Page 55 of Deadly Secrets
His lips nuzzled her neck and she threw her head back. He licked her skin. “I would have never guessed you were so…”
“Wanton?”
“Lusty. It’s incredibly sexy.”
She ran her hands over his chest, through his hair. “Really? You think I’m sexy?”
“You just attacked me in an elevator.” His tongue licked her collar bone. “It’s one of my fantasies.”
“Maybe I should hit the stop button.”
Right at that moment, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Brookeeepedand Roman let her legs slide down so her feet were back on the floor as a middle-aged man in a dark suit entered. “Am I interrupting?” he asked, shooting her a grin.
Roman shifted Brooke to the side. “Arthur, good to see you. Ground floor?”
“Unless you’re hiring lawyers for that menagerie you got upstairs. I’m always available, you know.” Arthur winked at Brooke and pulled a business card from his pocket. “Arthur McPherson of McPherson, Adams, and Pullman Law Offices. You need a lawyer, you call me.”
Brooke accepted the card. “I’ll do that.”
They parted ways with Arthur downstairs, exiting the parking garage a few minutes later. Brooke’s emotions were all over the place. She had never been this happyandmiserable at the same time. “Thanks for letting me come. I know how protective you are, but it means a lot to me to do something besides sit in the office and twiddle my thumbs.”
He reached across the seat and took her hand. “It goes against every cell in my body to take you to a spot where I know the killer has been.”
“I’m safer with you than anywhere else.”
He kept his eyes on the road, though the tenseness in his body told her he didn’t agree. But he didn’t argue further.
At the St. Paul mission, it was the end of lunchtime. As Roman led her to the side door, his gaze swept the homeless loitering up and down the sidewalk. Some sat with their backs against the walls, others stood. A few huddled in groups, watching them approach. At least three bugged out as if afraid of being arrested. Cigarette smoke and stale body odor hung in the air.
“You be my eyes.” Roman held the door open for her. “While I ask questions and show the photo around, you watch the people. Anyone or anything that jumps out at you, make note and let me know.”
“Copy that.”
He gave her a look as she walked across the threshold.
“What?”
That crooked smirk lifted the right corner of his mouth. “Just doesn’t sound like you, Doc.”
She patted her purse where her book nestled, ready for her to dive in. “Research. I know how undercover agents talk.”
The smirk turned into a full-fledged laugh. He drew out his badge as he led Brooke to a woman in a hair net behind the serving line table. “We’re not undercover.”
“Maybe you’re not, but I am. The fearless anthropologist enters the killer’s territory with her trusty sidekick Homeland agent who’s as sexy as he is skilled in the ways of making people talk. She pretends she’s a Homeland agent too.”
His soft laugh made her smile. The woman behind the table and several others watched them approach. All eyes were on Roman, of course, his amazing body and easy stride drawing appreciative glances. His smile, and probably that seductive bedroom laugh of his, drew them in like flies to honey.
For a split second, something primal and very female hit Brooke right in the solar plexus.
Back off, ladies.
“Roman Walsh, Homeland Security.” He flashed his ID along with that smile and the woman in the hair net barely glanced down at his badge. “My agent, Nadia Fernandez, from the Domestic Terrorism Taskforce was here a few days ago about Pastor Luke. He volunteered here for a brief time?”
“Yes, I spoke to your agent. I’m afraid I couldn’t tell her much.”
“And you are?”
“Loretta Atkins. I run the food line around here.”
