Page 23 of Playing With Love

“Thanks, Lauren.” I pushed back from the table while explaining, “My phone is in my office.”

Not to be left out, Liza rolled her chair back and stood.

“I’ll come with you. I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

Of course she would. But I knew Liza; she had an ulterior reason for following me—privacy. I recognized the spark or irritation in her gaze. She was not a woman who liked to be backed into a corner and I’d done just that. She’d have something to say about Carter and her boss firmly insinuating me into her case.

As soon as we stepped into the hallway she launched in. I would’ve smiled at her predictably if the metaphoric fire she was breathing wasn’t aimed at me.

“What’s your game, Mitchell?”

“Game?”

“This is my job,” she hissed.

“I’m well aware.”

I hooked a right at the end of the hall, leading to a not-so-new, but not original part of the TC office building. The addition had been built when Carter Lenox and his SEAL team brothers joined the company. Six new offices had been sectioned along with another bathroom, and a break room that was really nothing more than a coffee cubby with a sink and fridge. My office was the smallest at the end of the hall. Not that I cared where it was or the size of the space. I did everything in my power to spend very little time in the room. It was more of a catch-all for paperwork.

“If you’re aware why are you fucking with me?”

I wasn’t fucking with her, at least not yet.

“We have very different definitions of fucking, Lizzy.”

A sexy-as-all-fuck growl slipped past her perfectly kissable lips, reminding me how good it had felt when that same sound had vibrated against my skin when she orgasmed.

Five steps later when she hadn’t commented, I prodded. Like a schoolboy poking at the girl he liked to get a reaction I asked, “What? No comeback?”

“I’m using too much energy controlling my violent urges to stab you to think of an appropriate comeback.”

“Right.” I chuckled.

“Just to warn you, that control is slipping by the second.”

If she thought hers was slipping, mine was getting ready to snap. Last night I’d spent more than a few hours thinking about her. All the what-ifs and what-could’ve-beens if I’d manned up a decade ago. All the time we’d lost. The connection she’d severed with her disappearing act. All things I wished we could have back, none in my power to have. But in the here and now there was still a chance for us. All I needed was for her to drop this bullshit act.

When we got to the door, I stepped aside and waved her to precede me. Once she was in my office I closed the door and asked, “Still want to tell me there’s no us?”

“Tucker—”

“Have you considered that control you’re fighting for is slipping because you’re lying, and if you stop hiding and come clean, we can talk this out and move forward?”

The fire that lit in her eyes said she was considering something. Probably my murder. But in no way was she ready to peek out from behind the walls she’d erected.

“I’m not hiding,” she denied. “I’m on a job. Something you of all people should respect and understand. The past is the past and it needs to be left there.”

I didn’t know how I’d forgotten but I had—there were times when her stubbornness wasn’t cute and it was borderline annoying. More than likely I hadn’t forgotten, I’d blocked it out.

Before I could reply, my cell rang. Liza glanced down at the phone on my desk and a change stole over her. A stiffening in her shoulders she couldn’t hide along with a frown. That meant when she said, “Crystal” it was through pinched lips.

I clenched my jaw to stop myself from calling out her jealousy. I might not have allowed the words to come out of my mouth but I couldn’t stop my brows from lifting.

Liza didn’t miss the gesture or the meaning.

“Well? Are you going to answer it?”

“She knows I’m in a meeting this morning,” I told Liza.