She was struggling to process what he was doing there.
He pulled out the chair beside him. “Sit with me.”
She set her things on the table, eased down beside him.
“This one’s turkey. There’s tuna. This is ham.” He slid everything over to her.
She took the turkey sandwich. “What do I owe you?”
That made him smile. “I’ll add it to your tab.” Then, he pushed out of the chair. “Two secs.” He left the conference room.
Did he just say two sex?
She chugged down a shaky breath.
He didn’t say sex. This is work. There’s no sex at work. What is he even doing here?
She unwrapped the sandwich as he sauntered back into the room. Electricity surged through her when his gaze found hers.
He set a bottle of water on the table, twisted the top, and set it near her sandwich. “For you.”
She melted. “Thank you.” Then, she found her voice. “How’s your family?”
“Not good,” he said.
Slash walked in. “Hey, babe, I heard you had food.” She picked the tuna. “What are you two kids workin’ on?”
“Nothing.” Brit flicked her gaze to Rebel. “Ohgod.”
He’s my new partner. Is he my mentor? He’s not in ALPHA…is he?
“You okay?” Slash asked her.
Rebel bit into a crispy red apple, the crunch jarring her back to the moment.
More laid back he could not have looked.
“I don’t know,” Brit replied.
“Well, I hope you figure it out.” Slash regarded Rebel. “Good seeing you today. You did a kickass job.” She held up the sandwich. “Thanks for this.”
As she was leaving, Cooper entered the room, shut the door. “Britain, you and Rebel are working the Alphabet Killer case together. It’s an active-threat case, so it’s the only case I’m assigning you. Work ‘round the clock on this. We should be much farther along. I made the mistake of assuming everyone here is self-motivated. That’s on me. Addison said she’d love to be your mentor, so reach out to her as needed. Britain, you have access to this case. Rebel, you have access to everything. If that becomes a problem, I can open up access for Britain.”
“Give her everything she might need to get this done,” Rebel said. “I don’t want her dependent on me for anything.”
“Maybe you should be running ALPHA,” Cooper said, and both men laughed.
Brit felt like she’d been transported to some alien planet. What was Rebel even doing there, and how in the hell did he have access toeverything?
“You two need to eat, sleep, and breathe this case,” Cooper stated. “There is tremendous pressure to find the unsub. “Days, nights, weekends. Rebel, I know you’re stretched thin?—”
“We got this,” Rebel said.
“Thank you.” Cooper left the conference room, shutting the door behind him.
“This can’t be happening,” she murmured, her gaze drilling into his.
“Oh, it’s happenin’, darlin’. It’s gonna be you and me—twenty-four-seven—until we find the motherfucker. Nonstop, baby. You. And. Me.
