Page 54 of Baited

“In the meantime, I will continue to work at it. It’s a little late to call Joe now.” He glanced at his watch. “He’s probably already left for the night. But I’ll call him first thing in the morning and ask him about the notes.”

“Thank you, Ethan. It means a lot to me that you would do this.”

His knuckle brushed over her cheek and his eyes warmed. “Don’t mention it.” His lids grew heavy and heat stained his cheeks. “But, maybe you can make it up to me later?” He leaned close until his lips brushed over her bare shoulder.

Heat burned through her skin and brought a deep, longing throb with it. Her palm caught his jaw; the rough stubble abraded her skin as she brought his mouth to hers.

The shrill ring of his cell phone sounded from the counter.

He pulled away as soon as they had touched. “Shit,” he chuckled.

“It’s okay, get it. I’m actually still hungry anyway.”

He laughed and stood. “Seriously? The temptation didn’t even dull your hunger?”

A giggle erupted from her throat as she lifted a fresh piece of pizza. “Not this time.”

“Well, I’ll have to fix that.” He winked at her and butterflies danced in her stomach. He answered the phone, silencing the call.

One more night. And maybe tomorrow they would catch the bastard… and find Hanna.

CHAPTER 15

“Goddammit, Maddie. Whycan’t you listen to me for once in your life?” He tunneled his fingers in his hair and kneaded his scalp. He loved his sister more than anything, but fuck, she drove him crazy sometimes.

“Because it has absolutely nothing to do with you. I’m an adult, Ethan. I can do what I want when I—”

“Yeah, I know.” His hand slid down his face in frustration. Since she was fifteen years old, she’d been telling him she could do whatever she wanted. Thing was, Maddie had done what she wanted from the day she was born. She didn’t give a damn what anyone said, least of all her older brother. “But you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You have a good job, keep it.”

Her laugh was thin, brittle. “You think this is what I want to do? Work in a bank? I’m bored out of my freaking mind. I get why you left the military and the FBI, it wasn’t for you. But you and I are different. I’m a lot tougher than you.”

Ethan grunted. Tough to Maddie meant being a badass and risking her life. Tough to him meant knowing yourself better than the attractive attributes of a daring career. She was tough as nails, he’d give her that. She’d earned her black belt at thirteen, and had since practiced various levels of martial arts. She was deadly, determined, hungry, and cocky as hell. Despite all that, there was no way he was letting his little sister get into the FBI.

“You’re forgetting one thing, Mad,” he said softly. He kept his voice low, but one glance over his shoulder at Riley’s stiff back told him she was listening.

“And what’s that?” she said haughtily.

“I have connections with the FBI. And I can promise you, you will never work for them.” Silence fell on the other end, and that meant she was getting ready to come in for the kill. “I love you, okay? One day you’ll thank me,” he said, hoping to bring down the level of her fury.

“Screw you,” she spat.

The line went dead in his hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tightened his fist on his phone. He took deep breaths through his nose until his head stopped throbbing.

Ethan slid his phone in his pocket and turned around. Riley was in the kitchen, her slight frame moved gracefully as she packaged up the leftover food and stored it in the fridge.

“Who was that?” she asked as she turned to face him.

He groaned. “My sister.”

“You have a sister?” Her eyebrows rose.

He strode into the kitchen and stopped in front of her.

Her hands rested on his forearms.

“I have two. Maddie is the youngest and a damn hellion.”

Riley chuckled. “She can’t be that bad. How old is she?”

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