Page 48 of Hard Heart

Serafina’s ears pricked up, as he’d hoped they would. “Oh, really? Zach was watching TV with Braxton on the evening Ruby died, wasn’t he?”

“So they said.”

“What if they acted together?”

“It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.” That wasn’t a lie; Levi just considered it unlikely. “Zach was a gag-and-handcuffs man, but he wasn’t into bruises, and he was always big on consent. And for Zach to be involved, Brax would have needed to cover for him. Despite Brax’s business endeavours, he’s more vanilla than you might think.”

“Dare I ask how you know that?”

“He used to hook up with Jerry, strictly a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Jerry has the EQ of a polar bear, and the instincts of one too.” Levi had always figured Brax was either incredibly brave or monumentally stupid for bedding her. “Anyhow, Brax told me in confidence that Jerry gets off on having a man’s hands around her throat, but he was uncomfortable being the guy to put them there.”

“Yikes.”

“Not my thing either.”

“So what is your—” Serafina clapped a hand over her mouth. “Shit! Uh, never mind.”

It took all of Levi’s self-control not to laugh his damn head off. “Sometimes, you’re a terrible lawyer.”

“Inappropriate, strike from the record.”

“You need to keep your face straight. The other side can see everything that’s running through your complicated little mind.”

“You started it,” she said snippily, and Levi’s cock twitched under the table. He forced his mind to empty because if he got hard, jailhouse scrubs wouldn’t hide the evidence.

“I laid out facts possibly relevant to the case. It isn’t my fault you have a filthy mind.”

“I do not.” She tried to kick him under the table, but he trapped her foot between his ankles, holding it there. Waited for the fireworks.

For Jim to run in at the sound of her scream and drag him out of there.

But the explosion didn’t come. No, her gaze bored into his, and she slowly, deliberately, licked her lips.

He couldn’t hold back his groan.

“Checkmate,” she whispered.

“Fuck.”

“So, we were talking about Braxton,” she said, smiling brightly as if his cock weren’t straining against his cheap cotton underwear. “He sells kink, but he doesn’t partake himself?”

Levi loosened his grip on her foot, but she didn’t pull hers away. No, she left it resting against his leg, the lightest touch but one that set his heart pounding. Serafina Hennessy might just be the death of him.

“Jerry had no emotional connection to him. To anyone, really. Then he got involved with a woman named Carissa, who was smart and ruthless and beautiful and perfect for him.”

“They got divorced last year. It made the gossip pages.”

Hmm, the two egos finally had enough of each other?

“That must have stung him in the bank account.”

“Undoubtedly. He got over the loss by marrying his personal assistant less than two weeks later.”

This time, Levi didn’t hold back his laughter. “His PA? What a jackass.”

“And Zach’s a pro surfer. He won the world championship the year before last, although there was some drama in one of the heats. A spectator punched out a member of the rescue crew on live TV, and then he got taken to hospital. Zach, not the rescue guy. It’s unclear what happened, but he seems to be back in action now.”

So, Zach had finally returned to the ocean. Levi had known he would, even after his father died surfing. Sure, Zach had tried moving inland in an attempt to re-engineer his soul, but the water had called to him as a paintbrush called to Levi.