Page 25 of Even if It Hurts

“You know it’s the right call.”

A noncommittal grunt rumbled in my chest as I stared at my black computer screen, my body restless with the need to turn it on. To click into my camera’s feeds to see what that girl was doing for no other reason than I wanted to seeher.

“Rush, I need this,” I said before meeting his surprised expression. “I need to get my mind off things. This case will do that.”

“You need to be there for Kaia.”

“She has a nanny now.”

“She needsyou,” he shot back. “If you were just gonna avoid her, you shouldn’t have torn apart the world to get custody.”

My head bobbed subtly before I admitted, “Not just Kaia I’m trying to avoid.”

In an instant, Rush’s frustration shifted back to surprise before morphing into a knowing smirk. “If this has anything to do with the way it looked like you were seeing the sun rise for the first time this morning...” He shrugged. “I’m not gonna help you avoid that either.”

“Rush—”

“Never seen you look at a woman the way you were looking at her.”

I hesitated for so long that Rush started lifting his hands placatingly just as I spoke. “It’s her.”

One of Rush’s eyebrows lifted in question.

“The nanny—Lainey. She’s the girl from the coffee shop. The one who nearly got tracked by Wreckers. Ada clearly knew,” I hurried to add when blatant shock stole across Rush’s face. “She must’ve known this entire time.”

His chest pitched with a short laugh as he glanced at my closed door before looking back at me. “Ada,” he murmured as if that explained it all.

And it did.

She inserted herself into everyone’s business and liked pulling strings almost as much as she liked pushing buttons just to see how much she could get away with.

“I need this case,” I told Rush again.

Amusement built in his chest. “I see that now,” he began as he reached for the handle of my door. “So, not only is the girl you saved suddenly back in your life, but Ada’s very obvious attempt at playing matchmaker is already working.”

“No.”

His grin widened. “Oh, I think it is.”

“She’s young,” I reminded him, reverting to the argument from my apartment.

“Yeah?” Rush asked on a laugh, then jerked his chin toward my computer, already knowing I would’ve gotten Lainey’s details by now. “How oldisthe nanny?”

My frustration and desperation grew in response to Rush’s amusement. “Twenty-four,” I said through gritted teeth, then added, “I’d already finished my military career and was starting Shadow at that age,” when a laugh burst from him.

He gave me a look to let me know I was reaching. “You keep saying she’syounglike there’s at least a twenty-year age gap between y’all. Notsevenyears.”

My jaw ached from the pressure I was putting on it because the last thing I needed right then was Rush pushing for something he knew I didn’t want.Couldn’twant. “She’s my employee now, and I need her for Kaia.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself,” he said as he turned to leave my office, tapping the doorframe as he did. “Still off this case.”

I didn’t try arguing again, just threw myself into work for the rest of the day, all while managing to ignore every alert when there was movement in my apartment.

By the time I was slipping into my car to go home, I’d convinced myself that girl was nothing to me other than Kaia’s nanny. Last year had been nothing more than an impromptu case. This morning had been nothing more than a product of the wildest sleep-depravation torture in the form of a screaming baby. After all, I hated chaos and Lainey Pearson was the epitome of chaos.

Her lack of awareness and susceptibility for danger. The careless way she dropped her things. Her wildly curly hair I’d thought of hundreds of times. Those mesmerizing eyes that looked like a spring storm. The unruly effect she had on my thoughts and heart rate.

Frustration bled from me as my thoughts spiraled back to her all over again.

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