It’s because you keep touching me!she could’ve wailed.
Why he’d suddenly taken to throwing an arm around her shoulders whenever he pleased she’d never know.
Or, rather, shedidknow.
Their little heart-to-heart in the kitchen had apparently made him think they’d become bosom buddies.
And yet…
He’s as much of a scoundrel as ever, she reminded herself.He can be amazingly empathetic and kind-hearted. But in the same breath, if it weren’t for Sam throwing up roadblocks, he’d probably have Hannah upstairs and undressed.
She’d watched him eye-bone dozens of women over the years. Had listened to him flirt and tease. Had stood by while he worked his magic and ended the night with another woman on his arm. And yes, she always felt a little frisson of jealousy. How could she not?
His blatant attempts to seduce Hannah, however, had turned that frisson of jealousy into a green-eyed monster the size of Godzilla.
Maybe because, for the first time, he was attempting to woo someone on her home turf. Maybe because, after their conversation in the kitchen, she felt closer to him than ever before. Or maybe because it was becoming increasingly impossible to distance herself from the power of her feelings for him.
“Eliza?” He dragged her from her disquieting thoughts.
“Hmm?” She blinked, wondering if he’d ever use her nickname again.
She’d always been indifferent to being calledLizauntil she’d heard the two syllables rolling around in his mouth. Now, that’s all she wanted him to call her.
“What’s got ya so wound up tonight?”
“Yeah. What the hell is going on around here?” Samantha asked, slipping a pepperoni to Peanut. The cat gulped it down like he hadn’t eaten for days. “My beloved husband’s text didn’t get into specifics.”
Eliza was glad for the conversational detour. It meant she didn’t have to answer Fisher’s question.
After she’d given Samantha the Cliff’s Notes version of Hannah’s predicament, Samantha raised an eyebrow and fed Peanut another slice of pepperoni. “I can see why you’re jumpy. Thisisa fine mess.”
“When that cat has explosive diarrhea, I’m telling Becky she has you to thank,” Sam warned.
“Be my guest.” Samantha shrugged. “She doesn’t frighten me like she does all of you.”
“She’snot the one we’re afraid of,” Sam insisted with a grimace. “It’s the man she’s married to.”
“Boss?” Samantha rolled her eyes. “Please. He’s the biggest teddy bear there is.”
“Right.” Fisher shook his head. “A big ol’ teddy bear with a buzz cut and a bad attitude.”
“He doesn’t have a bad attitude,” Samantha argued. “He just has a low tolerance for bullshit.”
Plus, he has a habit of spinning his KA-BAR on his desk. And it makes everyone with a working brain cell decidedly uncomfortable,Eliza thought.
It was no secret Frank “Boss” Knight could hit a target twenty yards away with little more than a flick of his wrist. Add that to his old-school military man gruffness and the combination was…intimidating. To say the least.
“Do you see—”
“Yeah. Just let me—”
Ozzie’s and Hannah’s shorthand distracted the group from their conversation and all heads turned toward the pair at the computer station. It was obvious by the change in Ozzie’s posture and the way Hannah scooted closer to her keyboard they’d found something in that dark and mysterious dimension known as the World Wide Web.
“There!” Ozzie crowed, pushing away from the desk and pointing at his screen. “You were right. Your report was caught and flushed before it ever made it over the first firewall.”
“Can you tellwhointercepted it?” Hannah was still rattling away at her station. “Because I can’t—”
She stopped and stared hard at her monitor. Eliza waited with the others, breath bated, to see how the drama would play out.
