Page 22 of Newly Tied

Once we were alone, just me and Talia, she suddenly dissolved into tears. Hugging her tight, I told her everything would be fine.

“I like how once you barfed up whatever was in your system, you were not about to let Alcott off the hook.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking before, but when my head was over the bowl and I saw my lunch again, it became crystal clear that he had slipped something into my drink.”

“And that’s when you got mad,” I concluded as we walked together toward the street to get a cab.

“Yes, it was.”

“You’re a badass,” I told her.

She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“I gotta call my boss, because we need to get this glass to the crime lab,” I told her. “I’ll feed ya after that.”

“Deal.”

FOUR

Ten minutes later, when I called my immediate supervisor, Doyle had me hold for a second until we were joined on the line by the chief deputy.

“Tell me precisely what happened to Ross’s sister,” Sam Kage demanded.

I wanted to be him when I grew up.

Hannah must have called him from her car, and I liked that as much as I liked his daughter. All that immediate communication between father and child was enough to make my heart hurt.

Since I was off duty, and Sharpe and White were the guys on call for the weekend, Kage directed Talia and me back to the federal building so we could hand over the glass to them.

I was not crazy about Talia meeting Ethan Sharpe, and my misgivings proved right when he took her hand and held it in both of his while she soaked him up with her eyes.

“Bad,” I told her when we were walking away, and she glanced over her shoulder at him. “No, don’t do that.”

“What?” She sounded dazed.

“Bad,” I repeated. “You are not allowed anywhere near that man.”

“But he has kind eyes, and did you see all the pretty muscles and those shoulders?”

“You’re gonna make me throw up if you don’t stop.”

“Why? He was so nice. I mean, his partner was too, but he’s…wow.”

“No,” I protested. “Just…no.”

“He’s yummy.”

“That man, even more so than your brother, should come with a warnin’ label.”

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” she mused.

“That’s it. We’re callin’ Lang and meetin’ him out.”

“He’s on a date.”

I scoffed. “You really think that date is still goin’ on? It’s after ten.”

“Ten at night is not late for a—oh, never mind,” she grumbled. “Even as it was coming out of my mouth, I knew it was stupid.”