Page 16 of Disavowed

“I give up.” She shook her head, thinking she must have misheard him.

As he spun her around, she caught sight of three men she recognized as other detectives in Dom and Gray’s squad. Their eyes followed her and Dom around the floor, and every now and then, their heads came together as they whispered something, nodding conspiratorially.

“Why are your colleagues staring at us?”

He spun her around so that he could see whom she was referring to.

“They look pissed.”

“They’re not staring at you.” The muscles in his face and neck tensed. “They’re staring at me. And they are pissed.”

“Why?”

“They think I did something,” he said but didn’t elaborate.

She tried to meet his gaze, but he was intensely focused on the other men. “What do they think you did?”

His eyes suddenly shuttered. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

The song ended, and to Daisy’s astonishment, he lifted her hand to his lips and then left her standing there in the middle of the dance floor. She watched him make a beeline to where Gray and another cop she knew was their boss had their heads together.

Baffled, she shook her head at his mercurial transformation. One minute they were getting along reasonably and the next he couldn’t seem to get rid of her fast enough.

What. Ever.

Across the room, Alex stood with Cassie and Moira, watching her. Alex held two glasses of champagne, raising one in the air to indicate she should join them.

“Having fun?” Cassie asked when she was within earshot.

“I’m not sure I’d call it fun.” Eagerly, she accepted the champagne flute Alex handed her, then took a hearty slug. She shut her eyes for a moment, willing the bubbly liquid to hit her bloodstream in record time and ease the edginess she’d been feeling since the moment Dom had swung her onto the dance floor. “In fact, I don’t know what the hell that was.”

Moira, Cassie’s sister-in-law, smiled. “You two look like you were born to dance together.”

“And then some.” The corners of Cassie’s mouth lifted in a far-too-knowing smile.

Daisy felt a bit self-conscious around the beautiful redhead who used to be Dom’s partner. It was as if the woman knew everything that was ticking away in Daisy’s head.

“He’s not a bad guy,” Cassie added, inclining her head to where Dom was in deep conversation with Gray and their boss.

“Just be careful.” Alex squeezed Daisy’s arm. “Okay?”

“You don’t have to remind me,” she replied just before downing the remainder of the champagne in her glass. “I think I’ll need a bottle to get through the rest of the day.”

“Daisy,” someone said from behind her. “You look incredibly lovely.”

It was Andrew Foust, Alex and Gray’s neighbor and the general manager of the famed Piazza Hotel near Central Park. The Piazza had been shut down for renovations that were just about completed, and Daisy was now the hotel’s weekly supplier of floral arrangements, along with special potted palm trees for the new lobby, ballroom, and atrium.

Andrew gave her a mock bow. “May I have this dance?”

She smiled, delighted to have someone take her mind off Dom. Besides, Andrew was single, good-looking, and they got along quite well. “I’d love to.” She placed her hand in his and was immediately swung into the lively beat of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” Within minutes, Dom was a distant memory.

If only he’d quit scowling at her every time she and Andrew swept past him.

…

Dom ground his teeth for the tenth time in five minutes.

If that little weasel doesn’t get his overly manicured fingers off Daisy’s back, I’ll arrest him and haul his ass to jail.