Page 45 of More Than Nothing
Roman winced, his eyebrows knotted. One hand gripped the back of his neck and the other was stuffed deep into the pocket of his pants. He looked pained, riled, and oh so sexy. “It’s too risky. Frank Dax is a loose cannon. And he’s not stupid.”
“No, but he is slippery,” Elenie pressed. “Nothing ever sticks to him despite the whole town knowing he’s shady. If anything goes down that’s the wrong side of legal, he’s mixed up in it every time. We had two drug raids on our house before we came to live here and no one’s managed to pin anything on him so far. You need my help. And I need yours.” She leaned forward. “I’ve lived with Frank for nearly twenty years. Mostly, I know how to stay safe around him. Yes, there are risks, but I’m willing to take them. I’ve thought it over—this isn’t a spur-of-the-moment plan. He likes to watch things burn. Who better to set his house on fire than someone on the inside?”
In the end, they called for takeout pizza and ate it sitting in the office. Dougie rang Summer to say he’d be late home.
“It’s more complicated than you’re imagining.” Roman glared, unseeing, at the pizza box. “We can’t just organize and run this operation on our own. You’ll need to be registered as a confidentialinformant and your suitability tested. You’ll have to sign a code of conduct and confidentiality agreement and be given an official handler. The circle of trust would be us, you, either one or two handlers—and no one else.”
“Can’t you be my handler?” Elenie hadn’t expected that. She trusted Roman but placing her trust in someone else was unnerving.
“No, I can’t.” His eyes pinned her with an unreadable intensity. “I have a personal relationship with you already. That makes it unethical for me to be your handler.” A spark of molten flame flickered in his pupils, flashing pinpricks of heat all over her body like the searing sting of fire ants. Then he blinked and it was gone. “We wouldn’t want any risk of the information you gather being compromised—for whatever reason. Or the whole thing would be for nothing.”
Elenie gave a slow nod and pushed her pizza to one side, appetite dead. She didn’t like it but she understood.
“It’ll take a little time to set up. And, however careful we are in the meantime, you’re at risk until Frank knows there’s nothing happening between us.” Roman watched her. She had the impression he could read her every thought.
“But this could work, Chief. Distancing yourself from Elenie in public would serve two purposes.” Dougie ticked them off on his fingers. “One, it would make her position safer. And two, if it convinced Frank that she’s got no chance of running to you, she would be in a better position to gather information from the inside.” Dougie spread his hands. “The guy’s like Teflon—nothing ever sticks to him. Frank’s our top suspect for any and every burglary, arson, or assault. We know he’s involved but we can’t prove it. The Daxes have been a one-family crime wave in Pine Springs since they arrived. Our possession charges alone have gone up twenty percent in the last ten years. Sorry, Elenie.” He shot her an apologetic glance.
Roman seemed to look at Dougie without properly seeing him for several minutes. Dozens of different scenarios were clearly running through his mind. The office was silent.
“OK,” he said finally. “Let’s make a plan.”
The following Friday night, when Elenie walked into the Rusty Barrel, her heart was beating so loudly she could hear it in her ears.
The tables, floor area and bar seating were all busy; she’d never seen it so packed. For a second, Elenie panicked that she wouldn’t find him. A nonsensical thought. He was the very first person she focused on, as if her eyes would always track him down in every crowd like some kind of homing device.
He saw her, too, from his position at the bar, raising his glass to catch her eye.
Her feet felt clumsy and she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She was on a date—well, a kind of date—with Roman Martinez, the local police chief. If that wasn’t the craziest thing to ever happen to her, Elenie didn’t know what was.
They’d decided to move on this part of the plan while Roman got in touch with his contact at the County Sheriff’s Office. He’d warned her he wouldn’t be able to set everything up at the drop of a hat but was adamant her safety was paramount. And so here they were. Ready to put Elenie back on the Pine Springs PD blacklist.
“Hi.” It was the only word she could manage to get out.
Roman gave her a slow smile which lifted one corner of his beautiful mouth and spread until his angular face eased. She couldn’t take her eyes off his lips.
“Hey, Elenie.” He stood up from the bar stool, towering above her, and leaned down to press a kiss against her temple.
What. The. Fuck.
She almost whimpered.
He smelled of washing powder and aftershave. So damn clean. It was all she could do not to rub her face against his chest like a cat and breathe him in.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“Huh?” Elenie looked up at him and blinked.
“Drink?” Roman asked again, pointing to the bar. “What can I get you?”
“Oh, uh, I’ll have a gin and tonic, please. If that’s OK.”
He stepped away from his bar stool and pushed it toward her. “Take a seat.”
Elenie shrugged off her denim jacket, laying it across her lap. Her flowery cotton dress was old and worn, just like her ankle boots, but it was pretty. She fiddled with the material under her fingers and straightened the hem on her thighs, wishing her stomach would settle.
Roman, rumpled and casual, was dangerously handsome in black jeans and a soft, khaki Henley. He pushed his sleeves up as he waited at the bar and she swooned a little more. His hair was slightly damp at the ends. Elenie wondered how recently he’d been in the shower. Her cheeks warmed and she forced herself to stop staring.
She wasn’t the only person checking out the police chief. Looking around the bar, she counted at least four girls plus a guy in a flannel shirt who were studying him with hungry eyes. It was hardly surprising. He was drop-dead throw-your-panties-over-your-shoulder-and-have-a-defibrillator-on-standby gorgeous. That he seemed so unaware made him all the more compelling.
