Page 24 of Luke, The Profiler

I could relate. There had been a time—years, really—where I’d felt the same way about HEG.

I only hoped Mary Jane never endured what I did out of loyalty to her father.

“Okay, we’re good to go.” Luke, accompanied by Cap, headed into the lobby, both wearing similar expressions of stoic determination, and the sight of them made my heart sink. If they’d had good news to share, they wouldn’t still be wearing their game faces. “Eden, Nix is going to drive your car over to your place from the restaurant, if he hasn’t done so already, while I take you home. You work primarily out of your house, right?”

“I do.” I nodded, steeling myself for a fight. “That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

He shook his head. “Not after we set up cameras all over the place and install panic buttons in your office, bedroom and wherever else you can think of.”

“I have a security system—”

“Not like ours, but you will soon enough. We’ve also downloaded a panic-button app into your phone created specifically for PSI. You’ve already seen how well that works since I used it earlier today.”

“Mm-hm.” As I got to my feet I changed my face to my serene mask, when all I wanted to do was scream. We’d been so damn close to getting whoever had decided to toy with me that all I wanted to do was hit the streets and not stop until I found them myself. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

In a few minutes we were in his sleek car, heading north toward Lincoln Park. I started giving him instructions on how to get to my lovely little brick suburban, but he quickly showed me his phone, with my address highlighted on it.

Okay, then.

Since he didn’t seem inclined to talk, I decided to leave him alone, not sure if he was upset with me or the case. I had no idea why he’d be upset with me, unless he somehow held me responsible for the near-miss on my stalker. Maybe he blamed me for offering my two cents into the conversation he’d been having, which in turn made him turn his head in the direction of the place where the stalker had been hiding.

That had to be it, I thought glumly, slumping deeper into the leather seat. They were a group of professionals, and there I was practically yelling into the phone about where I thought the bad guy was hiding. Hell, my stalker probably heard me bellowing like an idiot. No wonder Luke didn’t want to talk to me.

“If you want to punch me, I’m cool with it.”

I blinked, so deep in my own misery it took a minute to register his words. And even then they didn’t make sense. “I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be polite,” he chided, slowing to make a turn onto my street. “I said if you want to punch me, I’m cool with it. Just wait until I’m parked and then let ‘er rip. Fuck knows I deserve it.”

My jaw slowly unhinged. “Why in the world would I hit you?I’mthe one who screwed up this afternoon. I can’t believe I stood there like a moron, yelling into a phone so everyone within a quarter-mile radius could hear me—”

“You weren’t that loud, and you didn’t look in the direction you were indicating.Iwas the asshole who tipped our hand, so it’s my fault that shitbird got away.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you barely even twitched. That jerk getting away was absolutely not your fault.”

“It absolutely was not your fault, either.”

We stared at each other a second before I started to smile. “This is a really stupid argument.”

“The stupidest.” His game face melted into a reluctant grin, and with a shake of his head he slowed down, looking for the right address. “Though it doesn’t surprise me. Our minds have a way of working along similar tracks.”

“I noticed that earlier today.” That made me think about his kiss, that amazing, mind-blowing kiss, and I nearly broke myself trying to put a finer point on it. “I mean, I noticed how in sync we were. You know, when you spotted that rose. I’ve never had anyone finish sentences for me the way you did.”

“You did the same with me, almost like we were sharing the same mind. No one’s ever been able to read me the way you do.”

“I’m not reading you,” I said quickly, aghast. “Or at least I wasn’t trying to read you then.”

“Are you trying to read me now?”

Danger, Will Robinson. “That depends. Are you trying to read me?”

“No more games, Eden.” He stopped the car with a jerk, the tree-lined sidewalk in front of my cozy little home peaceful and well-lit. “I have to get to the bottom of what the hell is going on in your life, and I’m done with you being an obstacle.”

Wait. What?“How have I been an obstacle?”

“You haven’t even begun to tell the truth about who you are or where you come from. For all I know, your past is where your current problem took root. So as of now, you and I are going to work together to figure out who the hell decided to make your life miserable, and we’re not going to stop until we have an answer.”

Panic fluttered in my chest. “Great, sounds like a plan. One question—how in the world are we supposed to do that? You sound almost as if you think I know who this is.”

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