Is she certifiably insane? Or. . .?
“Play hard to get.”
“What?” Isaac’s high tone reveals he thinks I’m the only crazy lady he’s dealing with.
“Men aren’t the only ones who like being challenged. Play hard to get. If she wants you, she’ll hunt you down. If she doesn’t, you’re being played.”
He laughs, amused by the fret in my tone. I don’t care if he thinks my advice is shit; if he follows it for a day or two, I’ll have enough time to launch Hunter into action. If Isabelle is who she says she is, I’ll eat humble pie and give Isaac two thumbs up on his endeavor to bed her. But if she’s a smoke and mirror trick a certain member at the Federal Bureau of Investigation devised to take down Isaac, she’s hours away from having her flame extinguished with my four-inch stiletto.
“Didn’t Theresa’s ruses teach you anything, Isaac?”
My snarky comment steals the wind from Isaac’s lungs as quickly as it snatches his laughter. I don’t like hitting him below the belt, but it is my job to protect him, so if the occasional whack is needed to ensure I do my job to the best of my ability, that’s what I’ll do.
“Isabelle is nothing like Theresa.”
The protectiveness in his tone shocks me, but not enough to stop me from saying, “You can’t say that since you knownothingabout her.”
He growls. “Sometimes you have to take people at face value, Regan. Not everyone is out to destroy you.”
His comment stabs my heart, but it also raises my bitch hackles. “Uh-huh, but only a moron wouldn’t attempt to connect the dots. Isabelle arrived at Ravenshoe at the exact time you discovered the FBI was tailing you. It could be a coincidence, but that’s a bitter pill to swallow when I’m talking to a man who believes coincidences are only claimed by fools and liars.”
A stretch of silence passes between us. It is so dense, only Axel sucking on his hand as he announces his hunger is heard.
“Give me a day, Isaac. If I’m wrong, I’ll apologize to Isabelle and never speak a bad word about her again, but I need a day.”
He remains quiet. I want to pretend it is because he’s considering my request, but I know Isaac as well as he knows me. He’s not contemplating; he’s weighing what his options are if my hunch is true. If that doesn’t prove how deep Isabelle has crawled under his skin, nothing will.
Isaac lives, breathes, and sleeps for his empire. He doesn’t put it at risk for anyone. . . except perhaps her.
Twelve
Alex
“How many agents have seen this?”
Reid, a recently recruited agent to my division, scrubs his hand along his prickly jaw before murmuring. “None but me.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, untrusting of the waver in his tone.
He doesn’t balk at my sneer like his fellow comrades. He merely smirks. “I’m certain. Isaac lost the surveillance van as he generally does each evening, but I had the means to keep up with him.” He taps his black motorcycle boots together like Dorothy from theWizard of Oz. “The house they’re sitting in front of is registered to a recently—”
“Retired police officer. Yeah, I’m aware,” I cut him off, well versed on all aspects of Isabelle’s life.
Reid’s dark brows shoot up high on his face, but he remains as quiet as a church mouse.
“Is this all that happened? Just a kiss?”
I dump a surveillance image of Isabelle and Isaac kissing in Isaac’s Bugatti before raising my eyes to Reid’s. He waits for me to see the disappointment in them before dipping his chin. “Although from the look on Isaac’s face when he left, I doubt it was his choice.”
I shouldn’t smile, but I do. It’s nice to see Isaac getting a taste of his own medicine.
“Where did he go after this?”
The shit-eating grin on Reid’s face subsides.
“You lost him?” I ask, reading between the lines.
When he nods, I curse. For the first few weeks of my placement, I gave Regan the benefit of the doubt, confident my visit to her ranch would stop her from undermining my investigation, but as Isaac’s ability to slip our radar grew, so did my suspicion. He knows we’re tailing him; he just has no clue how in-depth my investigation is.
