Page 582 of Love Bites

“What the hell does that mean?” He stood up and was in front of me in a flash.

His scent was making me dizzy and I had the worst urge to jump him, but I gripped the arms of the chair like a vise and maintained my dignity by a thread.

“Nothing. Ancient history. Now that we’ve reminisced, we need to get down to business,” I said coldly, met his gaze and refused to back down.

“Fine. You win round one. On to round two,” he said easily—way too easily. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want you on this case.”

“Tough. I am more than capable and you don’t have any say, buster boy.”

“You did not just call me buster boy.”

I bit back my grin and nodded my head. “I did. Now, do you have files for me?”

“Ester…” he said inthattone. Fine. We were going there? I hated my name and he knew it, but two could play that game…

“Yes, Henry?”

“Listen to me, Essie.” He blew out a frustrated sigh and ran his hands through his thick dark hair. “Female Weres are disappearing…possibly dying. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”

Part of me melted, but a bigger part took offense. “Look, Hank, I’m not the same naïve girl I was a year ago. I’m trained and I’m very good at what I do. It will give me great pleasure to destroy whoever is doing this and you need me. I’m here whether you want me here or not. So if you don’t want me going in blind, hand over what you’ve got.”

He gave me a calculated stare and I met it head on. “You’ve changed. You’re hard.”

“Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” I said. He was so wrong about me I wanted to cry, but it was better he thought poorly of me. It would make everything much easier when I left again.

“We’ve kept it out of the papers,” he said in a clipped business-like tone. “Only the Pack knows what’s going on. As far as anyone knowing what you’re really doing here, it’s just me and Junior. I figured you’d be safer that way.”

“I agree. Do you really think the girls are dead?”

“Don’t know,” he admitted. “None of those gals are the kind to pick up and disappear. It all seems connected to the modeling agency.”

“Yep. The town thinks I’m flighty anyway, so no one will be surprised that I’ve come home to be a model.”

“No one thinks you’re flighty except me. The whole town thinks you’re the best thing since sliced bread. The modeling thing wasn’t the best cover for you, so I told the Pack you’ve come back so we could work on our issues,” he replied casually.

“You did what?” I yelled. “You had no right to tell anyone that kind of crap-assed lie.”

“It’s a solid cover and it’s already done. You can’t tell me you haven’t had to do a little acting during your undercover stints. This should be a breeze for someone asskilledas you,” he said smoothly.

I closed my eyes for a moment and sucked in some air. I was a big girl. The fact that people were missing was far larger than the small fact that I would have to pretend to be Hank the Skank’s girlfriend again. I could do this. It was a job. He was a job. He meant nothing to me…and I wasnotgoing to bang him.

“No problem.” I smiled and lied. “It will be fun.”

His eyes narrowed again and he watched me closely. “Fun?”

“Yep, but won’t it be embarrassing for you when I leave again?” I asked sweetly.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” he answered just as sweetly.

Wait. Did he sayif? Crap, I didn’t want to ask him to clarify because if I was wrong, I would look like an idiot and if I was right…OMG. Enough. I had a mission and he would not make me lose focus.

“Files?” I held my hand out and waited.

He gave me a sexy half smirk and my stomach flip-flopped. “You’ll get the files after I see you shoot.”

“Would you like me to shoot you in your office?” I inquired politely.

“That won’t be necessary. Junior would be in charge if you killed me and I don’t think he’s up to it at the moment.” He chuckled and sat on the edge of hisdesk of sin. “Meet me at six at the range. It’ll be closed. I don’t want anyone to know you’re packing.”

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