Page 94 of Conrad

She swallowed, caught her lip, then, “And I thought it was the only reason you wanted to be with me.”

The only reason?The fist in his chest loosed, and seeing her standing there, a tear hanging on her lashes, hurt in her eyes . . .

He forced himself not to move toward her. Instead, softly, “I don’t need a reason to be with you.”

Aw,but the words just slipped out.

Her mouth opened. Then closed. And she wiped a fallen tear from her cheek.

And that was justit. He stepped up to her, touched her face, wiped the other tear with his thumb. “Penelope, you’re smart and beautiful and brave and funny and . . . no man needs to be coerced into a game to be with you.”

His heart banged against his chest as she looked up at him, those golden-brown eyes big.

And he kissed her. Completely without thought, just instinct and impulse and desire. His hand behind her neck, pulling her up to him, kissing her with a sort of possession, a force.

A truth.

She hung her hands on his forearms as he took her face into his other hand, cradling it, deepening his kiss.

Tasting the mystery, the intoxicating person of Penelope Pepper.

And any cold left in his body turned to fire, swept over him as she relaxed, softened her mouth, and kissed him back.

“He’s my boyfriend.”

Yeah, he was.

He finally lifted his head. “That wasn’t fake.”

A smile touched her mouth. “No, it wasn’t.”

He tightened her against him, and she held him back, her arms around his waist as if they belonged together. “No more secrets, okay?”

She nodded. “Do you mind if I stay here? Just until I can figure out who is after me?”

He let her go. “My house is your house. My security system is your security system.”

She laughed then, and it loosed the final hold anger had on him.

“And your computer system?”

He nodded. “What are we searching for?”

“Why someone would want to kill Edward. Because I might be the connecting piece, but Edward is the flashpoint.”

“So, we figure out who killed Edward, and we find our arsonist.”

“That’s the hope.” She looked at him. “You don’t happen to have anything besides water, do you?”

“I’ll make you a steak.” He met her gaze again, then pressed his forehead to hers. “For the record, I like seeing you in my jersey.”

“For the record, I’m keeping it, so don’t think you’re ever getting it back.”

He kissed her forehead, shaken suddenly at how close she’d come to being seriously injured. “And next time you go meet someone in an abandoned, dark parking lot, you take me with you.” He let her go and went to his fridge. Found a ribeye and pulled it out, then headed to the stove and pulled out a cast-iron pan. Heated it as he seasoned the steak with salt and pepper. “Did Edward have any enemies?”

She’d slid onto a counter stool. “I asked Tia—she said no. He lived a very quiet life. Was a nerd, really. He was working on a highly sought-after AI program. I remember him talking about it to my father at dinner one night. He was hoping to sell it to a tech company—I think he was even entertaining a bid.”

“Quantex Dynamics?”

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