Page 15 of Greed
For some reason, her words sparked defiance in him. Did someone make her feel she was unworthy of love? Her sad eyes blinked at him. “Never mind. What did you mean, a girl like me?”
“You chew bubblegum. You bring in baked goods. You have posters at your desk with love hearts on them. You wear floral—”
She held up her hand, cutting him off with a dark look. “I get it. You think I’m too much of a weak woman to be a successful criminal investigative journalist.”
He realized his faux pas a minute too late. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure it was.”
“No, I meant you seem too nice for a place that sees a lot of bad things.”
“Oh. Well, this is Cardinal City. I’ve seen a lot worse growing up, believe me.”
Griffin thought back to what Fred said about her connection to the thief in prison and her earlier words about not being worthy for love. “Your family?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“With you? Mr. Perfect with not a hair out of place.” She huffed a laugh. “Not particularly. No thank you.”
Perfect?
He ran a hand over his hair and glowered at the road ahead. His silence must have made her uncomfortable, because she quickly changed her tone.
“But if you need me to talk, I will. My mother used to say I can talk the hind legs off a donkey.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
“I imagine the donkey would be extremely put out by losing his hind legs.”
This earned him a laugh, although he knew not why. He was just stating the obvious.
He should have been happy she conceded, but he wasn’t. He was irritated, and he didn’t know why. This woman was so used to doing what other people wanted. People like Donald the Demanding. The ingrate had spoken to her like she was his lap dog, ready to roll over for him.
“No. It’s fine,” he said. “You can tell me if, or when you want to. Up to you.”
A small sigh of gratitude was her only response.
A few minutes later they parked in the garage attached to the CCPD precinct. Griffin got out and went to open Lilo’s door.
“When we get inside, you should stay close.”
“Why’s that?” She grinned up at him as she collected her bag at her feet.
“We’re at a Cardinal City police station.”
Did he really need to explain further? There would be criminals everywhere. Already the sense of greed tugged at him, testing his resilience. Like little fires lit at night, the beacons of greed shone brightly in his mind, coaxing him to come and find them and put them out of their misery. But none of the greed signatures were deadly. Not yet.
“I may be a weak woman, Griffin—”
“I told you I didn’t mean that.” He adjusted his glasses with frustration.
“—but I can take care of myself. I’m a criminal journalist. I know Krav Maga. I can fight my own battles. I’ll be just fine inside a police station.”
“Which Krav Maga?” he asked, bracing his arm on the doorframe and looking down at her.
