Which put her in mind of her canceled meeting with her ex-boss. They’d been supposed to meet two weeks ago.
It shouldn’t bother her so much, but she’d been curious about what dinner with Matthew Scott would be like. Rather,Assistant Special Agent in ChargeMatthew Scott.
He wanted to talk to her about her old Resident Agency in Poulsbo, as his job now involved overseeing the many RAs in the Pacific Northwest. They’d scheduled their talk for a Saturday night, not during regular work hours.
Except he’d canceled with a text. They hadn’t spoken since. Shekept telling herself she wasn’t disappointed. Heck, she’d put Matthew out of her mind, too busy with work to care.
Mostly.
She glared down at her shoes, irritated with her stupid feelings, and turned down the hallway. And ran into someone.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” She glanced into Matthew Scott’s bright blue eyes and scowled.
“Jane. I’m glad you ran into me.” He grinned. Seeing her irritation, he cleared his throat. “Do you think we could talk for a moment? I had a few questions about Poulsbo I never got to ask.”
Realizing she truly had nothing to be angry about, Jane nodded and cleared her expression. “Sure thing. What did you want to know?”
An hour later, sitting in a coffee shop downtown, Jane had to hand it to ASAC Matthew Scott. He’d managed to convince her to step away from the office in the middle of her home invasion investigation.
This had better be good.
Chapter 3
Before Jane could speak,Matthew held up his hand. “First, apologies for cancelling our dinner at the beginning of the month. I had something pressing come up I’m still dealing with.”
He scowled, and Jane wanted to know what had happened. For the longest time, she’d considered “FBI Ken,” as Jenn called him, a problem to overcome. She’d done her best to ignore Matthew’s good looks and perfect reputation. But now she didn’t mind her attraction, especially because it wouldn’t go anywhere. Though technically itcouldsince he was no longer her boss…
And that’s a ridiculous thing to think about right now.
She coughed. “No worries. You did let me know beforehand.”
“Yeah, but I was looking forward to talking to you.”
His regard made Jane’s cheeks heat.
She ignored the odd sensation. “You had questions for me, sir?”
“Just Matthew, please.” He grimaced and blew on his hot chai. He’d paid for their drinks as well as pastries Jane hadn’t asked for but dug into all the same.
She took a bite of a thin, flaky chocolate croissant and worked not to moan in appreciation. “Matthew.” She sipped her latte, feelinghuman again despite it being closer to lunch than breakfast. She really needed to stop skipping her morning meal. “What’s up?”
“First, thanks for talking to Grace Russo for me. She’s wonderful.”
Grace had been Jane’s mentor and senior agent when Jane had first started with the FBI. Her time in the Poulsbo, Washington RA had taught her so much about investigations into national security and violent crime. Agents in the smaller satellite offices handled everything, not able to specialize like their counterparts at headquarters units. RAs had fewer agents to handle their areas of responsibility.
“I spoke with Grace and James, her boss. He seems like a good man.”
“He is.”
“I get the feeling he wants to step down soon, and he wants Grace to take his place.”
Jane didn’t comment.
“I’m not sure Grace wants that,” he said, watching her.
She shrugged. Grace didn’t know if she wanted the job either, though she could certainly handle the responsibility. They’d talked about it. Personally, Jane thought Grace was the best person for it.
“Grace spoke very highly of you.”
