Ohmygod.
15
THE ALPHABET KILLER
Joaquin
Rebel couldn’t stop staring at Brit. Not because she was beautiful, but because she couldn’t hide her surprise. Nothing about this situation was funny, except her reaction.
In light of all the mayhem, he’d take levity wherever he could find it.
“I’m not working with you,” she said.
“Why’s that?” He bit into the juicy McIntosh.
“Uh, rogue agent comes to mind. You can’t be trusted, you do your own thing, you work alone. I had a week with the mentor from hell. I can’t go from bad to worse.”
“Trust me, I would never,everspeak to you the way she did. We’re partners.Equalpartners. We gotta communicate, share ideas, divide and conquer, but keep each other in the loop.”
Brit started laughing, hard. She pushed out of the chair, then walked to the corner, where the belly laughs continued.
A good sign. She’s blowin’ off steam.
She returned to the table, wiped her tear-streaked cheeks and sat back down. “I loved hanging with you, you know, outside of here. I’m gonna admit straight up—that we’ve got it going on, you know where.”
That made him smile.
He felt the exact same way, but he was staying quiet. He wouldn’t make any headway with her if he kept running his mouth.
“You arenota team player,” she continued. “You didn’t let your handler know where you were, and you almost got killed. By me.”
“But I didn’t get killed.”
“I just want to do my job, do it well, with no drama. I hate drama. Work drama, personal drama, any damn drama.” She chugged down some water.
“Like I said, we got this. You’re well qualified to take on this case, and for me, it’s personal. I can’t donothingwhile my family falls apart. My aunt’s so distraught over this, she’s in the hospital.”
She ran her fingers down his arm. “I’m sorry.”
Then, she jerked her hand off him.
She’s wound pretty tight.
He knew exactly what would relax her.
Nope, don’t go there.
“Losing Kurt brings back the pain, and the grief, and the anger of when we lost my Dad.” He paused. “There’s a monster out there, so you and me—we’re gonna put aside our differences, and work this case.”
Her eyebrows shot up, her gaze floated from his eyes to his beard, then his mouth. He had no idea why she was checking him out, but he’d go with it. Whatever it took to get her to partner with him.
“C’mon, Britain. We can do this.”
Her expression softened. Lines around her eyes vanished. She didn’t smile, but she’d stopped scowling at him. He’d take that small victory.
“I don’t trust youprofessionally, Joaquin, but I’m willing to give this a shot. I’m very concerned the killer is stalking his next victim. I agree with Cooper. We have to put in as much time as possible to find the killer and build a solid case. Are you here on special assignment?”
“I was brought in to put together an elite team, but I’m workin’ this case with you as a one-off.”
