Page 10 of Taken by the Lawman

He gave her a side glance across the bucket seat. “You really do enjoy busting my balls, don’t you?”

“I’m not a ball-buster. Just a realist. We have a few suspicions, but nothing concrete—especially nothing that should have us traipsing all over Wyoming.”

“Then why come along? I can drop you off at the corner here and you can be back in the office in fifteen minutes.”

Kiersten shifted in the leather seat to look at his profile. “I can’t tell you why I’m doing this because I have no clue.”

“Admit it, you sense the suspense in this case. You feel it in your bones.” He stopped at the red light and turned his chin to look at her.

She swallowed hard. Deegan Bronx might be her subordinate and that meant he was off limits, but he did something to her that she couldn’t quite understand. She wouldn’t fall for it, not this time. Her moment of weakness had passed and now he just infuriated her. He might be able to kill a man ten different ways, have the tracking skills of a human GPS, and look like a bad ass warrior, all things she admired, but he also had an ego the size of Mt. Rushmore. Nope. She wasn’t interested. “Do you have the video of the girl? The one you said proved she didn’t kill herself?”

He reached for his phone in the console, clicked a couple of buttons, then he handed her the cell. Kiersten watched the video, then replaced the phone in the cup holder. “Okay, I admit she said she was going to bed, but—.”

“Yeah, I know that there are holes.”

They crossed the city limits and everything became greener and spread further apart. She turned to look at the passing scenery as she cleared her mind. “Fill me in on where we’re going and what you know about the roommate.”

“Folklore is a small town about two hours from here. From what I can gather, RayAnn Mont grew up there and went back when she moved out of the apartment she shared with Annie.”

“Did she and Annie have a falling out?”

He shrugged and the arm of the T-shirt tightened on his bicep. Her eyes naturally fell to the toned, thick muscle and she quickly removed her gaze. “Could have been a falling out or could have been that Annie wanted her privacy.”

“This is ridiculous, you do know that, right?” Feeling a little unsettled, she reached into her bag for a stick of gum. The peppermint eased her queasiness. The doctor said the fertility drug could make her feel this way.

Deegan gave her what she gathered was his face of displeasure. His eyes were narrowed and his lips slanted. “It’s not and that’s why you came along. Have a little faith.”

“I was referring to it being ridiculous that both of us have other cases that need our attention, but here we are on a Monday morning heading away from the office and toward some town called Folklore. Let’s face it, you’re not doing this to find out if Annie overdosed. You’re doing this to help your friend.”

“Pfft. You don’t know me very well.”

She turned slightly to look at him. “Well, isn’t it?”

“Helping a friend out is offering him a place to stay or loaning him money. If I didn’t feel like this girl was murdered, I wouldn’t be investigating this case, and I certainly wouldn’t be searching for some roommate who probably won’t be the star witness to anything.”

“Sure, but Kline should be very grateful. From what I hear, he has his fans squirming.” Bracing her foot on the edge of the seat and propping her chin on her knee, she watched his profile. He had a nice face with high cheekbones, but the layer of whiskers that covered his jaw wasn’t regulatory, but a man like him didn’t follow rules.

The moment she met him she thought he was cocky.

And sexy.

She’d done her best to dodge him, but on those rare occasions that seeing him couldn’t be helped, she’d suffered through awkwardness and keeping her expression blank. Things had been extremely awkward between them, mostly because there was still a sexual chemistry that couldn’t be explained. She could handle this though. She’d reassured herself she could handle being near him, ignore him, and stay focused. They’d find this roommate chick, then head back home. Plain and simple.

“You don’t like Max, do you?”

“I don’t know Senator Kline.”

“If we’re going to work together, maybe we should clear the air.”

“Clear the air?” She picked at a loose thread on her shirt.

“Don’t beat around the bush, Kiersten. We slept together, but we can be mature adults about this,” Deegan said bluntly.

“Let’s not talk about this—”

“And ignore the elephant in the room?”

Kiersten swallowed, feeling her stomach in knots. This was a conversation she wasn’t prepared to have, and yet didn’t she expect that one day this would happen? She simply didn’t have a clue what to say that wasn’t obvious already. Reminding herself that she needed to stay cool, she sucked in a deep breath. He was right, they were mature adults. They fought the worst of the worst criminals, so talking about an impulsive night some two years ago should be a cake-walk. Yet why were her palms sweaty and her heartbeat racing?

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