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“You’re all wet,” she said.
“Yeah, it started pouring on my way back. Don’t worry, your curry is dry.”
He held out the bag to her, but her gaze was stuck on the muscles that looked etched in stone under his T-shirt. His upper arms were accented by several tattoos, and one stretched over his right shoulder down the top of his pec muscle. She couldn’t stop staring.
When she didn’t take the bag of food he set it on the conference table and took a step closer toward her. Now his delicious scent was mixed with rain and sweat, proving it was possible for him to be even more distracting and enticing.
Clearing her throat she averted her eyes and stepped around him, returning to the boxes of knickknacks.
“I was just looking at that weird puzzle you found. I hope you’re actually good at decryption, or we may need to find a cryptology program.”
“I’m decent. Did you uncover anything earth-shattering, or are we pulling an all-nighter?” he asked.
“Okay, if you wanted to bury a piece of evidence in discovery, where would you put it?” she asked as she grabbed the box she’d labeled toys and slid it in front of herself.
“In a box of junk or with a million other random documents,” Finn said, staring at the fifteen boxes of documents.
“I think I’d bury it in a box of things people wouldn’t want to touch.”
She tilted the box, and the toys fell forward onto the table. At the bottom of the box was a tan manila folder, almost the same color as the bottom of the box.
“Damn, should I go for another run so you can untangle this entire defense? Maybe I could get you some wine or beer to go with your dinner.”
Smiling, she pulled out the folder. “No chance. You have a puzzle to decrypt and we still need to sift through each document to make sure we’re not missing anything.”
“Well, well, who knew a box of someone’s used toys and some Thai food could get you to smile finally.”
She’d been avoiding looking at him but couldn’t resist now. If his good looks were linked to a power grid, it would be fully charged when he smiled. His green eyes looked like a pool of dazzling emeralds, and a small dimple pushed into the left corner of his cheek through the days’ worth of scruff.
“It always sounds sexist to tell a woman to smile more,” she said.
Like a pinprick to a balloon, his smile faded and his shoulders slumped.
“Yup, there’s the Hailey I know.”
“I just mean a guy would never tell another guy to smile more.”
“No, but I would tell a guy to loosen the hell up.”
Shaking her shoulders, she stood to face him.
“Not quite, but it’s a start,” he said.
“You must be cold. If you stand around in wet clothes, you could catch pneumonia and get out of court tomorrow.”
“I don’t get cold, not after the teams.”
“What teams?”
“SEALs,” he said with a sly smile. “But you knew that.” He walked past her toward the door. “I’m gonna clean up, and then I’ll tackle the documents and that puzzle. Don’t eat everything.”
His commanding voice pushed goose bumps over her arms. Why did the one man to pique her interest in years have to work at the same firm?
Stepping up on her tiptoes, she tried to make out the tattoo that looped over his shoulder and down the right side of his back. Unfortunately, his T-shirt was already starting to dry and was too rumpled.
“You’re going to have to ask me,” he called out before he exited the room.
“Harrumph,” she said and then noticed her reflection in the windows, repeating like a house of mirrors. He’d caught her staring at him. “Damn.”
