Page 48 of Deadly Secrets
Chapter Nine
Brooke finger-combed her hair. It was a disaster after making out in the car with Roman. Good Lord, she was turning into a wanton woman. What on earth had come over her?
She dabbed on lip balm using the mirrored panels of the elevator to check her blurry reflection. She hardly recognized the image staring back—it certainly wasn’t her usual coiffed and well-heeled self.
“You look fine,” Roman said, but he had a weird grin on his face, like he’d just hit the jackpot.
She was the one still tingling from their make-out session. If it hadn’t been for their already delayed work day, and the fact that the front seat of his vehicle wasn’t ideal for a full-on sexual encounter, he might have actually hit the pot of gold. As it was, he’d still managed to practically bring her to orgasm just from some heavy petting combined with those wicked lips of his.
She adjusted her bra. “I look like a woman who just spent half an hour getting felt-up in the front seat of a car.”
“Exactly.”
She smacked him and opened the package of mascara she’d bought at the store. One swipe of each eye and she dropped it into her bag just as the elevator dinged and opened on the fifth floor of the towers.
Security guard Sue was waiting. Her eagle-eyed gaze swept over Brooke, then Roman, then came back to Brooke. “You all right, sugar? You look a little flushed.”
Roman snickered and it was all Brooke could do not to smack his arm again. “It was a rough night, but I’m fine, thank you.”
Sue winked at her and handed her a black plastic ID badge. “This was delivered earlier.”
Brooke flipped the top up and saw her picture and the official Department of Homeland Security emblem on it above her name. Sue handed her a lanyard. “Welcome to the team, Dr. Heaton.”
Brooke clipped the ID to the lanyard and slipped it around her neck. “Thank you.”
Sue eyed the box of pastries Roman had picked up for the team. “It’s a little late for breakfast, but if those are from Sweet Annie’s, I’ll take one for my dessert after lunch.”
Roman opened the lid and let Sue pick her favorite. She licked frosting off her fingertips as she waved them through the checkpoint. “He’s a keeper,” she saidsotto voceto Brooke.
He just might be.
As they entered, a hooray went up from the team the moment Polly shouted “Annie’s!” Everyone descended on them, vying for a pastry. Brooke smiled at their antics.
“I love you, boss,” Polly said.
“Me too,” Nadia echoed.
“Dr. Heaton.” It was Cooper Harris. He leaned against the conference table, ankles crossed, a blue file folder in his hands. “Good to see you’re all right after the other night.”
Brooke loved Cooper. Not in a romantic kind of way—which was good, since he was engaged and expecting a baby any moment—but as a big brother. He could be gruff and demanding with his team, but he’d always been kind to her. “Agent Harris. We didn’t get to speak the other night at the bar shootout. What are you doing here?”
He was over six foot, with a broad chest and tanned complexion. His coffee-colored hair showed lighter, sun-kissed streaks from hours of surfing and running on the beach. “Crashing the party. I couldn’t let Walsh have all the fun with this serial killer.”
“You need coffee?” Roman asked Cooper, sliding the pastry box onto the table. He motioned at the others seated there—Thomas Mann and two people Brooke didn’t know. “Sweet Annie’s if any of you are interested.”
“I never turn down anything from Annie’s,” Thomas said. Another surfer, Thomas had the matching light hair and tanned skin.
“I could use a refill,” Cooper said to Roman.
Roman brought over cups for him and Brooke and a twin version of the glass carafe he had at home. Someone—probably Polly—had just made a fresh pot.
Polly, Nadia, and Winslow took their seats at the conference table, chowing down on the pastries.
“Dr. Heaton, this is Mitch Holden,” Cooper said, pointing to the man across from Thomas. “He helps out the team when we need him. Next to him is his wife, Dr. Emma Collins.”
Mitch stood, his longish sandy-colored hair and intense eyes giving Brooke the impression he’d seen some nasty stuff in his lifetime. He shook her hand and nodded. “We sort of met you in passing last Christmas.”
She’d been on her way to Dr. Collin’s ranch outside of Bakersfield to consult on a case involving famous actor, Chris Goodsman, when things had come to a head between Agent Holden and Goodsman, and Collins had landed in the hospital.
