Jackson clapped gleefully. “Does Ruby know?” he asked.
I shot him a glare. “No, and please don’t tell her.” The last thing I wanted her to think was that I was obsessed with her brother or something. Would she even want the two of us together? Be okay with it? Obviously we were adults, but I didn’t want to step on any toes and make things awkward at work.
Natalie twirled her hair. “Have you talked to Reid about this kiss?”
“Not a word. He stopped the kiss and?—”
“Wait. He stopped it?” Jackson’s eyes went wide.
“Yes. We were getting a little…heated. And he stopped it.”
Natalie and Jackson exchanged a look which didn’t help my rising anxiety.
“What? He said he didn’t want to rush things.”
“Says every red-blooded American male,” Jackson said.
“Reid isn’t like that.” But Jackson was bringing to light my worst fear. That Reid had been politely rejecting me.
“He invited me to his family dinner tonight,” I added. “That means something, right?”
“It could.” Jackson tilted his head from side to side, weighing my words. “Are you going to go?” he asked.
“I mean, yes? I was thinking about it.”
“You should. They seem sweet, from what Ruby has said,” Natalie added.
Ruby. Come to think of it, she had thrown me a casual invite the other day, too. Which pretty much confirmed there was at leastsometruth to the idea that his family actually wanted to meet me.
“You’re going,” Jackson decided, jaw set.
“Well, thank you for making the decision for me,” I said dryly.
“What harm could it do?”
“I agree.” Natalie nodded in support.
“And seeing how he acts around you in front of his family could be very telling.”
“Like…” I looked between the two of them, grasping at straws.
Natalie tapped her chin. “Like if he’s attentive. If he sticks near you the whole time.”
“Yeah, it’ll be obvious,” Jackson assured me.
I wasn’t certain about that. But I figured I was about to find out.
TWENTY-TWO
Reid
Armchair_Detective: How is the suspect list dead in the water?
WhiteKnight31: I think we might need to go back through every person.
Armchair_Detective: What about the old boss? In hindsight, he certainly seemed to have the biggest beef with Hazel.
WhiteKnight31: And she monetarily affected him.
