Page 85 of Last Shot

‘So you got punished for doing the right thing.’

‘I got punished for my lack of loyalty.Youwere punished for doing the right thing.’

Her heart stopped. ‘You can’t know if I did the right thing or not.’Even I don’t know.

‘Can’t I?’ He raised his eyebrows. The daring tone in his voice piped hot blood to the tips of her fingers and other parts of her she chose to ignore.

No one had ever said she’d done theright thing, not even her lawyer. It was the type of thing a parent might say, or a best friend. Emotion burned in her eyes, up her throat. It wasn’t fair that this man who barely tolerated her presence, who didn’t feel ‘that way’ about her was maybe the only human being in the whole world who might be able to understand.

‘They discharged me,’ Grey continued. ‘I had no other qualifications, nowhere to go, so I ... went home. Giovanni gave me my job back as though I hadn’t left. He didn’t care about the dishonourable discharge. No one gets a second chance from Giovanni Barbarani’—he sighed—‘but he gave me one.’

Max’s instincts urged her to press more on that. Charity didn’t really fit with what she knew about Giovanni. Was Grey so blinded by unrequited love and loyalty to this family that he didn’t even consider the tycoon’s motivations behind his reinstatement as Fixer in Chief?

Vittoria’s face swam before Max, the scent of her perfume on the note.

There are things even Greyson doesn’t know.

Grey turned to face her now, his brown eyes blazing. ‘I wish I could ...’

‘You wish what?’

The longest silence of her life followed.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ He shifted in his seat, and her heart froze over like a winter lake. ‘I’ll drive the rest of the way.’

29

Grey

I wish I could tell you everything.

I wish my dad was still alive so I could ask him what Mum did.

I wish I could drive Bessy in the opposite direction and just keep going.

There were other sentence finishers, but he had made a barrier out of lead and bulletproof metal to stop those thoughts about Max Conrad blasting through. She was a colleague. A female colleague. A female colleague who happened to be attractive. And smart. An attractive, smart female colleague who he’d told more to in the last twenty-four hours than he’d told anyone since his father died. Sophie had come close, but he hadn’t talked to her about that night, even though she’d been there. Especially because she’d been there.

It hadn’t been long after that night that she’d run the story.

Thoughts about Sophie used to make him clench up. He’d get the same sensation as a brain freeze and the moment before you’re about to throw up all at once. Now, he just felt static. No, now he was consumed by the smell of apples and cinnamon, and the annoyed growls coming from the front passenger seat when she couldn’t get her legs in a comfortable position.

I know exactly what position I could get those legs in ...

Fuck.He hit the steering wheel.

Her green eyes sparked through her curtain of hair. ‘Roo?’

He tapped his finger against the leather. ‘Shadow – false alarm. What are you watching?’

He could hear screams and muffled shouts from her phone. He’d offered his headphones but she’d declined. He’d been irrationally annoyed. Not that the sight of her with any of his possessions would help with the current situation in his mind. And other parts of him.

‘I’m still researching the Brady Bunch. Trying to get as prepared as I can for tonight.’

‘You don’t trust my intel?’

‘I think you’re too close to them to be objective.’

‘Objective about what? Libby said Skinner’s the one who’s taking out the hit. What are you gaining by watching all of Tomaso’s wine-tasting tutorials?’

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