“Special Agent Landry,” I amend, internally cursing myself for the slipup. He strolls right past me, poking his head into the bathroom then the main area. “You don’t need to babysit me,” I remind him.
“I’m not. I’m checking the place out. Might be the nicest room I’ve ever stayed in.” He drops to sit on the end of one of the beds.
I look around, noting it’s nothing special, before his words sink in. I narrow my eyes. “You should probably get back to your car before they tow it.”
“Nah, the valet parked it, or he will anyway. Speaking of….” He gets up to walk over to the little table between the beds and picks up the phone before examining the receiver. Boone hits a button or two. “Hey, I just checked in. Yeah, that’s me. Room 1137, last name Landry. Keys are in it. Yup, thanks.”
He hangs up the phone, and I work on closing my mouth before he can turn around to see me gaping. “What are you doing?” I start to pace in the small area in front of the beds.
“Making sure my car doesn’t get towed. Thanks for reminding me.” He sits back down on the bed.
“I mean why are you having them park it?”
He tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes as he examines me. I freeze, remembering just who and what he is. He’s probably analyzing everything I do. “I’d like to talk about what happened.” His tone makes it seem like he’s asking if that’s okay, but I doubt I have a choice.
“And if I say I don’t want to talk about it?”
He shrugs one big shoulder before kicking off his shoes and lifting his legs to rest on the bed. “Then I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
How can that be exactly what I want to hear and make me mad at the same time? “Fine, tell me what you want to say.” I cross my arms over my chest then drop them when I realize how defensive the posture is.
Boone lifts one thick blond eyebrow, proving he sees way too much. “First, I want you to know me working on Hayzel’s case isn’t predicated by what happens between us. That’s not how I work.”
“Okay,” I agree bullishly, because as much as I thought that was what I wanted to hear, apparently, it’s not.
“Second… Can you sit down?”
I look around, seeing the few options I have, and take the club chair near the window. It puts the most distance between us, and I fear I need it. I’m not sure where this is going.
“Second?” I prompt when he doesn’t continue.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t really know where to start. It went from zero to sixty really fast.”
That doesn’t sound encouraging.
“You didn’t say anything last night,” he remarks, reminding me about the text.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Were you planning on telling me you went through my phone?”
“Wait a minute.” I hold up my hands. “I didn’t go through your phone. Iaccidently, whether you believe me or not, opened a notification. I didn’t know what to say to Liv because everything I typed out seemed like it was too much, but not enough at the same time, so I was rubbing my finger across the screen to keep it awake while I was thinking.”
“Okay,” he concedes, but I still don’t think he really believes me. “Even if that were the case, you admitted you went back and read through the old messages.”
“I did, and I’m going to be really honest here. The only reason I feel even remotely bad is because I know your phone contains sensitive stuff, but that message, the first message, wasn’t work related, nor were the ones above it. I mean, you wouldn’t have been curious if you saw something like that on my phone right after…” I don’t say we just had sex, because that doesn’t seem like a big enough word, especially considering the situation. I told him I wanted more than a romp.
Boone looks away, but it doesn’t hide the scowl on his face. “The messages were old,” he defends, avoiding answering my question.
“Old? By hours?”
“Not those. I said no to that. I meant the ones from before.” He grips the back of his neck, still not making eye contact with me. He may be the expert, but I know guilt when I see it.
“You didn’t say no. You asked for a rain check.”
Boone winces ever so slightly. “Okay, yeah, I can see how you would think that was bad.”
“HowIwould think that was bad? Implying you don’t or wouldn’t if you were in my shoes?”
