single-minded focus, but he’d seen in her eyes tonight he was capable of making her a touch off-balance and distracted. She had the same impact on him, but he might need to use whatever this thing was to his advantage. If it meant keeping her safe, he’d do whatever he had to do. “This investigation just started, no one is looking at you in particular, so why not . . .”
Turning, her big green eyes swept his way, stealing his focus. Locking his entire body still. “I’m sorry, but I have no choice but to go, and right now, the last thing on my mind is what people are going to think about me.”
“Why not just explain to the Bureau why you were at your boss’s house before it becomes a thing, then go to Atlanta wearing your sexy blue raider jacket with the flashy FBI letters on it?” He gave her a smile, hoping for a glimmer of something. Any reaction at all that said he could get through to her. Prevent her from running. “From where I’m standing,” he went on when she offered no reaction to his words, “your boss is missing, and you have your hands full, and yeah, maybe you’re new and all three missing sources were first identified by you, but that doesn’t mean you’re the leak.”
Her brows lifted in surprise at his knowledge of highly classified details.
There was no point in keeping information from her. Cat was out of the bag as to why he’d been following Ana. She wasn’t an idiot. Why bother pretending otherwise?
If he hadn’t been in the presence of such a stunning woman after now having been hit in the head twice, he might not have been so forthcoming.
“I trust you. I believe you’re not the leak,” he declared in response to her continued silence accompanied by a tightening of her mouth. But he needed her to hear the truth. To know he was in her corner, so there was no reason to run.
Don’t be wrong. Please God, don’t let me be wrong about her. Because he was going to risk his neck, his reputation, and possibly his team to help this woman.
“Let me help you,” he said, working the words loose while closing the small gap of space between them.
“No, I can’t do that. And you were most likely sent to bring down the traitor. Not help me.”
“But that ain’t you, and we both know it,” he quickly replied.
She shook her head. “Don’t let your feelings for me cloud your judgment. Your sense of right and wrong.” Her index finger poked his chest, right near his heart. “This is my fight.”
He angled his head, lost in her gaze. “My feelings for you?”
Her lip went between her teeth. Why did he feel like that wasn’t normal for her? He forced his eyes back to hers. “Your voicemail Saturday, I assume it was part alcohol and now part concussion—but you accidentally sent it instead of erasing it.”
I knew it. A mumbled curse fell from his lips, and he dropped his eyes to the ground. But what in the hell did I say?
“You bumped your head. You were drunk. Don’t worry.” He waited for her to continue, sensing she had more to say on the matter. “But it’s pretty obvious that there are some feelings on your side. Attraction, I guess.”
He guided his eyes up like he was a teenager getting his first rejection from the opposite sex.
“I just didn’t expect to hear a voicemail out of the blue from you, and then to actually face you forty-eight hours later. The timing is peculiar.”
“I didn’t know I’d be seeing you when I left that message, just so you know.” He kept his voice as level and defenseless as possible. “I had no clue you were at Headquarters. Adriana obviously didn’t say anything.”
He took a mental note to talk to Adriana about that once the dust settled.
“I just can’t have you helping me. I have to do this on my own. Plus, you’re a distraction.”
“If you’re so worried about me helping you, maybe it’s you who has the feelings.” He stepped forward, and her grip on the railing seemed to tighten. “I wouldn’t be such a distraction otherwise.” His heart pumped harder the closer he got to her, inhaling her intoxicating scent. He didn’t need Owen’s super-smelling nose to distinguish a touch of honey and vanilla wafting his way when Ana leaned in close.
“Distraction problem. Not a feelings problem.” Stubborn. Beautiful. Smart.