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“Uh, yes, I do.”She shook out her umbrella, flinging droplets of water in his direction.“And if your head wasn’t up your ass, you’d think the same thing, too.But you just can’t admit you made a mistake, can you?”
He wiped away some of the water that had landed on his cheek.“Oh, I made a mistake, all right.”
She stopped shaking the umbrella.
“I should have kept my control with you,” he added roughly.“You wouldn’t hate me nearly as much if we hadn’t—”
She flung more water at him.Deliberately this time.Though, maybe the first time had been deliberate, too.Then she lifted the umbrella up, letting it shield her head as her fingers curled around the base.“You think I wouldn’t hate you as much if we hadn’t had sex?”Lark asked him.
Yes, he did think that very thing.
“You think the pain wouldn’t be as strong?”She twirled the umbrella.“Maybe.Maybe not.See, I have this big issue with youusing me to lock my brother away for multiple murders.”
Right.Check.“I want to offer you a deal.”
“I want you to get out of my way.Someone is waiting for me, and you’re delaying my progress.”
Whoa.Hold up.“You…you’re out on a date?”Oliver choked out the question.
She stared back at him.“Still delaying me.But I can fix that.”She took two steps to the right, clearly intending to just walk around him.
He took two steps and was in her path again.“You’ve got a date with some asshole who wanted you to meet him at nearly midnight?Some dick who has you out walkingaloneon these dark streets?”What a complete and total bastard.“He should have picked you up at your place.He should have taken you to the fanciest restaurant in town—”
“Where he would then distract me while the Feds and the cops stormed my house?Oh, wait.My bad.That was you.Not the man I’m meeting tonight.”
She’s meeting someone else.Of course, she would have moved on.A woman as gorgeous as Lark would not be by herself for long.His hands fisted.He had no one else to blame for this development but himself.I lost her.
“Get out of my way,” Lark told him.“As I’ve said—numerous times to you before—if the Feds won’t do the job, then I have to find the real killer myself.Only, turns out, I won’t actually be working alone.”She darted around him.Her heel landed in a puddle and sent a little splash up in her wake.
His head shook.“You’re meeting apartner?”His gut twisted.During one of their angry, uh, talks, she’d said—
“The Feds consider the murders solved, but I consider them ice cold.”She looked back over her shoulder at him.“I know you’re familiar with the Ice Breakers.”
Yes, dammit, he was.Too familiar with them.
“They solve cold cases,” she told him.An unnecessary tell.Then she added, “I believe I may have even mentioned them to you before.I’m meeting with Memphis Camden at midnight.”Crisply, she faced the front and began striding forward.
“Not without me, you’re not,” he muttered and gave chase.And even though he wasrightbehind her as she marched through the darkness, Lark acted as if he was not there.
Froze him out completely.
But what had he expected?Sure, he had fantasies in which she came to him.She told him she understood.That he’d been torn between duty…and her.In those late-night fantasies, Lark offered him a second chance.
One that usually ended with them tangled in bed together.
This was not one of those fantasies.The rain picked up and pelted down on him.She kept her umbrella in perfect place.
Swearing, he flipped up the collar on his pea coat and kept his eyes on her…right up until the moment she turned and entered the door of Side Strip.
His head tilted back as he glowered up at the glowing, neon sign.No way in the world this was a coincidence.Lark was well and truly waving the red flag in an effort to draw out the “real” killer.
When would she realize there was no other killer waiting in the darkness?How long could her denial last?
The interior of Side Strip was as uninspiring as the exterior.Way too dim, with the lights focused on the lone stage in the bar.Only no one was performing that night.Probably because it was a Tuesday, and not like business was gonna be killer on a Tuesday of all nights.
A woman in black leaned over the bar and chatted with a customer.A few patrons were scattered around at the tables.Drinking.Munching on peanuts or some damn thing.
Lark paused only momentarily before her gaze swept to the far right.The back booth.Her attention locked on the man who sat back there, with his fingers lightly tapping on the scarred tabletop.
