Page 87 of Recurve Ridge

Come on, Mari Merripen. Give me a reason for you to stay.

Mari’s head went down again as she connected each line to its transaction in a methodical sequence. There were faster ways to find the information, but seeing as we gave her half a job in the first place, it made sense that she took a longer path to get there, cross-checking her initial assessment.

And all the shit we missed.

“Who owns this account?” Mari ran her finger across an account number printed at the top of the paper.

Alan shrugged. “I have no idea. I can’t find it, so it doesn’t—shouldn’t—exist.”

“Fair enough.” Mari nodded, taking his assumed skill set in her stride. She connected three transactions together and carried over a balance to one side. “These don’t line up. Something’s missing.”

“They redirect to George Petersen’s accounts.” Alan leaned forward to wrap his arms around her upper body, brushing his thumbs beneath her breasts. “Can you do it with distraction?” He glanced at me as she shivered and then back at the page again.

“The mayor of New York City?” She frowned, turning the papers to look at the blank spaces on the back. Her lips pursed, and her tongue flickered out to wet the corner of her lips.

A collective sigh swept through the room, every one of us taking an appreciative moment over what that tongue could do, except for Miller, who stiffened as the ambience of the room changed.

“Yes, sweetcakes.”

“A line has been removed here.” She traced a fingertip across the back of the page, then flipped the page to point it out to Alan.

“Photographic….” He shook his head and then dropped a kiss on the top of hers before he whisked the papers away, leaving her playing with the pen. “You’re so precious, Mari.”

“Is that it? What happens now?”

Already engrossed in studying the figures and muttering to himself, Alan plucked the pen away and added notations to one corner of the paper.

Her head swiveled between me and Jon. “Robe?”

Mari wasn’t stupid. We gave her specific information on some of our more clandestine activities she hadn’t been aware of before. Whatever she suspected, we’d just confirmed it.

“Now you go home.” Miller didn’t budge, though his chin dipped as he glared at her, a muscle in his cheek twitching.

Mari’s eyes widened, her curls already shaking side to side. “No.” Desperation brought her to her feet. “I don’t want to go home. I don’thavea home. Except here.”

I stepped forward, resting a hand on her shoulder. The contact sang with the same energy that lit her gaze aflame. “No, little runner. You don’t get to go home. Now, I thought you might like to work.” I stared at Miller in challenge, offering him a onetime silent warning.

He kicked the wall before disappearing out the door.

“Looks to me like he’s the one always doing a runner,” Mari muttered.

Jon laughed, breaking the tension. “She’s not wrong.”

“I know I’m not. That’s why you’re keeping me.” A cute and snarky-as-hell smile tilted her soft pink lips.

I slid my hands along her arms, circling them around her waist. She let out a soft squeak of surprise but didn’t pull away. “That’s one of the reasons.”The other is that I can’t let you go no matter how much of a threat you might or might not be to me or the men I’m responsible for.

Not that I continued to believe Mari would willingly hurt us.

Crooking a knuckle beneath her chin, I tipped her head back and leaned down to claim a kiss. I meant it to be brief, but… that didn’t happen. Once her lips parted, I was gone. My jeans constricted my blood flow as I leaned into her, trailing my mouth along her cheek to her ear.

She sighed, linking her hands behind my head and arching into my touch. “That’s good.”

“Good, huh?” I paused, holding her in a firm embrace, blocking out the rest of the room and lowering my voice so she alone could hear me. “I can think of other things that come under that heading.”

Her soft giggle nourished a flame of arousal that burned deep and long for the girl I loved. I always longed to earn one of those pretty little sounds from her.

And now I had.

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