Alina nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t realize what I was doing, and by the time I did, it was too late to do anything about it. Then last night, Larson called and said Dick sent some guys to pay him a visit. They roughed Larson up and scared the hell out of his autistic kid. I felt like crap knowing it was my fault, but then felt ten times worse when I saw the look in Trevor’s eyes. He didn’t say anything, but he knows it was me. I feel like I betrayed him.”
Hell, she did betray him.
Kathy considered that. “Well, the first thing you need to do is stop talking to Dick. Second, talk to Trevor, and tell him exactly how you feel. Tell him that Dick duped you into spying on him and that you had no intention of betraying him.”
Alina almost laughed at the simplicity of Kathy’s plan. Leave it up to her friend to uncomplicate the situation and say what needed to be said. Considering the way the tension left her body the moment she heard her friend’s idea, Kathy was probably right on.
“You’re suggesting I blow off my boss’s calls? Ignore the man who signs my paycheck?”
“I remember you telling me that you always felt there was something off about Wade,” Kathy said. “That your instincts had screamed at you for months there was something sideways about him. You were furious you’d let your head overrule your instincts and promised me you’d never do anything like that again.”
Alina sighed. She vaguely remembered that late-night conversation with Kathy and the promise she’d made. Right now, those instincts were telling her Trevor wasn’t the bad guy in this equation. If anyone was—besides Dick and Thorn—it was her.
She nodded. “You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right,” Kathy said. “If talking to Dick feels wrong, it is. Tell the guy the battery on your cell phone died or that you dropped it in the garbage disposal. It worked for that quarterback. It’ll work for you.”
“It didn’t really work for him, Kathy,” Alina pointed out. “He was found guilty, got suspended, and lost millions of dollars in pay.”
“Well, yeah, I guess. You don’t have millions of dollars, and it’s not like your boss can be as evil as the football commissioner, so you should be fine.” Kathy shrugged. “Besides, you lie much better than that cute quarterback. His face is too honest to pull off a good one.”
Alina laughed at the image of Dick losing his mind when she told him she missed his calls because her phone fell in the garbage disposal. But her amusement disappeared as another concern took center stage.
She’d lain awake a long time last night trying to understand why she’d been so strongly affected by a simple kiss. She’d known since her first day on the job that she and Trevor had some kind of connection. And that connection was getting stronger than she’d ever experienced with any other partner or team member she’d ever had.
Who the heck was she kidding? The thoughts she’d been having about Trevor last night weren’t things she’d ever thought about any teammate she’d ever had. Those had been I-want-to-get-you-naked-and-wrestle-with-you-on-the-floor kinds of thoughts.
“Earth to Alina.”
Alina jerked out of her musings to see Kathy waving her hand in front of her face. “Sorry.”
“You’ve been sitting there grinning like an idiot for the past two minutes,” Kathy said. “What’s so funny?”
On the floor, Molly and Katelyn seemed interested in knowing the answer to that, too. They’d stopped playing with each other and were eyeing her curiously.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said.
“Don’t give me that,” Kathy said. “I’ve known you long enough to recognize when you’re hiding something.”
Alina picked a nonexistent piece of lint off her pantsuit. “It’s possible I’m starting to feel things for Trevor that I shouldn’t necessarily feel for my work partner.”
Kathy gaped at her. “Wait a minute. Are you saying you’re falling for him romantically? I mean, not that I blame you. Trevor is definitely hot. I haven’t seen abs like that since the Chippendales tour came to town. And he’s attractive as sin. Like that guy on that show.”
“What show?” Alina asked, knowing she shouldn’t.
Her friend was always saying someone looked like an actor on TV or in the movies, but she could never remember the actor’s name, so it usually devolved into a big game of twenty questions.
“You know, the one on the Syfy channel.”
Alina sighed. “Kathy, the Syfy channel has a lot of shows.”
Her friend waved her hand. “I don’t know the name of it. I don’t think it’s on anymore, but I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. It was the show about the people who go through the gate in time. They’re surrounded by water, and there are spaceships and soul-sucking aliens with white dreadlocks. He was the good-looking one with the quirky smile.”
Alina had absolutely no idea what show Kathy was referring to, much less what guy. Her work schedule over the years hadn’t left her a lot of time to watch TV. But she let it go. The name of the show would pop into her friend’s head at some point.
“Okay, regardless of which movie or TV star you think Trevor looks like, I’m not falling for him romantically.”
Kathy looked doubtful. “You sure?”
