The bedroom door opened and I tensed. Then Aiden walked inside.
I blinked once and then again. “I thought we weren’t supposed to see each other,” I whispered, trying to sort out the cornucopia of feelings slamming through me.
He shut the door and kicked off motorcycle boots. “I took backroads and made sure nobody followed me.” He shucked his light jacket and walked over to the blinds to securely shut them. “Rumor has it you had a rough day that included a panic attack outside the police station.”
I drank him in, although he was dressed in his usual clothing. “Did you and Sasha agree to have a baby?”
His head jerked. “What? How did you know about that?”
My body jolted like I’d been punched in the solar plexus. Internal pain was worse than a punch, sometimes. My heart ached. “It’s true?”
He scrubbed a rough hand through his thick hair and sat at the edge of my bed. “I guess. Kind of. Three years ago, when we were on assignment, we agreed to have a kid if neither of us were with anybody by the time we turned forty. That’s eight years away for me. It wasn’t a serious agreement or anything, and we were just goofing off talking about it.”
I pushed away the second panic attack for the day. “So you didn’t recommit to the idea when she stayed the night at your apartment at the Lordes complex?”
“No.” He frowned and his jaw hardened. “Of course not. Who told you that?”
I gave him all the details about the interview with the FBI agent and federal prosecutor. “Somehow, the guy thinks you and Sasha had a new plan. Or he was just lying to me and fishing for information.”
Aiden’s eyes blazed a raw blue. “I want to know who gave him that information. Sasha and I didn’t talk about it when she stayed at the apartment the other night.” He caught my look. “I slept on the sofa, Angel. You have to know that.”
I did deep down. At the same time, we’d only been dating for a little while, and it’s not like we’d kept in touch before that. He’d skipped town at eighteen, and I’d only been thirteen at the time. How well did I really know him? Yeah, I trusted him. “I believe you. Who would know about that issue?” I didn’t even want to say the word baby in regard to Aiden and anybody else.
He shook his head. “We joked about it on assignment during a poker game. Two other agents were there.”
“Was one a friend of Sasha’s?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He stood and pulled his shirt over his head. “Agent Lila Nelson was there, and she and Sasha were good friends. We were all joking.”
That didn’t matter. Stewart was willing to use anything against me. “Apparently the investigators on this have dug into both your and Sasha’s pasts and even talked to this Lila.” There had to be a case or two where an actual criminal had threatened them. “I’m not sure what to do right now.”
Except look at his broad and nicely defined chest.
He pulled his belt free.
My breath quickened, but the headache looming over me wouldn’t let go.
Then he ditched his jeans and socks before lifting the covers. “Scoot over.”
I moved over. “Should you be here?”
“No.” He slid beneath the covers and pulled me into his side. “I should not be here, but I wasn’t tracked, so I’m staying.”
I snuggled into his heat, feeling centered for the first time all day. “They can track phones, you know.” Even the bad guys could track a GPS.
“My phone is in the apartment at the complex,” he murmured against my hair, looking at the screen. “You’re watching the baking show where they compete against each other?” He leaned over me to grab the remote and turn up the volume a few notches. “I love this show.”
I stilled. “You watch this show?”
“Sometimes. I’m hoping that kid Nelson wins this time.” He settled down more comfortably around me. “Would it help if I told you not to worry about your case?”
“Not unless you could give me a concrete reason that I shouldn’t worry,” I admitted. “When Stewart laid out the evidence against me, it was pretty convincing. I can see a jury believing the narrative.” It was all so crazy. I’d never kill anybody in cold blood. “I believe in the legal system, but I can’t stop thinking that it might go wrong. You know?” The idea of my going to prison was unthinkable.
Yet an assistant attorney general was thinking all about it.
“Yeah.” Aiden pressed a kiss to my temple. “We’re unofficially investigating Sasha’s death while also working on the Barensky case. So far, we don’t have anything, and I haven’t tied her death to this current mission. If Barensky knows about us, he’s not showing it.”
I rolled over to face him and gathered the pillow to support my neck. “How did it go with Barensky’s two guys you met with at the apartment complex? They looked like golfers.”
