Page 9 of Elusive Enforcer

“I know this looks bad,” I concede. “My mission was to get the documents. And then I saw you, and…” I’m at a loss for words. I don’t even know why I said any of this in the first place.

Florence falters slightly, not expecting my response. “And…?” she whispers back, her breath tickling my chin from how close she is. Anger mixes with passion, rage turning into lust as she tips her head up and licks her lips.

Christ, tasting her is all I can think about. I clench my hands into fists, fighting off the urge to grip her thick thighs and lift her up, pressing her against the wall so I can finally have my fill of her sweet little mouth.

I dip my head down, brushing my nose against hers. My fiery angel closes her eyes, her soft pink lips parting ever so slightly…

And then a shooting pain radiates from my left leg as if I was stabbed six times and the blades are still stuck in my muscle.

“What the–”

“Sprinkles!” Florence shouts.

I look down, and sure enough, a white fluff ball with deceivingly sharp fangs and claws has attached itself to my lower left leg. I try shaking the damn thing off but that only seems to anger it more.

“Sprinkles, down, boy,” Florence finally commands after letting me struggle a bit. As annoyed as I am, I have to admit, she wasn’t kidding when she said she had a guard cat.

The fuzzy demon finally retracts its claws and hops down, circling around Florence and purring. The little jerk.

“Good boy,” she coos, scratching his head.

I clear my throat, making Florence look up at me once more. She smirks, and god, what that does to me. This woman is lethal and she has no idea.

“Now that we’ve established who the alpha male of the house is, we can continue,” Florence informs me. I can’t hide my grin. She’s fuckin’ adorable, even if her cat is pure evil. “You were telling me how bad everything looks and giving me weak, vague reasons for showing up when and how you did. Does that sum up your arguments?”

“Not even close,” I answer. The spark of a challenge is back in her eyes, and while I don’t know if she trusts me yet, she certainly likes sparring with me. “The truth is, that file you have in your purse contains evidence that could be disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands.”

“How do I know you’re not thewrong handsthis sensitive information shouldn’t fall into?” I don’t have a satisfying answer for her, but she doesn’t give me much time to flounder. “Are you with the police?”

“No,” I say with more vitriol than maybe I should have. I don’t want her to think I’m a bad guy or a criminal… even though that’s exactly what I am. It’s complicated and I don’t know how to untangle all of it before Detective Dirk comes snooping around again.

To my shock, Florence nods her head. “Good. I think they are up to something shady.” I try to keep the surprised look off of my face, but Florence must see it anyway. “What? Did you think I was some idiot who took case files from her job for no reason?”

“You’re many things, Florence, but you’re not an idiot.”

She tries and fails to hold back a smile. “I’m glad we finally agree on something.”

A moment of silence passes between us, interrupted only by Sprinkles hissing at me. I narrow my eyes at the spiteful creature, which makes Florence giggle.

“I’ve been studying the 309 file for a week now,” she continues. “Things aren’t adding up. Literally, numbers are missing, entire invoices, receipts, and large transfers of money are just gone from the digital file. The printed version, however, has a lot of the missing pieces I’ve been looking for. After a few days of research, I think I can trace some of the listed account numbers to… God, I don’t even want to say it because it sounds so crazy.”

“I’ll say it, then. The goddamn dirty cops in this city have been laundering money through various means and giving it to some truly vile people to solidify power. Not to mention the money they’re siphoning from employee pensions.”

Florence stares at me, her jaw hanging open as she processes what I just said.

“I shouldn’t have told you all of that,” I mutter more to myself than to her. Why did I give everything away like that? Now she knows she has leverage on me.Rookie mistake.

“I’m glad you did,” she answers, her voice softer than before. “I believe you, Lorenzo. I’ve seen the numbers, the accounts, the massive misuse of public funds. We can take this to the media, email a local journalist, or hell, upload the documents to social media ourselves and let the public outrage take over.”

“No,” I say sharply, shutting down the idea of going public.

“Why not? Don’t you want the truth to come out? Who do you work for?”

Before I get a chance to tiptoe around that particular set of sensitive questions, something moves outside the window. Every muscle tenses, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I become aware of every sound, every smell, every single motion inside and outside the room.

My hand automatically moves to my gun, tucked into my waistband. Florence gasps and I put my finger to my lips, signaling for her to be quiet. She scoops up the tiny terrorist of a cat, holding him close while positioning herself behind me.

The three of us stand completely still and silent until a car door slams shut and the sound of an engine turning over breaks the spell. I stalk closer to the single window in the small apartment, peering between the blinds and cursing when my suspicions are confirmed.

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