Page 22 of Duty

He gestured at her with an opened hand.

“Possibly.”

“I can’t say I would blame him, then.”

Haven made a face. “Never said I did, either.”

Yes, she was still a smartass.

She was still a little feisty.

Just like that first day.

Andino liked that a lot.

“We never got to finish that conversation on the trails,” he said, “You took off.”

“And what, you thought now would be the right time?”

“I don’t walk those trails very often. That day was a random pick. Snaps decided to go a different route, and I just follow him.”

Haven nodded once. “I noticed.”

Andino stilled.

Had she?

And how had she noticed that at all unless she went back to … wait, had she gone back looking for him?

“What does that mean?” he asked.

Haven’s pretty blue eyes darted away from his, and her grip on the door tightened a bit. “Doesn’t matter. So, hey, I didn’t take you for the type—is that like your thing, or something? Illegal gambling to relieve the stress of working nine-to-five in an office every day? The three-piece suit makes more sense, I guess. Let me guess … some higher up job in a company; high-rise, likely. Corner office?”

It took Andino a second.

And then two.

She meant Nathaniel.

Because he’d been sitting with the bookie.

“No,” he said.

Haven’s stormy-blue eyes darted back to him. “Pardon?”

“The bookie—he works for me, not the other way around. I don’t do office work, and that is not why I wear a three-piece suit. Not even close.”

“Oh.” Haven’s brow knotted together in the cutest way, belying the way she looked in that fucking outfit—like sin poured into leather. “What kind of job do you have that you’re the boss of an illegal bookie?”

“A little of this, a little of that,” Andino said, waving a hand and grinning devilishly. “Nothing that’ll be interesting to you, I promise. But hey, I like that you wonder.”

A sweet pink climbed high on her throat, and colored Haven’s cheeks, too. “I wasn’t wondering—”

“It’s good. Why do you think I came back here? I wondered about you, too, donna. My name is Andino, by the way.”

She blinked, and then those long, dark lashes fanned her gaze as she stared up at him. She was tall for a woman—he still had a good four inches or so on her. Compared to his large, muscular build, this woman seemed small.

And yet, there was a fire in her eyes.