Chapter 45

Ash stormedinto Blue Cellar in search of Kayla.

After he’d hung up with the detective, all he could think about was how upsetting this new development with Mason Wade would be for Kayla. She enjoyed a close friendship with the Ranger. To learn he’d been a party to her godmother’s murder would be total heartbreak.

Before he knew what he was doing, he’d gone to Kayla’s house. She hadn’t answered the doorbell, nor was she ignoring him on the screened-in porch. Fear crawled into his throat and wouldn’t back down. It didn’t matter that she’d been driving around with Wade for months, unharmed. He needed to put eyes on her. Make sure she was okay.

He’d called his little brother, and Phin helped him locate Kayla through a series of texts with a colleague named Natalie. The attorney revealed Kayla was at the bar and being a real shit. Whatever that meant.

He paused inside the door to scan the room for Kayla’s blond head. A sixth sense zeroed in on her immediately.

Ash’s stomach dropped ninety stories at the sight of a dark-haired man leaning forward and kissing Kayla. She smiled, then slid off her stool. After a quick exchange of words, she collected her purse and made her way toward the exit.

Toward where he stood frozen, except for his thundering heart. Their eyes locked, and her smile faded. Not trusting his words, he nodded for her to follow him outside. He stopped at the curb, drawing in deep, painful breaths. The kiss replaying in his mind like an apocalyptic mushroom cloud.

“Ash, what are you doing here?”

“Good question.” Heat thrust from his chest, up his throat and into his ears. His hands rolled into steel hammers, ready to smash everything in sight. “Dammit, Kayla. I thought we had something going.”

He ignored the mocking voice in his head, reminding him of his vow to keep her at a professional distance.

“Honestly, Ash. I don’t know what we have. One minute you hate me, the next we’re making love, and now?—”

Whipping around, he fired back. “I don’t hate you. Never have. Sometimes, I wish to God I did.”

She crossed her arms, ignoring the gawking tourists and the rapt panhandlers as she joined him at the curb. “Oh, that’s right, you dislike my job, not me.”

“Exactly.”

“Why?”

“You used your lobbying influence to get Director Eileen Tao appointed, and she’s made my life and every other special agent’s miserable.”

“How?”

“I’m doing so much damn paperwork now that I’m spending more time on reports than investigating cases.”

“Did Eileen explain why she’s requiring so much documentation?”

Ash crossed his arms, mirroring her stance. Her calm insertions were slowly pinching out his lit fuse.

He thought back to the field visit Director Tao made to the Charlotte office not long after her appointment. She’d laid out her plan for the next five years, but most of what she’d said was a gummy mess in his head. Like everyone else in the room, he’d turned off his hearing and stayed focused on her last words.

We’ll be collecting more data on what you’re doing via required forms...

“Data,” he said with less heat.

“What reason did she give for needing the information?”

He clamped his teeth together with such force a sharp pain arrowed straight into his temple. “I don’t know.” Possibly the three hardest words he’d ever uttered.

The look she sent him made the fire return to his ears, but for a completely different reason.

“How do you not know?” she asked a moment later. “Eileen showed me the talking points she intended to deliver to y’all. Her reasons for the extra work were clear.”

“Why don’t we get back to the reason I broke up your love fest.”

“Love fest?” Confusion raked over her beautiful features, then she half-looked back at the bar and her expression turned incredulous. “Nick?”

“If that’s the guy you were kissing, yes.”

She shook her head, as if he were a boy pissing against a tree at a family reunion. “I understand now why you missed the important part of Eileen’s five-year strategic plan. The vital part where she explained that good data leads to increased resources. Your damn brain shuts down when you hear—or think you see—something you don’t like.”

Increased resources?Ash recalled Patsy’s promotion and her new assistant, the establishment of an art crime squad, the fancy coffeemaker, his new computer with its duo monitors. Shame gripped his heart, but it was nothing compared to the jealousy already consuming his chest.

“I saw the kiss as plainly as I see you now.”

“Did you?”

The confidence in her challenging words made him review the painful memory again. The guy—Nick—had been sitting on her right, then he leaned in to kiss her. Had she kissed him back? Or had Nick’s head blocked his view?

Much to his shame, he couldn’t recall. The second their positions became intimate, a red haze of territorial fury had blinded him until Kayla stood before him, staring at him in surprise.

“I’ll answer the question for you. No, you didn’t see a passionate kiss. You observed a friendly peck on the cheek as a thank-you for a mutually beneficial conversation.”

“Mutually beneficial how?”

“We’re both having relationship issues.” Her gaze roamed over his face. “Sometimes an unbiased stranger can help you see things those close to you can’t.”

Ash blinked twice in quick succession. “You didn’t kiss him?”

“No,” she said in a suddenly harsh voice. “It seems all my passion is tied up in a frustratingly hardheaded special agent.”

The jealousy trembling through his body stilled and, despite feeling like a teenage fool, his cheeks widened into a grin. “A frustratingly handsome special agent with a hard head?”

“I will not be cajoled by an ass who doesn’t trust me.”

His grin fell away, and he took a step toward her, brushing his knuckles against a flush of red on her slender neck. “I’m sorry.”

At his admission, her eyes widened, then narrowed. “What strategy are you playing, Blackwell?”

“No strategy. Just a man flooded with feelings for a woman and no idea what to do with them.”

“Why?” she whispered.

Another step closer. “Because he’s uncertain where he stands with her.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch before looking up again. “He stands beside her, if that’s what he wants.”

“He does?—”

She placed a finger against his lips. “Don’t say it, unless you mean it. Unless you can accept all of me. Even the so-called despicable parts.”

“I’m beginning to see there’s more to your parts than I realized.”

Her lips twitched. “About damn time.” She shuffled closer until their bodies touched. “I think your investigative skills need honing, Agent.”

“Are you offering your assistance?”

She nuzzled her nose against his. “I think I could show you a thing or two.”

Unable to deny himself any longer, he hooked one hand around her waist and drew her in until their breaths were one.