Page 4 of Wood You Rather?

And looking into those deep brown eyes, I saw a man who was scared.

And fuck me, I felt that familiar tug in my gut. The one that told me I should help. That I could help. I could find answers to unanswerable questions. Give him closure. That feeling was what had pushed me into law enforcement in the first place.

“Listen, I need someone I can trust. That my family can trust. We need to do this right.”

I closed my eyes and took a breath. This was becoming more and more difficult to walk away from. It was like he knew just how to activate my hero complex. “And you trust me?” I asked, twirling the end of my ponytail, a tell that I couldn’t control. “Because I sure as shit don’t trust you.”

“I don’t trust you,” he said, holding my gaze for a moment longer than necessary. “Yet. But I think I could. You’re smart.”

“No shit,” I replied.

“And determined.”

Twirl, twirl. I could not stop touching my hair around him. “Naturally.”

“And,” he said, placing his large, masculine hands on the table and leaning toward me. “You don’t give up. Those are all terrible qualities for a person who wants to move up in a backward boys’ club bureaucracy like the state police, but in this line of work, it’s gold.”

I was taken aback. He had a read on me, that was for sure. “You’re not wrong,” I hedged.

“You don’t like me. And you blame me. I get that. But we both know your days with the state police were numbered. Because mouthy women who are always right are not the ones who get promoted.”

“Hey!”

He held up one hand. “I didn’t create the patriarchy. I’m merely offering an observation about the world we live in. And hopefully helping you see that as much as you want to blame me, maybe there was more to it.”

This fucker had a point, and I was not here for it. He was getting under my skin, saying the quiet things out loud. Things I knew but pushed down so I could let my anger and resentment flourish. I wanted him out of my office.

“Name your price. And I’ll supply anything you need if you’ll come up to Lovewell and take your time. Follow the leads. We have evidence to get you started. There are so many threads to tug on. That’s why we need you, someone with the brains to put it all together.”

He paused and inspected me, clearly gauging my reaction.

My stupid lack of a poker face was obviously betraying me, because he smiled. Then he went on. “It will get you out of this place, and if this goes as deep as I think it does, it could put you on the map. Get you bigger jobs, more connections. Help grow your business.”

I tried to school my expression, though my curiosity was getting the best of me. Dozens of questions were already swirling around in my brain. It wasn’t about money. No, this was about the cold trail of evidence begging for me to follow it.

“I have a lot going on right now,” I said lamely.

“Think about it,” he said, sitting straighter and tugging on his collar again. “I’ll be in the city for a few days.”

He slid a thick business card across my old desk.

“Call me when you want to talk. I can give you more details.”

With that, he stood, making my tiny office feel even smaller, and strode out the door without a backward glance.

It was only then that I glanced down at my coffee-stained shirt and noticed that not only was my pink bra visible, but so were my very attentive nipples.Motherfucker.

Chapter2

Parker

Irolled over and stared at the ceiling. It was an old home, and not in that charming, vintage way. The original plaster moldings, once beautiful, were now peeling. And the wide-plank floors were scuffed into oblivion.

But the federalist style brick mansion possessed a certain grandeur. A history. Gravitas. Nestled in the Old Port District, it was in the heart of the old city, where a history lesson could be found on every corner. The British had burned this entire area to the ground during the revolutionary war.

The house belonged to Liv, my best friend, who had inherited it from her great-aunt. Since college, a group of us had moved in and out at random. It had seven bedrooms, so there was always space, and while she had done a damn good job of fixing it up over the years, most of the money had been sunk into very unsexy things like upgrading the wiring and replacing the roof.

Thus, my room featured ancient peeling mint green wallpaper with climbing roses all over it and a window that wouldn’t open.

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