Page 5 of Love and Order

“Which is why you said I shouldn’t ask for everything they took from Mrs. Tovar’s office.”

“Right again.”

“Alright, I’m going for a run, and I’ll bring back dinner.”

“A run?” she said.

“It helps me think. I get distracted when I don’t get in a workout.”

“You gain energy from running?”

“Yes. If you can’t stay late, it’s fine.”

“Oh no, I’m staying. We just need to get organized.”

He nodded. “Is organizing chaos another one of your talents?”

“Something like that.” She’d found herself in enough chaotic situations growing up. Learning how to compartmentalize unfortunate circumstances had been the first tool she learned as she bounced from one home to the next in foster care. Staying organized and having very few personal items was the other. The last lesson she learned was how to defend herself and know when to run.

“You okay?” Finn asked.

“I was just thinking I hate running, but that’s great if you enjoy it.”

“I like the steady push it requires. It quiets my mind to concentrate on my breathing.” He stopped a foot away from her. “Why do you hate running?”

“I only run when being chased.” Clearing her throat she walked away and grabbed a Sharpie. She opened the next box and looked inside. “Eww.”

“What is it?” He moved closer to peer into the box.

It was full of adult sex toys: whips, gags, handcuffs, and leather straps.

“Wow,” Finn said.

“They’re either messing with us for fun, or maybe they plan to use Mrs. Tovar’s personal tastes during extracurricular activities as part of their smear campaign.”

“Or both,” he said.

His sweet, manly scent wafted around her, and the telltale warmth of a blush moved up her neck. Alone in a room with Finn while holding a box of sex toys was too much for her imagination. Even she could see the inherent sex appeal that was Finn Maguire. But anything beyond professional conduct with a colleague, much less her competition, was a very bad idea. It didn’t matter that he had intrigued her for two years or that he was possibly the sexiest man she had ever met. There was no way she could risk everything she’d worked for—the partnership—for a man.

Turning away from him, she closed the box.

“If they can embarrass her enough, they can compel her to agree to mediation,” she said.

“Very sneaky, but I can tell your brain needs to mull this over more. I’ll be back in an hour. What do you want for dinner?”

“Thai food, always Thai.”

“You don’t eat other takeout?”

“Sure, but my first choice is Thai—green curry, spicy papaya salad—and get yourself something too.”

With a laugh, he left. Would he shower after his run, or would she be forced to smell his sweaty scent the rest of the evening? Kicking off her pumps, she stretched her sore feet. Now a good three inches shorter, she pushed her shoulders back. After writing a quick bold note on top of the box with the sex toys, she moved on to the next one. Once she had each of the boxes labeled with a brief assessment of what was inside, she sorted them.

Boxes with documents on one end of the conference table, those with random knickknacks from Mrs. Tovar’s office in the middle, and those with pictures or personal items at the farthest end. She didn’t move any of Finn’s notes but took a minute to look down at the documents he’d been struggling to decipher. One piece of paper had two paragraphs of written words but the letters were scrambled, like a cryptic puzzle. Only someone with the key could decode it. Finn had jotted down a few possible solutions on another sheet. She never enjoyed word puzzles, but it struck her that if she wanted to hide a piece of evidence, which of the thirty boxes would she put it in?

Before she could explore, Finn returned with a bag of food. His hair looked drenched, his white T-shirt was see-through, and his dark blue shorts clung to his strong, muscular thighs. Her entire body tingled at the sight of him, and she used the edge of the conference table to keep herself standing upright as her knees wobbled.

“Holy crap, you really do have a gift for organizing chaos.” Finn looked over each of the three batches of boxes all labeled.

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