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“You realize,” she said, grabbing her belt to put back on, then reclaiming her bag from the table and putting it on her shoulder, “if anyone asks how thorough courthouse security is, I’m going to have a very detailed answer.”
His grin was slow and more than slightly dangerous. “Happy to provide excellent public service.”
He had an answer for everything.
But so did she.
“Detective.”
His laughter was bit back, but she saw it in his eyes. “Yeah?”
Her gaze dropped briefly to his mouth before snapping back to his eyes. “Next time you want to touch me, try asking.”
Silence. Which was completely unlike him.
The temperature in the room seemed to spike ten degrees. If she were alone, she’d pull the collar of her shirt away to breathe better.
But she wasn’t alone.
And making that move would only give him the victory.
She liked to win and she was going to.
His jaw flexed, his upper lip disappearing, then a grin spread once again. “Next time,” he said carefully, “won’t be because of a metal detector.”
Her stomach flipped.
It was exactly the opening she wanted. Hoped for when she started this.
She reached her hand into her bag, pulled out a card from the small pocket along with a pen, wrote on the back and handed it over. “In that case, here’s my number. The ball is in your court.”
Then she marched out of the door without giving him a chance to pick up the mic she’d just dropped at the pointy toes of her power pumps.
7
MATTERS OF THE HEART
“Hi, Zander,” Marjorie said a few days later.
“Mom,” Zander said. “What are you doing here?”
“Come to see if I can convince my husband to take me to dinner tonight.”
Her son grinned. “I’m sure he’ll love it. I think he’s on the phone.”
“I’ll just sit right here. Where is everyone?”
“Betsy is off today and the rest of the guys are off site.”
Her son’s PI business had grown more than he ever thought it would.
Now he offered private security along with security to multiple businesses. Even her husband spent more time setting up the equipment and monitoring it, making sure it was all updated.
“I’ll just sit here then. Go finish up your work so you can get home to that precious little granddaughter of mine.”
She’d noticed the light on at Regan’s office next door so knew her daughter-in-law was seeing clients in person. There was a good portion of her business that she did via video calls also, and how she did more of her work while she was on maternity leave.
“We both want to get out of here on time, but she’s got a few more clients today. I don’t think she’ll be out of here until six, so I’ll probably pick up Zola.”
