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It feels so right.
It shouldn’t, but it does.
“That makes you nervous.”
“It terrifies me.”
She terrifies me. Because even as I’ve only known her for a few days, what I am beginning to feel rivals anything I have ever felt—ever. And I know that if I don’t get it under control, it could mean a distraction neither one of us can afford.
So, even though it physically pains me to do it, I slide out from beneath her touch, cover her with a blanket, and turn off the light.
Presley is standing just outside the room, leaning back against the wall. His arms are crossed, his gaze watching me intently. “I thought she was just a client.”
“She is. We were watching a movie.”
“Do you make it a habit of climbing into bed with your clients?”
“I wasn’t in bed with her,” I snap, the insinuation infuriating me. “I was on the bed while we watched a movie.”
“Hmm.” Presley pushes off the wall and starts down the hallway.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” Presley continues down the hall, then takes the stairs down and makes a right. I continue following him until he heads through a doorway on the left into his office. It’s sparsely decorated, the main focus being a bookshelf with what appear to be hundreds of different books.
His computer sits on a desk in the center of the room, which is where he leads me. After taking a seat, he types in a code and unlocks the screen.
“What am I looking at?” I question when he pulls up a series of photographs featuring a large house and a handful of armed guards patrolling along the grounds and an upper terrace off the front of the house.
“This is the Prescott estate as of this afternoon.”
“This afternoon? Does the lawyer live on the premises?”
“Not on record,” Presley replies. “He has a rather ritzy apartment in Charleston.”
“Which means he’s either taken up residence there, or he’s looking to keep someone out.”
“That would be my guess, too. Look, I can put together a team, and we can get in there—”
“Getting in there isn’t the problem. My team could have done that,” I interrupt. “It’s finding a way to take this guy down so he can’t come after Dahlia.”
“Come on, Ryker, you know how to make problems disappear.”
“I don’t kill people unless I have to,” I snarl.
Presley chuckles. “Just testing the water. I’d prefer to stay relatively above board, too.”
“Trouble is, we have no proof.”
“Nope. As far as I can tell, the hits appeared from thin air. I can’t even trace them back to anyone in his circle. How about your guy? He have any luck?”
“Not as of this afternoon,” I say. “Sawyer called in Tucker Hunt and Elijah Breeth, too.”
“Should I know those names?”
“No.” I cross my arms. “But they’re good at what they do, and if there is a trail to follow, the three of them can find it.”
“Fantastic, so I don’t need to do anything, then?” I don’t miss the bite in his tone.
