Page 46 of The Cost of Silence

“Hey,” she says into the phone. “Yeah… I’m okay. I promise…. No really, I’m—”

Her eyes flick to mine again.

My jaw clenches.

She turns away slightly, her voice quieting, and something territorial and irrational stirs in my blood.

I hate it. I hate how it feels. I hate that I feel it at all.

“I’m sure, Jamie, but thank you for the offer. I appreciate it.” A pause as she listens to him speak, a small smile flitting on her pillowy lips. “Yes, I’ll call you in a few days.”

She fucking won’t be. I’ll string that bastard up by his balls first.

She hangs up after a moment, cheeks slightly pink. “Sorry. A friend from work.”

“Hmm.” It’s all I trust myself with.

She gives me a look, curious, almost amused, and I know she noticed.

“Jealous?” she teases lightly.

“No.” Too fast, too flat. She arches a brow. “Why would I be jealous? We’re nothing to each other.”

Christ. The second I see the light fall from her eyes at my harsh words, I want to kick my own ass. What a fucking dick. But then that’s who I am. It’s better she gets used to it. “Focus,” I snap lightly, more at myself than her. “Sit. We’re going through what you remember from your notes, from the article, from the tip you got eighteen months ago.”

She moves to the island, one hand braced against the stool as she lowers herself carefully. I take my seat beside her, close enough that her knee almost brushes mine.

Almost.

I open my laptop.

She leans in, but I can feel her retreat from me. I hurt her feelings. I never would have cared before but now I find myself wanting to fix it.

Her shoulder brushes my arm, and instead of pulling away like I should, I lean in slightly, increasing the pressure. Her hair smells like citrus and clean skin and something warm that shouldn’t be affecting me this fucking much.

She starts talking quietly, focused, all business, tracing lines between old interviews, half-remembered comments, money trails she couldn’t follow fully because she didn’t have the access her job would allow.

Her voice is soft but sharp, her mind quick, making connections faster than I can type. And the longer we sitshoulder-to-shoulder, the more aware I become of the heat of her body.

At one point, she shifts closer to point at the screen, and her thigh presses against mine. Just for a moment. Just long enough to make heat crawl through me. I don’t move and neither does she.

But my cock goes hard as steel in my pants.Fuck.

“Does that fit what you know?” she asks, looking up at me through her lashes.

I stare at her mouth for a second too long before forcing my eyes back to the screen. “It fits.”

“Then what aren’t you telling me?”

Smart girl.

Too smart.

“Pieces that you aren’t ready for,” I say quietly. “Pieces that could get you killed if you repeat them.”

She watches me, searching for something. I let her look, but not too deep.

“I lost everything in that apartment,” she murmurs suddenly. “Everything that smelled like home. And it’s stupid, but I keep thinking about my dad’s watch and my mom’s ugly angel statue. The Christmas ornaments I’ve collected over the years—”