The diamond on Miss Meadows’s left hand glinted when she absently picked at a loose thread on the hospital blanket. Julia wondered if Blue Eyes had been the one to put it there.
Speaking of…
“Britt what?” She regarded the man expectantly.
“Rollins,” he was quick to reply. “Sergeant Britt Rollins, 75thRanger Regiment. Retired.”
Aw, that explains the edge of danger. Plus, he has the perfect posture of a military man.
“And I’m Fisher Wakefield.” The lighter-haired giant who’d been silently taking in the exchange stepped forward to shake her hand. His big mitt engulfed hers. His palm was warm and dry, hard with calluses.
He worked with his hands. That much was obvious. And the eagle feather tattoo peeking from the bottom of his short-sleeve T-shirt matched the one Sergeant Rollins sported.
Were they in the same regiment? Is the tattoo a symbol of their unit?
Julia filed the information away for later. She never knew what might be important. Something that seemed insignificant in the moment could be the thing that solved the case, or bagged the suspect, or turned out to be the piece of evidence to sway a jury.
Giving into propriety, Sergeant Rollins followed the giant’s example and stepped forward to shake. Although he offered his hand to Dillan before he offered it to her.
A calculated slight?Her eyes narrowed in consideration.
All thoughts zapped right out of her head, however, the instant his fingers curled around hers. Literally. Static buildup had a tiny lightning bolt arching between their palms.
Simple physics, she told herself, noting the thickness of his palm inside her own, the strength of his grip.
A brief image of what it would feel like if he ran his hand up her arm to gently cup her cheeks flashed through her head, shocking her with its vividness. And its inappropriateness.
Did he notice how quickly she dropped his hand?
Oh, he noticed.
The slow smirk that spread across his face told her as much.
She hated that smirk. She hated it worse that it suited him. And what she hated most? That she was thinking about him at all.
She should be concentrating on the case. On this interview.
Blaming her recent dating dry spell on her lapse, she gave herself a silent pep talk.Tell your hormones to hit the road and focus on the work, Jules.
“I promise we won’t take up too much of your time tonight, Miss Meadows,” she said at the same instant Dillan stepped forward and announced, “We just need to ask you some questions about what happened at the senator’s house while the answers are still fresh in your mind.”
What’s that crunching sound?
Oh, right. Those were Julia’s back molars.
Dillan Douglas hadn’t kept it a secret that he’d been displeased when she’d been promoted over him. In fact, he’d thrown aman fit. Which was like a toddler fit when it came to the amount of pouting but differed in the amount of ear-blistering curse words involved.
He’d managed to get his emotions under control in the two days since her new position had been announced. He no longer shot her venomous looks or sneeringly referred to her asOh Captain, My Captain.But she suffered no illusions that he would not try his best to take over this case from her.
It wasn’t even that he thought she couldn’t do the job. It was simply that, despite her stellar track record as a junior agent, he assumed he could do it better.
Perhaps his confidence came from having an Ivy League degree. Or maybe it came from spending his entire life being treated like the king of the world simply because he’d been gifted with good looks and a Greek statue’s physique. Or, more likely, it came from being a legacy hire—his father and grandfather had been feds before him.
She’d heard him say more than once,“Being a good agent runs in my blood.”And, of course, the notion thatshe, the daughter of a Southside fireman and a graduate from Western Illinois University, might actually be better than him at…well…anythinghad never crossed his mind.
Shewasbetter than him, just FYI. She could outshoot him, outscore him on their fitness exams, and it was no secret she was the better interviewer.
Dillan was too arrogant. Too brash. Toopushy. It put witnesses and potential suspects off.
