Page 29 of Furever Loyal
She had eyes that seemed to catch every detail, big and round, yet filled with a fierce intelligence he knew he was only scratching the surface of. The lips that so often were fixed with irritation toward him were infinitely kissable. Thick, round, tinged with just a little bit of red, a faint lipstick, designed to accentuate, not stand out.
“What I meant was, could you please not stare over my shoulder?” She gestured at the chairs. “Have a seat, I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
He flashed her a smile. A real one, not one of his fakes. This was her area of expertise, and he owed it to her to let her prove it. “Sorry.”
Kincaid had any number of other things he should have been thinking about. Yet he was fixed on her, for all the wrong reasons.
“Krawll,” she said, spelling it out. “That one?”
“Yes. You find him?”
“Pulling up his transactions. Now the real work begins.”
It had to be him. During the fight, Krawll had been far too aggressive. The location and strength behind the attempts to strike Kincaid had been meant to kill. He’d been trying to figure out why the man would want him dead so badly, or if that was just the way Krawll was, and he’d not had an answer.
The appearance of Haley and her bombshell accusation had changed all his thinking, and until she’d suggested that Canis should just kill him, he hadn’t thought of it again.
Now he knew that he was on the right track. They were going to find something in those files. He couldfeelit. Feeling jittery and anxious, it was tough to sit still in the chair while Haley worked. He wanted to jump up, to pace back and forth. What was the link between Krawll and House Canis? How did that affect him?
That was the biggest mystery of all. The bank transfer had occurredbeforehe’d even been nominated for the position of Hunter. He’d barely been back in North America when it happened. How could anyone have known to go after him? There was something still missing, a piece of the puzzle, and a critical one. What the hell had he done to warrant such attention from House Canis?
“Kincaid.”
He snapped out of his thoughts. “What did you find? Is it a link? We should go interrogate him, see what he knows.”
Shaking her head, Haley pointed at the screen. “I cross-ran the file against both credits and debit transactions, to see if he’d taken or given money to any of the places on the list.”
“And?”
“It came up empty. This guy is fine.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I refuse to believe that.”
“I know, but I’m telling you, I didn’t mess up. None of the companies on the list are ones he dealt with.”
“Fuck.” Kincaid wanted to throw his chair in frustration. “What about—what about any larger transactions? Ones that might stand out?”
Haley sighed.
“Please?” he asked, putting on his best charming face. “I know this might seem silly to you, but this is my life we’re talking about. I promise I’m not the asshole you think I am. Mostly. Someone did this to me.” He got up and walked to the edge of her desk, staring at her the whole time, not letting her eyes go.
“I need your help, Haley. This is your area of expertise. Not mine.” He smiled as he complimented her, wondering if she’d accept the flattery, or call him out for trying to flirt his way to victory. It didn’t matter, as long as it worked.
“Okay,” she said, going back to her screens.
It was in there somewhere, he knew it. They just had to find it. Kincaid just didn’t know what “it” was. He longed to look at the list, but he suspected that was against the rules—rules he needed to follow if he was to keep her on his side for now.
Seconds stretched into minutes, and he started pacing, despite his best efforts not to. Haley didn’t say anything, lost in the numbers. The longer she kept at it, the more hopeless he felt. He was barking up the wrong tree. Maybe Krawll was just a dick. He wasn’t the only one in Ursa who could wear that label.
He was about to tell Haley not to waste any more time, but before he could, she stiffened.
“You found something?” he asked quietly, leaning over the desk. “Didn’t you?”
“I’m not sure.”
Despite her earlier command, he couldn’t help himself. He had to see it with his own eyes. Coming around the desk, he leaned over her shoulder, doing his best to ignore the scent of honey and milk coming from her hair.
“Show me,” he said gruffly, trying to take command of himself once more, keep his persona intact.
