Page 88 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Busy day?” I asked.

“Yeah. I caught up with a few contacts, but Wyatt had to work overtime. Katia’s father’s upped the reward to seven figures, and every kook and his brother’s phoning the hotline. Mothers are accusing their own sons, and one guy’s called forty-seven times claiming she’s been abducted by aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy.”

“It sounds as if her father didn’t think things through.”

“The captain tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Did you have a good game?”

“Got the shit beaten out of me. The chick I tagged along with to get into the squash club played like a demon, but at least we’ve crossed one suspect off the list.” He checked the side of his thigh under the spotlights above the hallway mirror. “Look—bruises.”

I was still hung up on the previous sentence. “You went with a woman?”

“It was just work, sweetheart.”

Sure. That was what Alan always used to say, and then he spent the evening withher. A late presentation one day, a business meeting the next. I shouldn’t have let the past get to me, and Reed and I weren’t even dating, let alone married, but the thought of him with another girl still stung.

“Work. Of course. There’s food in the fridge, and I’m going to get an early night.”

“Kim? You okay?”

“Other than the whole murder-hunt thing, I couldn’t be better.”

Couldn’t be freaking better.

CHAPTER 26 - REED

SOFT FOOTSTEPS SOUNDED on the stairs as I poured Kim’s coffee into her to-go cup. After she gave me the cold shoulder last night, I figured making her a drink rather than breakfast was the safer option. The steps paused, then resumed with aclick, click, clickof heels on tile after Kim put her pumps on.

This morning, she’d gone with a black outfit rather than her usual pastel, a long-sleeved dress that looked more appropriate for a funeral. I almost asked “who died?” but I stopped myself just in time. Probably Kim wouldn’t appreciate gallows humour like my ex-colleagues did.

“Sleep well?” I asked instead, then realised her eyes were puffy. Shit.

“So-so.”

“How was your meeting yesterday morning? Did your client fit into her dress in the end?”

“Not even close. It turned out she was pregnant and didn’t realise.”

Kim’s previous comments about her lack of kids came back to me, and I realised her touchiness yesterday evening may not have been entirely down to jealousy as I’d first thought. Which was almost disappointing.

“You were okay with that?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

No way was I about to open up that can of worms. “I made you coffee. Do you want anything to eat?”

“I’ll pick something up on the way to the office. Are you going to DC again today?”

I nodded. “Wyatt too. His suspect kept a sweater on the whole evening, so he’s going after the same guy and I get a new one.”

“Will you play squash again?”

“No. In his spare time, this dude’s the choreographer for an all-female dance troupe, so I’m going to their rehearsal.”

Her mouth set in such a thin line her lips almost disappeared, and I swallowed a laugh. Fuck, she was cute when she got mad. And definitely jealous. My cock shouldn’t have twitched, but it did.

“A dance troupe? What kind of dance?”

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