Page 39 of When He Defends
“I’m not a monk, but I don’t have one-night stands all the time, either.” A pause. “Two months ago.”
Her brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“I was with my last lover two months ago.”
She did calculations in her head. Wait…
“Yeah, right before I met you. Funny thing, that. I met your infuriating and gorgeous self, and I couldn’t get you out of my head.” He turned away. “So playing your lover on this case won’t be hard for me. But it will be a struggle for you.”
“What is happening here?And why on earth would it be a struggle for me?” He was making her head spin. Deliberately, she was sure. Emerson suspected that Gray was trying to keep her off-balance.
“You’re not used to being with a man. Having him touch you. Call you endearments. Make public displays of affection.” He ran his hand over the back of her sofa. “Been two years, hasn’t it? Since that prick colleague of yours took your work and tried to pass it off as his own? Don’t know why you ever got involved with that loser. If you ask me, he was never worth your time.”
“Gray!”
He turned his head toward her once again.
She swallowed. “How do you know about Nathaniel?”
He snorted. “Dr. Nathaniel Hadaway? Oh, easy. He came to see me today.”
He could not have shocked her more. Her ex had gone to see Gray?That very day?“You are kidding me.” If he was kidding, the joke was not funny. Not even remotely.
“Nope. Dead serious. Your Nathaniel?—”
“He’s not mine, and I am certainly not his.” Nathanielhadtried to steal her careful research. He’d put his name on her paper and submitted it to journals. Total jerk. But how had Gray learned what the other man had done? “Why did he come to see you?”
“He’d learned that you were working with the FBI. He wanted to let me know that I was making a mistake in taking you on as a partner. That you would, ah, I believe the words he used were ‘fracture in a field setting’ and that I should terminate whatever arrangement I had with you.”
The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears. “That sonofabitch.”
“Such language.” He tut-tutted. “Dirty mouth.” His eyes gleamed, more gold than brown in that instant. As if he enjoyed her dirty mouth.
Knowing Gray, he probably does.
“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy it.” The words just fired from her.
He laughed. “See? That’s why you were justwastedon him. Such a prick.” A sigh. “Told him to get his ass out of my office, by the way. In response, he told me that he’d be back. Wanted me to consider the offer he made to me. Said he’d see me later.”
“What offer?”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The offer to replace you. Nathaniel felt that he could understand violent criminals far better than you could. Seeing as how you are so emotionally fragile and all that.”
“I amnotemotionally fragile.”
“He did make a point of letting me know that you’d only had one serious relationship—a relationship with him—but that he’d had to terminate the relationship because he could not handle all of your emotional barriers.”
This was not happening. Emerson didn’t know if she should be furious or hurt or embarrassed or— “That sonofabitch,” she said again. “He’s trying to steal you from me!”
Gray blinked. “I can assure you, I have zero interest in Nathaniel Hadaway.”
She rushed toward him. Grabbed his arms. “He’s trying to take my job. Probably thinks he can do a ton of papers on the criminal mind based on your cases. He’s trying to use you!”
“Isn’t that whatyouthink, Emerson? Aren’t you using me, too?”
“I think—I think that I want you!”
He looked down at her hands as they gripped his arms. “Do you.” Not a question.
