Camden blinked his eyes again, flipped the switch in his head that turned on his prosecutor’s facade. Hands on his waist, shoulders pushed back, and eyes narrowed at his target. Camden stepped toward Elijah, refusing to let his memories or the delicious sight Elijah made shake his fortitude.
“Why are you here, Elijah? How are you involved with my case?”
“I’m your assigned babysitter, Counselor.”
Camden caught the faint hint of amusement in Elijah’s voice, and his mood soured. To keep his calm, he dismissed Elijah with a cold glare and turned to the captain at his side. “Not a possibility. Get someone else,” he demanded.
“Mr. Warren,” Captain Searlington began. If the deep breath she’d taken just before she said his name was any sign, she wasn’t all that thrilled with Camden now.
Camden sighed and pressed his fingers firmly against his temple. If he were the man his father raised him to be, he’d be throwing his weight around right now, making demands of everyone in the room. But after how poorly Camden behaved five years ago, treating Elijah like a discarded one-off, he found it difficult to muster up his practiced asshole tendencies.
“Mr. Warren, Lieutenant Stephenson has an impressive career record. He is the best at what he does.”
Camden ran a frantic hand through his raven locks. “And what does Lieutenant Stephenson do?”
“He has a nose for sniffing out the bad guys. He’s the best tactical mind I’ve seen in our house in a long time. He also has a protective streak for simpletons who find themselves in situations they can’t get out of. And when he’s called on to protect someone who can’t defend themselves, he locks like a Pit and doesn’t let go until either he or the threat is destroyed.”
Camden’s shoulders rose with every breath he drew in through his flared nostrils. Did she call him a simpleton? Did she reprimand him without so much as raising her voice?
“So,” Captain Searlington continued, “are there other officers I can assign this case? Yes. But if you want to live through this experience, I’d suggest Lieutenant Stephenson is the man for the job.”
The lady captain sauntered back to her desk, otherwise unbothered by the exchange they’d just had. “Lieutenant Stephenson,” she continued, “the office next to Lieutenant Smyth’s is now yours.” She opened a desk drawer and plucked out a set of keys, tossing them in the air to Elijah. “You can move in now. Take the ADA there and get started on his case. As of now, you’re attached at the hip. Are we clear, Lieutenant?”
Camden watched in quiet awe as Elijah nodded his head, agreeing to the calm command given by his superior. Even though this woman might be Elijah’s boss, she wasn’t Camden’s. He wasn’t about to let her decide how to keep him safe while she acted as if Camden wasn’t even present in the room.
“Your cop might agree to that, Captain. But I don’t. I will not allow this man to invade my privacy.”
The woman sat down in her chair and made a slow point of removing her gun from her hip, then setting it on her desk as she gave the weapon a gentle caress. The move was simple, but it drew his attention and kept Camden’s eyes on her. A fact he was certain was the point of her actions.
“Mr. Warren, it’s either your privacy or your funeral. Which do you prefer?”
Camden swallowed hard as a chill spilled down his spine. After last night’s events, choosing between the two alternatives wasn’t difficult at all.
“Which way to your office, Lieutenant Stephenson?”
ELIJAHsat back in his new, mostly empty office, trying to get his head right. Unfortunately, Camden Warren’s presence was an unavoidable distraction he couldn’t ignore.
“If this is your new office, I’d hate to see what the old one looked like,” Camden commented while he stood in the center of the small room and turned in a slow circle to survey the place.
“The office is new to me, as in it came with my new rank and command,” Elijah responded.
“You’ve been promoted? I always knew you’d make something of yourself. What kind of unit are you being assigned to?”
Did this motherfucker just low-key insult me?Elijah threw the file Captain Searlington had given him onto the empty desk and leaned back in his chair. “Listen. There’s no need for the small talk. I’m here to do a job, and you’re here because someone is trying to kill you. If you haven’t been worried about my life enough to call over the last five years, my new promotion shouldn’t be of any concern to you now.”
Elijah returned his focus to the file as he heard Camden take the few steps to the seat in front of Elijah’s desk.
“Bitter much, Detective?”
Elijah pulled his nose from the papers in front of him and lifted a skeptical brow.
“Bitter? To be bitter, I’d have to care. We fucked. It was fun, but that’s all it was. I had no illusions it would be otherwise. The dick was good.”
A flash of memory zipped across Elijah’s mind, reminding him just how good Camden had been. Good didn’t accurately describe the way the lawyer made Elijah’s entire body burn with need that night.
It didn’t matter, though. Elijah for damn sure wasn’t about to share that bit of info and contribute to Camden’s already inflated ego. Nope, he’d just swallow the appreciation he had for Camden’s stroke game and keep it to himself.
“But just so you know,” Elijah continued, “I don’t make a habit of laying with bad fucks. You weren’t special. It didn’t mean shit then, and it has no bearing on how I do my job five years later. Get over yourself, and let’s get to work on your case.”
