curious.”

“And what makes you think it could be otherwise?” He looked at her profile.

She shrugged. “Women are capable of secrets too.”

“Yeah, that’s for damn sure.” He lowered her eyes to her stomach.

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