Page 22 of Tell Me Your Desires
“I’ll see what time I’m back at my apartment. But don’t wait around for me.” Jaime ended the call, throwing her phone onto the passenger seat again.
For the first time in her career, Jaime had lied to her partner about her whereabouts. She wasn’t prepared to tell Max where she was. Why? Because she didn’t want him to know she was waiting for a glimpse of Lady A. That’s all she needed…a glimpse. Just a flash of an image. Something to take the edge off.
This needs to stop, Baros!
Jaime shouldn’t be here unless it was on official business. She shouldn’t be sitting in a darkened corner of a parking lot waiting to see a woman who had potentially murdered her assistant. Jaime shouldn’t be thinking about Lady A inanyother capacity. She was a suspect, whether Max was under the impression she was unlikely to be the killer or not.
But then that dream flashed in her mind, her skin prickling with goosebumps. Lady A—or whatever the fuck her name was—had stirred something inside Jaime. Something that shouldneverhave been disturbed. Something Jaime wasn’t sure she could face. The mere thought of being into another woman weighed heavily. But Jaime would get this out of her system no sooner than it had arrived. Lady A wasnotthe type of woman she wanted to get tangled up with. She was a detective, for fuck sake! She should know better.
A car pulled up in one of the reserved spots close to the entrance. Jaime’s heart thundered at the thought of that red hair, those delicious eyes, that…body.Whoa, no! Stop!She held her breath when the door opened, and then disappointment settled in when a guy in a suit climbed from the vehicle. It wasn’t her.
For the third day in a row, Jaime made herself comfortable, accepting that this would be another long night.
Anya barely stoppedherself from throwing her phone across the room. If Frank called her one more time, begging her to come to work, she really would become a murderer. The greedy pervert was so worried about money that his compassion seemed to suffer. If he’d ever had any to begin with. All he caredabout was that his “best money maker” wasn’t showing up to do her job.
If Anya was being honest with herself, Maisie’s murder had scared the shit out of her. She already hated the night. Now she couldn’t even go outside to her backyard oasis once the sun started to set. And that was a significant contributor to why she was now on her third night off despite multiple calls from Frank and desperate emails from regular clients.
“I’ll try tomorrow,” Anya said to Derek, who was currently making biscuits on the bed beside her. He stopped for a second to glance at Anya. “Don’t give me that look. I amnotbecoming a hermit. I can leave the house any time I want.”
“Meow.”
“Yes, I can. Just because I haven’t doesn’t prove anything. I haven’t needed to.” Derek curled into a ball close to Anya’s side. She stroked him gently and could feel him purring against her. “How many clients would I lose if they knew how scared I was to walk out of my house right now?”
When she was Lady A, those fears seemed to evaporate in the steamy world inside her chambers at the brothel. Lady A had strength and confidence. She wasn’t afraid of what hid in the shadows because those shadows were her sanctuary. They allowed Lady A to assess her sub for the night, to morph into the Domme they desired, and give them an experience they wouldn’t soon forget.
But Anya… the only real friendship she had was with a cat. There had been no relationship to speak of in years. And while Anya had confidence in herself, the outside world agitated her. Anyawasafraid of the shadows out there. Anya had spent many years in her past life learning exactly what lurked in those shadows.
“Turn it off, Anya. This is who you are now. Focus on that. Tomorrow you will return to the club and let Lady A rechargeyou. Perhaps it’ll even help you get your mind off DetectiveJaimeBaros.”
“Meow.”
“What? I like the name Jaime.”
“Meow. Mew.”
“Please. I don’tlikeher. She accused me of murder. Now, stop being ridiculous and go to sleep.” Anya could swear she heard Derek sigh dramatically. She rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t like her,” she whispered. Having these thoughts about a woman she had just met was ludicrous. Having them for someone who thought Anya was the type that could brutally murder someone was insane.
Anya drifted off to sleep, willing herself not to dream of that silky, black hair and those dark, piercing eyes.
Jaime stifled another yawn,her eyes watering as she focused on the glass board in front of her. She stared at the victim’s picture, and then her eyes drifted to the paper with Lady A written in large letters. They really should know more details than they did about her. It didn’t matter what Jaime felt or what Maxdidn’tfeel… she was a suspect, and the least they deserved was a genuine name.Fucking Lady A. Who does she think she is?
“You’re early,” Max said as he handed Jaime a coffee. “Everything okay?”
“Sure. Great.” She took the coffee, bypassing the opportunity to look her partner in the eye. Max would know she hadn’t slept. When Jaime had looked in the mirror thirty minutes ago, it was pretty obvious. “I think we need to take another run at this Lady A.”
“Okay. Because?” Max rested against his desk, his eyes scanning the board. “Have you found something?”
“No. Fuck all. But she needs to be treated the way we would treat anyone else, Max. I mean, I know she was upset about Maisie, but come on. You and I both know she could be responsible for this.” Jaime hated the thought of that, mainly because it meant she was losing her own mind for even thinking about this woman, but she had to keep her detective head in all of this. There was no other choice. “I’m not saying sheisresponsible, but we need to speak to her again.”
“Okay.”
“We don’t even know her real name. Why didn’t we get that information?”
Max sipped his coffee, ruminating on that for a moment. “Because we hadn’t gone there to interrogate her.”
“So?”
Max sighed. “So, I was hoping she might be a little more helpful if we didn’t push her. You saw her, Baros. That woman ain’t stupid.”
