Focus.
“Suzanne and I have been looking for a connection between all of this,” I tell him, “and we finally have one that will actually pay off?—”
“Roll this back for me,” Jean-Michel says, not meanly, but deliberately. And I know I have the luxury of yesterday, of talking it through with Jace to make sense of the loose ends. “Last I heard,” he says, “all we had proof of was her bugging the shit out of me and fucking with our contracts. It’s bad news that she’s doing that shit with other companies”—he flicks his eyes to Jace’s—“sorry she’s being a pain in the ass for you too.”
Jace shrugs.
“But unless I’ve missed something, I don’t see anything that connects her to something bigger.”
I frown.
It’s there.
It makes perfect sense and?—
“That’s because you didn’t see this,” Jace says, snagging the stack of papers and flicking through them, pulling one out and showing Jean-Michel?—
“Fuck,” he hisses.
I exhale. Because I know it’s the defense contract, which along with the other paperwork…provides the connection between Angela and the Lyon family that the FBI has been searching for.
“She was this fucking dumb?” he says, and I know what he’s thinking. His ex-wife has been slippery and smart, impossible to pin down.
Until now.
“Dumb or not,” I say, “it’ll be enough to hold her, and it should be enough to persuade her to go the fuck away and stop bothering us, especially with the FBI on her ass.”
Jean-Michel doesn’t look completely convinced, but at least he’s nodding.
“Your ex has been a pain in my ass for months now,” Jace tells him, an intense scowl marring the beautiful lines of his face.
“Tell me about it,” Jean-Michel mutters.
“But,” Jace goes on, moving close to me, “if opening my doors to the FBI means I can run my business without her trying to burn shit down from the inside out then, like I told Marie, I’m open to it.”
Jean-Michel nods. “Appreciated.”
“I know that you’re both busy,” I say, gathering the papers up. I can feel the heat of Jace’s body, can smell the spicy scent of him, and his closeness makes it a struggle to focus.
I’ll punish him later for his insolence.
A breath.
Then I focus and turn to face him, looking up into dancing hazel eyes. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me, especially after he fucked me senseless on his desk last night.
Something that’s not helping me concentrate.
I shake myself, lift my chin. “I’ll liaise with Attie’s team and your company, Mr. Henderson. I’ll make sure we follow this to ground, and hopefully it’ll pan out as we expect.” I pull out a pen, a pad of paper, and glare at him for a moment before glancing down at my pad.
It’s either that or stab him with my pen.
Or kiss him and all this playing it cool stuff will go out the window.
“Who’s the best person to coordinate with this on at Genen-core?” I ask archly.
He doesn’t miss a beat. “Me.”
I blink, feel my cheeks get hot.
