Page 4 of Fast Kill

“It’s Taylor’s doing. You two are like peas in a pod when it comes to organizing stuff,” Charlie said, already in the process of uncorking one of the bottles. “And I just talked to Jamie. The team’s just about to head out, wheels up in twenty minutes. He said he’ll text me a thumbs up when the op’s over, so I know he’s okay, just like Easton does with you.”

Piper smiled. “It helps me stay sane when he’s gone, so I don’t worry as much.” She switched her attention to Taylor, her expression curious. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”

“Me? No.” No time for that BS. Dating wasn’t her thing. She wasn’t good at it, and the past few disastrous attempts confirmed that. Charlie had saved her during the last one a few months back by sending a fake emergency text about an hour into dinner.

Taylor grabbed some paper plates and napkins from the pantry and set them on the counter. “Thanks for the pizza,” she said to Piper.

“You’re welcome. Let’s eat.”

“How is Logan, anyway?” she asked Charlie, trying to sound casual and not overly interested.

“He’s good.” Charlie snagged a piece of pizza and dug in.

“How well do you know him?” He was the newest member of the team, had only been with them a couple months.

Charlie stopped mid-bite, her teeth sunk into the pizza, then hurriedly chewed and swallowed. “Not that well. Why?”

Taylor shrugged. Damn. She was at risk of overplaying her hand. “No reason.” She’d spent some time with him during the op, but not enough to get to know him well. Still, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit she was intrigued by him and would like to get to know him better.

And of course that hadnothingto do with why he’d been featuring in her fantasies recently.

“He’s been over a few times since Jamie and I got together. Seems like a nice enough guy. You’ve spent more time with him than I have. And you’ve been on a date with him too,” Charlie added in a wry tone.

“A date?” Piper asked, looking all interested.

Taylor made a face. “Don’t remind me.” She’d felt like a total dork all night. “It was for work. Not my best moment.”

“Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been that bad. He just made a point of saying hello to you, and he asked me how you were doing yesterday during the move,” Charlie said, her gaze probing.

He had? Taylor snapped her head around to stare at her. “What did you tell him?”

A slow, startled smile curved her friend’s lips. “I told him you were having a wild fling with a guy you picked up at a biker bar last week.”

She gasped, horrified. “You didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t. But I should have, to see what he would have done.”

Taylor scowled. “He wouldn’t have doneanything.”

She and Logan were about as opposite as two people could get. He was friendly and outgoing, oozed confidence and charisma.

He also reminded her of a sexy lumberjack—he was from Maine, after all—with those broad shoulders and muscular build, the dark auburn scruff on his chiseled face. A rugged man’s man, who probably had to beat away women with a stick. Hence the fantasies.

Yeah, he was her polar opposite in every way except that they both worked for the same agency—though in very different ways. She spent her days poring over spreadsheets and following money trails, and he spent them kicking in doors and arresting the most dangerous criminals in the narcotics world. She liked to play it safe, to play by the rules, and he liked to live life on the edge. Not her type at all, and yet…

The truth was, she’d been thinking of him a lot more than she should over the past couple weeks since the op, and not in a professional manner. It was just… She was so impressed with how Logan had just taken charge of everything and covered Easton while he went to pull Jamie and Charlie out of the excavation pit at the building site the cartel money launderer had taken them to.

“I’m betting it was the worst date he’s ever been on, and I’m pretty sure he dates alot, so that has to be saying something,” she said.

“I don’t know if he does or not, but it’s not like he has a ton of downtime to put much energy into that kind of a social life.” Charlie’s brown eyes held an interested gleam as she regarded Taylor. “Want me to find out for you?”

What? “No! No. I was just asking.” And now she was going to shut the hell up.

Thankfully she was saved from more embarrassment by her phone ringing once more. The same number again, but this time whoever it was left a voicemail. Since it would give her an excuse not to continue the awkward conversation she wished she’d never started, Taylor listened to the message.

“Hey, Taylor. It’s Dillon.”

She blinked in astonishment as shock detonated inside her. She would never in a million years have recognized that masculine voice, way deeper than she remembered it.

---