Jack made a mental note to thank his favorite stunt coordinator for this extremely satisfying moment. The hot badass cop was flat on her back, in the exact same position he’d been in a few moments earlier. She looked just as furious about it as he’d been, but she wasn’t hiding it quite as well.
“Get the fuck off me or you’ll regret it,” she said in a deadly tone of voice.
He believed her, and obeyed. Hell, she was an actual officer and he just played one on TV. Besides, he didn’t mean her any harm. He just wanted to know what was going on. Why was a police officer poking around this suite? Why hadn’t she led with the fact that she was a cop?
So far, he’d gotten nowhere with the police. Maybe that was about to change.
Once Tina Chen had jumped to her feet and brushed herself off, he tried another approach. As she faced him with arms crossed, looking excessively intimidating for someone her size, he aimed his friendliest smile at her, the fake one he pulled out for network executives.
“How about we start over, now that we’re even?”
“We’re not even,” she snapped. “I could have flipped you off me in two seconds. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Again, he believed her. As an actor, he understood body language. Before he’d gotten the role of Denver Black, he’d worked in Army intelligence, so he recognized a leader when he saw one. His quickie assessment was that Tina Chen was highly competent, skilled, capable, probably a workaholic, driven, most likely single because she hadn’t slowed down long enough to have a relationship, but also sexy as hell in all that black. Her ink-black hair was in a ponytail because that was probably the easiest way to deal with it. Her face—well, he could look at that face for a long time and not get tired of it. It wasn’t that she was beautiful, exactly, although he found her so. More than that, it was interesting. Sort of wise-cracky and smart-assy.
“That’s fair. Thank you for that.”
Did his de-escalation have any effect on her stiff posture? Not that he could see.
Maybe he should start by putting his cards on the table. One card, anyway. Not all of them.
“As you noticed, I’m not here with a bride. I’m not married. I booked this suite because I’m looking for someone.”
A spark of interest showed in her narrowed gaze. “Seth Baker?”
“Do you know him?” he asked hopefully.
“Nope. Never heard the name.”
Fuck. His distant hope that she would also be on the trail of that mother-effer faded away. Then again, Seth Baker was such a scammer, he could have used other names.
“Why are you looking for him, and why here?” she asked.
“Maybe you should share something with me first.”
“Sure. I like piña coladas and walks on the beach,” she snapped. “Now tell me about this Seth Baker.”
He laughed, appreciating her quick sense of humor even through his frustration.
“To start with, when did he stay here?”
“I’m not sure he did. I’m following up on a very sketchy lead.”
Tina reached into her pocket, and he took an involuntary step back.
“I’m not going to shoot you,” she said impatiently. “If I was, I would have done it already.”
Good point. He relaxed as she pulled out her phone. She stepped toward him to show him a selfie of a man cheek to cheek with a blond woman. “Is that Seth Baker?”
He studied the photo, then pulled out his own phone. He tapped on a photo to bring it full-screen, and compared the two. “I guess it could be,” he finally said.
Tina was doing the same side-by-side comparison. “No glasses, different hair styling, but they could definitely be the same person. What’s your connection with him? Why are you looking for him?”
She sounded more serious now, as if all the comedy had drained from the situation. Good. He could work with that.
“My sister was seeing him, and now she’s missing. I don’t know if he’s involved or not, but my gut tells me he is. Who’s that woman in the photo?”
“She’s my client, and I don’t feel comfortable sharing any details without her permission.”
