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The woman Jarrod wanted.
Son of a bitch, what was he supposed to do now?
“You ever going to do anything about her, Dan?” he asked after the other men had taken off toward the conference rooms. “You have a thing for her. I’m not an idiot.”
“I did have a real thing for her. For a long while. I probably could again, if the situation ever presented itself. But I’m not the kind of guy she needs, and I have long known that. Accepted it.” And there was hurt and longing on the guy’s face now, too.
Hell, was Daniel fully in love with her?
Jarrod’s blood froze, even thinking it.
Could Jarrod step aside if Daniel was? If he stepped aside to let Daniel have Haldyn—he suspected he’d regret that a hell of a lot more than he wanted to think about.
Jarrod didn’t know if he could do it again. Step aside.
Did Haldyn even want more than what had happened between them the night before?—that was probably a better question.
“Why?” None of his damned business, but this man was his friend. One of his closest. And that woman. How had she managed to tie both him and Daniel up in knots like this? Without even trying?
He was absolutely certain the woman didn’t even know she had them tied in knots either. Haldyn kept herself hidden in a little cocoon. Alone. The woman was too damned alone. She needed someone to see that. She’d said it herself the night before—she took care of the ones she loved, not the other way around.
Except for Powell. That woman fussed over Haldyn more than Jarrod would have ever imagined before. Even Daniel seemed to not see Haldyn fully.
Jarrod did. In that moment, he understood that woman better than he had anyone else on the planet.
Damn it. Daniel had known her since she was a teenager. He should have seen how alone she was before. Even if he was afraid to, or if he didn’t want to be distracted from his precious TSP. Daniel should have done something about it. Maybe it was irrational of him, but Jarrod didn’t like knowing she was alone.
“That’s her business, not yours. But I think you’re right. She’s up to something. That woman can be secretive. Now we just have to figure out what those secrets are.” Daniel looked at him. With an expression Jarrod couldn’t figure out. “Hell, Foster. I’m giving her to you now. Take care of her, no matter what.”
Daniel just didn’t know what he was saying with those words. He just didn’t.
45
Jarrod thought about Daniel’s words all day. Even when he was on the streets at the end of Main and Forty-Fifth, tracking down a lead on a mugging ring he’d been trying to crack for eighteen months.
That woman was up to something.
He was going to find out what it was.
He stewed and plotted all damned morning. Until he ran that troublesome woman to ground in the lab—just as she was slipping out the door. “Where are you going, little rabbit?”
She spun around and glared at him. “Quit calling me that here. I am not a little rabbit!”
He’d called her his favorite little rabbit in his bed. Right before he’d almost gotten that little blue T-shirt right off her. She hadn’t seemed to mind, then. “You are as soft as a little rabbit. I know that for sure now. Where are you going, Hal?”
“To lunch, actually. I’m starving.”
That made sense. The woman hadn’t eaten much breakfast. Haldyn barely stopped to eat enough at times to keep a bird alive—half the time during this baby sitting gig he was convinced she needed a lifelong keeper. Someone to make certain she ate properly, wore a jacket when needed, looked both ways when crossing the street, got enough sleep at night, that kind of thing. Someone who fussed over her or something. “Yay. Lunch time. I’ll buy.”
There was a small vending machine with microwavable food in the cafeteria. Not the best stuff, but it was food when a man was starving mid-case. Or they could order something delivered. He liked that idea better—she needed better food than vending machine questionables. “We’ll call Mamaw’s Place. Rush a couple of sandwiches.”
“I can surely be without you in this building?” The question was mild, but the irritation was real. “Don’t you have more important things to do, detective?”
“Nope. Can’t think of anything I’d rather do than be guarding…you. I take the guarding of your body very seriously.” Jarrod shot her a smirk when her cheeks heated immediately, then he stepped aside. He waved one hand toward the hallway. The smaller Major Crimes conference rooms were on the opposite end of the hall from the back stair entrance to her precious queendom of the lab. “After you, my little evidence queen.”
“Why are you such an ass when we are here? To me anyway?” There that look he loved was. The one that said he was a toad. He’d missed that. Next time she gave him that look, he was going to kiss it right off of her. No matter where they were.
At least, in his fantasies, he would. He’d behave himself at work like the grown-up he pretended to be.
