Page 21 of Armed ’N’ Ready

He raised his brows. “Why not?”

“Well, it seems stupid now.” She let out a sarcastic laugh. “I was afraid I’d screw up the code and the police would come running and arrest me for breaking in to a house that’s not mine.”

Again, Nick’s eyes twinkled with humor. The corners of his mouth lifted, stopping just short of a full smile. Not for the first time, she wondered how an honest-to-God smile would transform the hardness of his features.

“Can you tell if anything’s missing?”

“Not really.” She went to her upended suitcase and kneeled beside it on the floor. “I’ve hardly been anywhere in the house except the kitchen, so aside from my own things, no.”

Andi turned to find him arching a brow. Disbelief screamed from every nuance of the subtle gesture.

She got to her feet and came to stand in front of him, parking her fists on her hips. “What is your problem? I’ve told you more than once that Joe and I haven’t had any real relationship for years. We’re friends. Just friends. And I am not part of his criminal network.”

For several seconds, he stared down at her silently, as if gauging her truthfulness. “So you keep telling me.”

The air conditioning took that moment to kick on, blowing a whiff of his scent her way, and it was distracting as hell.

Needing space, she took a step back. “You don’t believe a word I’ve said to you. You’re so suspicious and untrusting you lack the ability to perceive truth when it smacks you in the face. You see criminals everywhere, don’t you?”

“It’s my job.” He took a step closer, so that he once again loomed over her, but at this point she was getting used to that tactic and stood her ground, craning her neck to meet his steely gaze. “In fact,” he continued in a smooth, deep voice, “a lot of taxpayer money is spent training me to do just that.”

“Do they also train you to identify that rare”—she hooked her fingers into quotation marks—“honest taxpayer?”

“I’m trained to gather the facts, ma’am,” he added, and she understood he’d used that word to intentionally be annoying, since she’d specifically told him to quit using it on her. “Contrary to what you obviously think, I don’t pass judgment. A judge or a jury decide if the facts warrant a conviction.”

“You really don’t care if someone is innocent or guilty.” She pointed a finger at his chest without touching him. “You’re a just-the-facts-ma’am kind of guy?”

His eyes flashed with subdued anger, and she found it gratifying to have finally penetrated his emotional armor. “I don’t deal bullshit, and I don’t tolerate it, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Then what do I have to do to prove I’m innocent and not bullshitting you?”

“Cooperate. Fully.”

“I have been cooperating. Fully,” she said, throwing his word back at him.

“Just how far are you willing to go to prove your cooperation?”

She crossed her arms. “As far as it takes.”

He shocked her with a full-fledged smile, and she had the answer to her question. When Sgt. Nicholas Houston smiled, he was devastatingly handsome.

Big whoop. So he’s good looking.

Oh hell. There was no sense deluding herself anymore. I’m attracted to him. Physically, anyway.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said calmly, although there was an undecipherable look in his eyes that gave her the disquieting feeling she’d been expertly herded into a trap.

“What about the photo?” He tipped his head to Joe’s high-top bureau. More specifically, to the exact location where the framed photo of her and Joe had been—and wasn’t now. “The one of you and your not-boyfriend. Did you move it?”

Ignoring his jibe, she walked to the bureau. Until he’d pointed it out, she hadn’t realized the photo was no longer there. “I didn’t touch it.” Turning, she found him standing directly behind her. She hadn’t heard him move and wondered how such a big man could get around so soundlessly. The skin over the bridge of his nose was creased, leaving her puzzled about the implications of the missing photo. “Why would they take it?”

“I don’t know.” He tucked the small pad back into his breast pocket. “We don’t even know who ‘they’ is. If we assume whoever broke in is connected to this investigation, then chances are they already know what Joe looks like.” His frown deepened. “But they may not have known what you look like.”

“I have nothing to do with whatever Joe’s involved in, so why would they want a picture of me? I don’t have his laptop, and I can’t give them any useful information. I can’t even give you anything useful.”

“We’ll figure this out.” His eyes took on a look of determination. “I promise.”

Despite their constant sparring, something about the sincerity in his eyes made her believe him.