Not that it was any of his business. There were obviously no rules about dating co-workers considering Reese and Brantley had been together since the inception of the task force.
But Becs and Evan? For some reason, Reese couldn’t see it. Probably had something to do with the fact that Evan Vaughn was a hardened-by-life former homicide detective, and Becs … well, she was nine years younger than him and looked far too sweet for a guy with so many rough edges. She did, however, seem to have a fascination with Luca Switzer, although Reese didn’t think it was reciprocated.
Shaking off his mental confusion, Reese focused back on the task at hand. What these people did on their own time wasn’t any concern of his.
“All right then,” Brantley said firmly. “If there aren’t any questions or details you want hashed out, let’s get on the road.”
Reese felt that uncomfortable churn in his gut once again, but he shoved it away. He was determined to take a page from Brantley’s playbook and not let the past dictate his future.
He only hoped that wasn’t easier said than done.
Chapter Thirteen
“You mind if I ride up withyou?”
Evan disconnected the call to his mother to see Slade moving toward him. He didn’t know why the guy was asking when Evan had already assumed he would be tagging along. They’d partnered up because they worked well together, and for the most part, Evan didn’t mind Slade’s company.
“Yeah,” he told Slade. “You can ride with me.”
“Did you have tothinkabout that?” Slade said with a mischievous smirk.
Evan leaned back in his desk chair. “What? No.”
“Are you sure?” Slade glanced over at Becs, then back to him. “’Cuz I don’t wanna be the third wheel.”
“Oh, shut up. There are no third wheels,” he grumbled. Like he said, they worked wellfor the most part.It went without saying that he had to deal with Slade’s constant ribbing.
“That’s not entirely true.” Slade nodded toward the upper floor. “If I asked to go with JJ and Baz”—he canted his head dramatically—“third wheel.” He looked toward the door. “Or if I asked Brantley”—he mimicked the same head tilt—“third wheel.” He smiled wickedly. “Now I’m startin’ to wonder if you and—”
“Shut up,” Evan hissed, glaring daggers at him. “No. Third. Wheel.”
Slade chuckled, that good-ol’-boy sound causing Becs to look up from what she’d been doing on her computer. She smiled sweetly, as though wishing she knew what the joke was. Evan instantly looked away, feeling like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar.
He’d been expecting the harassment, he just hadn’t been sure who would dish it out first. Based on the looks he’d garnered when Becs had asked him about her daughter staying at his house, everyone was thinking it. Of course, everyone was dead wrong in their assumptions. Regardless of what it looked like, Evan was not having some secretive affair with Rebecca Richter. They were friends, nothing more. Yes, her daughter, Carly, had come over to play with Sophia many times since he’d first started working for the task force, spent the night a few times even, but Evan was not mixing it up with Becs. She was a sweet, kind-hearted young woman, one he respected and genuinely liked, which meant she was completely off-limits.
“Nothin’s up with you two?”
He should’ve known Slade was going to press the issue. The man was nothing if not nosy as fuck, a trait Evan didn’t usually mind. And he wouldn’t now if it weren’t for the fact that Evan’s charade was hinged on the fact that no one learned the truth: that Becs was the first woman who had caught his full, undivided attention since his wife, God rest her soul.
From the first day he laid eyes on the woman, he’d realized there was something about her that struck a nerve within him. A nerve he honestly hadn’t expected to ever hear from again. For years, he’d been content to indulge in one-night stands to sate the biological urges that plagued him, but even those had been few and far between. Not to mention completely absent since meeting Becs.
“Don’t you need to go home and pack?” Evan said, closing the lid on his laptop. “I’ll swing by and pick you up after I get things settled with Sophia.”
Slade exhaled as though he was put out by being denied his fact-finding quest. “Fine.”
Shaking his head, he waited until Slade left, then grabbed his cell phone and pushed to his feet. He felt Luca’s eyes follow him as he strolled toward Becs’s desk.
“You need a ride to Dallas?” he offered, thrusting his hands in his pockets because he didn’t know what else to do with them.
She peered up at him with eyes so blue they reminded him of the Caribbean, so clear and so vibrant it was mesmerizing. Her strawberry-blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a sweep of bangs brushing across her forehead, her flawless skin so pale he wanted to ask her if she wore sunscreen every day. In a word, she was beautiful, and for whatever reason, just looking at her did weird things to his insides.
Becs smiled sweetly. “I was gonna ride up with Elana and Holly, but thank you for offering.”
He nodded. “Did you get things squared away with my mother?”
Another smile. “I did. She said she’d be happy to watch Carly. Thank you for that, by the way. I know the girls’ll have a good time.”
That they would. The last time Carly had stayed over, Sophia had informed him they were now best friends forever. At seven—almost eight, as she liked to remind him—he wasn’t sure how his daughter could predict something like that, but he didn’t question it. He happened to be quite fond of Carly Richter, the cute little nine-year-old who loved all the same things Sophia did.
