“Emotion? Look who’s talking.” He shook his head, frustration cutting lines into the sides of his mouth. “Every part of your life is in order, except for me. So yeah, you’re in for a tumble with me so long as it says safe, but not anything serious.”
She couldn’t believe they were having this ridiculous confrontation. After everything they’d both been through, he wanted to be an ass? Oh, her emotions felt all over the board, but she didn’t care. “Serious? You’re the wham-bam-and-see-ya guy.”
“Right. Like you’re all in if I am. A guy who doesn’t fit the mold of what you want. Stop and think, Nari. Who do you see yourself with someday?” When she didn’t say anything, triumph filled his gaze. “Yeah. Another government agent, one climbing the ranks, one who’s acceptable.”
“You need to get hold of your anger issues, jackass,” she sputtered, going to him and poking her finger into his hard gut for emphasis. “Everything you do is fueled by anger, and now that you aren’t drinking a ton of booze to dull it, it’s going to win if you don’t do something.”
His nostrils flared. “Maybe so. I’m definitely feeling anger right now. But at least I don’t have daddy issues and I’m not trying to prove myself constantly to people who don’t deserve my loyalty.”
She saw red and punched out.
He caught her hand, almost too easily. “Try again, princess.” Pivoting, he put her against the bed.
Oh, he was going to get it. She ducked and threw her shoulder into his gut, twisting to toss him over her head. He flew and landed, grabbing her arm at the last minute to pull her down with him.
She landed on him and he rolled them both over, ducking successive punches.
“Hey.” Wolfe poked his head into the bedroom.
Nari paused in the midst of smashing both hands against Angus’s ears and looked up, panting wildly. Her mind was fuzzy and her body outrageously turned on. Big-time. “Hey,” she whispered.
Angus was on top of her and he peered over his shoulder, his hands on either side of her body. His erection was clearly visible against his zipper. “Hey.” His voice was a low rumble.
Wolfe studied them both. “I brought lattes. You guys want to keep fighting each other or do you want to come help us fight a killer?”
Angus pushed himself to his feet and hauled her up with a hand around her biceps. “Good point.”
Nari sucked in air, fury and embarrassment heating her entire head. “Yes. Thank you.”
Wolfe grinned, his eyes firing. “If you ask me, you two should just fuck and get it over with. Stop this fighting foreplay thing you have going on.”
“Nobody asked you,” Angus growled.
Wolfe shrugged. “Your loss.” He disappeared to the hallway and shut the door.
Nari tried to control her breathing and heartbeat, staring at the metal door. Amusement bubbled through the anger inside her.
Angus coughed and then let it turn into a chuckle. “Guess we’ve fooled everyone.”
She let her body relax, enjoying the moment of secrecy with Angus.
“We just need to get to work,” Angus said. “It was a long and frustrating night, and I should’ve gotten more sleep.”
“Me too.” She walked toward the bathroom, not knowing what else to say.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not.” The guy had taken special care to avoid her bruises and had even pulled her to land on him rather than the floor. Angus Force would break his own arm before he hurt a woman. “Let me get ready really quickly and then I’ll be out.” She didn’t wait for his response before shutting the door and leaning against it. What the heck was wrong with her?
* * *
Angus stared at the murder board he’d set up on one brick wall in Jethro’s office area. He had freaking lost his damn mind with Nari. What was wrong with him?
Jethro had placed a lid on the pool table earlier, and they’d spread out all the case files with barstools surrounding it.
Wolfe sat on one, happily gulping down more sugar than a human body could probably process in one day. He sat up when Nari entered the room. “Yours is on the table with the pink sprinkles. I figured you’d want some pink today.”
Angus gestured toward a plate of pastries. “Apparently Pippa spent all night baking.”
