He laughed.“Yeah, babe.You totally would.”Callum kissed her again, smacked her ass, and grabbed his phone.“I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
Well, that wasn’t planned.
There were countless reasons Callum should have considered kissing Grace a mistake.
He didn’t agree with a single one of them.He had resisted kissing Grace for years, and look where that had gotten them.And what a kiss.Kissing her was better than anything his vivid imagination had conjured up, and some of those fantasies would melt a lesser man to the ground.
Callum dropped onto the couch in the living room.The floorboards creaked above him.Grace was pacing, probably freaking out, and his remaining on this couch took more willpower than he knew he had.
Fuck.
This would complicate the assignment.He struggled to find a reason to care.It was already complicated.What was one more strange development when Grace had returned from the dead?
He blew out a breath and returned Vivian’s call.“Sorry about that.”
“Everything okay?”
His attention was pulled toward the ceiling and the sound of Grace pacing.“Better than I expected.”
“Good.We were on the right path,” Vivian said.“The attorney general’s office wants an informal chat before what is likely going to be an impaneled grand jury.”
“That’s what we thought.”
“Yes.Though they won’t confirm it.So, it’s conjecture and confidential, and we’re going to keep that to ourselves.”
“I don’t know who we would tell.”
“We’ll make arrangements for the meeting.It’ll be someplace low-stakes.Maybe a field office or one of those corporate office rentals.If they hear what they like, then we’ll move on to formalized discussions and the legal maneuvering.”
“She’ll need her attorney present.”
“Everyone agrees with that, and our office will coordinate schedules.You just need to have her there when and where it’s agreed upon.”
“She’ll have questions.”
“Given what you and Dean figured out about her phone, and likely her email, we all have questions.Once we get a handle on the communication issues, we’ll update you.She should act as though she’s unaware.And stay put.If there’s not a reason to leave, don’t; otherwise, Marino will get wind of you.”
“Stay put like a sitting duck?”
“If he had wanted to take her, he would have made his move.Thought we had agreed about that?”
He nodded to himself.“Yeah, yeah.You’re right.”
“Anything else I need to know, Hale?”
“Like what?”
“If I knew that, I would have asked you directly.Wouldn’t I?”
“There’s nothing else to share.”
“We’ll talk again after Dean finds better answers.”Vivian sighed.“You know, I gotta tell you.I didn’t think this would turn into the project that it’s becoming.”
“You and me both, Viv.”
Callum ended the call and pushed off the couch.He’d update Grace, and maybe they could grab lunch.Alicia had told him to eat whatever he wanted from her fully stocked kitchen, but he needed to get out of the house.Fresh air and more space would do him good.
Grace hurried down the stairs, chin up and hand gesturing, ready to make a point.He knew that face and body language.He was about to hear her give him the riot act.That was the Grace he’d always known.He crossed his arms and almost hid his grin.
