Page 12 of Greed
Her hand fluttered to her throat at the memory. Water had sprayed from a damaged hydrant. Two vehicles had crashed. A crazy man had a gun. There was a hostage and injured bystanders. Bedlam. A police woman had tried to take control of the scene, but it was Envy who stole the show.
Seeing the deadly warrior in action made Lilo understand why they all had online fan-clubs. There were Instagram accounts dedicated to each of the Deadly Seven. She’d scrolled through the accounts once or twice herself. The naked man chest pictures of imagined heroes were all in the name of research, she kept telling herself. Each Instagram account speculated on the true identity of the five men and two women in the group and posted ideal specimen examples. None of them were real, of course, but it got a girl wondering.
What she wouldn’t give to break that story.
Speaking of breaking a story, how was Lilo going to survive the morning working next to Griffin? Not only was she freaking from his watchful eye and possible risk to her job security, but seeing the way he took control of that meeting had been magnetic. That same kind of take-charge personality had been what initially attracted her to Donnie. That was, until he became too domineering. She shivered involuntarily, forcing her thoughts away. She wouldn’t think about him right now. That relationship had taken everything she had to offer, and then some. No. It was much safer to fantasize about the unobtainable men of the Deadly Seven.
After a quick glance at her vision board, she dragged her attention back to her computer and set about finding the details for the precinct she was to visit. At least it wasn’t the dog-toilet bowl story.
“How could you?” a gruff voice accused from behind.
She turned to face the man who made her ovaries shrink. “How could I what, Donnie?”
“I needed that story.”
“I can’t help it if Fred assigned it to me.”
Donnie’s brows lowered. “Using your corrupt family connection is underhanded.”
“You know very well I’ve ex-communicated myself from that family and, besides, you didn’t seem to care where the lead came from when I gave you a story last week.”
“And since then? Nothing. You’re only looking out for yourself.”
Lilo’s jaw dropped. Seriously? She gave him every single leak her father sent her way about the crime syndicates running the city. Four years’ worth! From the moment she started working at Cardinal Copy, all leads from her father went to Donnie. It was how he’d been nominated for the damned Pulitzer.
She wanted nothing to do with it. Either the leaks were her father’s warped way of showing he cared, or he used Lilo for his own gain—snitching on the competitors to get rid of them.
Even as the defiant thoughts ran through her brain, she knew she couldn’t speak them. Donnie had a way of overriding her senses. After she left her family, she spent years starved for affection until Donnie pounced on her vulnerability. The moment he discovered her family connection, he pretended to sympathize with her. Lilo saw it clearly now. All she did in their relationship was give, give, give. She cooked the dinners, cleaned his apartment, let him have all the say in the bedroom until, finally, she couldn’t function properly. Literally. The day she realized she couldn’t orgasm without his help was the day she broke up with him.
You’ve had someone making your decisions your entire life,he’d shouted.You’ll never be fulfilled without me.
If only he knew how true that statement was. She hated him.
Yet... Donnie leaned against her partition and gave her a smile that brightened his face into something she once thought was boyishly handsome.
“Princess,” he chided. “You know you bring out the best in me.”
The best? She was sure that had been the worst.
“I’ve not been the same since you left,” he said, voice coaxing. “I need you. Come back to me.”
“Donnie…”
“I still have your toothbrush in my cabinet.”
Her eyes fluttered closed. She knew she was going to regret this. Somehow the man managed to get under her skin and… “Maybe you can tag along.”
Donnie folded his arms. “I work alone. You know this.”
Her fingers gripped her keyboard.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Griffin’s voice had both of them jumping. He stood glaring and imposing, holding out an assignment sheet to Donnie. “Fred asked me to give you this, Donald. It appears to be an assignment.”
“You’re not my boss,” he growled and snatched the sheet from Griffin. With each passing second, fury mottled his complexion as he read. “This is about a man suing his dog for saving his life,” he said incredulously.
“Indeed.” Griffin opened his blazer and slipped his hands into his pockets. Some would have called his pose peacocking, but on him, it looked damned sexy.
Griffin cocked his head at Donnie. “Unless you have a better story to chase?”
