Page 23 of Merrick

She had to force herself not to react to the obvious invitation even while her heart was thudding actively.

“Is that what you do? Indulge?”

He contemplated her question for a minute, as if turning it over inside his head. “We are both adults and unencumbered at the moment. I have been attracted to you since the moment I laid eyes on you.

It is more than that if I am being honest. You intrigue me and not a hell of a lot of women do. In fact, you are the first since…,” his voice tailed off and for a moment, he remained silent. “Suffice it to say that I’m very interested to see where this will take us.”

So, he was still hung up on his dead fiancée, she mused. Not that it made one bit of difference to her. She just wondered what itfelt like to be loved so completely that not even death and years could diminish it.

“Not interested.”

“Are you sure?”

She tried for sarcasm, which she was so good at. “Why, Mr. Pendergast, is it a novelty being turned down by a woman?”

Instead of rising to the bait, he seemed to guess exactly what she was trying to accomplish.

“I will back down for now. But keep expecting me to come back.” His gray eyes had a light in them that was making her warm. “Count on it.”

“Is that a threat?”

He laughed softly. “I have a feeling that a woman like you would not take that lightly. No, it’s a definite promise.”

*****

She declined his offer to take her home. And even if Brad had already left, she would rather call an Uber. He had disturbed her in ways she had not expected. He was too damn confident of his ability to charm her and finally get her on her back.

So, she was going to take a step back and give it a day or two. She had not asked him anything about his company, figuring it was too soon.

“You’re quiet.”

Shaking her thoughts loose, she turned her head to look at Brad. “Just thinking.”

“How was it?”

“Okay.”

She whipped her head around when he made a snorting sound.

“What?”

“Come now Margo. The guy zeroed in on you as soon as we entered the room. He took you off to someplace private and all you can say, is it was okay?”

“What the hell else do you want me to say?” She snapped irritably. She certainly did not want to rehash the time they had spent on his boat and how tempted she had been to accept his offer of going down below.

“I want you to say that you will be careful. I want you to say that you will not get in over your head.”

“I already know all those things.”

He slid her a glance, which she ignored. “He wants to get you in bed.”

“And you are implying that I have no say in the matter. That I cannot control my impulses.”

“How do you feel about him?”

“He is a mark. Someone I am using to get the job done. Period. That is, it. People are dying, young people at the beginning of their lives and I want to get to the bottom of it. There is no time to think about getting laid.”

There was silence for a few minutes as Brad navigated the midnight traffic, which was to his estimation, still crazy.

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