easing up the death grip I had on him. “It seemed you were gone a long time. I was worried. What happened?” My eyes were still watery so I stared straight ahead at the third button on his shirt.
“You’re shaking,” he said softly, as though he hadn’t heard a word I’d said. I’d expected him to let me go, but his arms remained solidly around my waist.
“I heard more gunshots,” I explained. “I thought maybe something had happened to y—” My throat closed up and I couldn’t finish.
Parker didn’t respond. Gathering my courage, I finally lifted my eyes to his and my breath caught.
His blue eyes were closer than they’d ever been before, their soul-searching gaze locked on mine. Our faces were so near, our lips only inches apart. He was even more beautiful and perfect up close. My body seemed to melt into his, the pressure of his arms around me changing, from steadying and supportive to caressing.
Parker’s eyes burned, making my breath hitch in my chest. His gaze dropped to my mouth and my lips parted in invitation.
Sirens screaming outside the building made us both look to the window.
“Police are here,” Parker said, dropping his arms and stepping away from me. “Better put your shoes on.”
Feeling suddenly bereft without him to support me, I hurried to slip on my heels.
“Did you call them?” I asked. “Did you see anyone? Anyone who might’ve fired that gun?”
By the time I’d put my shoes on and turned around, he’d straightened his tie. Glancing my way, he crooked his finger, beckoning me back to him.
I obeyed, waiting for his answers as I stepped in front of him.
“I called them,” he said, reaching forward. His fingers caught at the button on my blouse that I’d undone earlier and he refastened it, then the next button as well, until only a scant few inches of my throat were exposed. “Hinton is dead.”
I barely heard him, so taken aback was I by the intimacy of him buttoning my blouse. It took longer than it should have for the statement to penetrate.
“Hinton’s dead?” I repeated. At Parker’s nod, I said, “But you were with him a few hours ago.”
“I know.”
The elevator dinged and we both turned toward it. Parker moved to the closet, replacing the gun he’d taken back on the shelf, then held the door for me as we left his office. A bevy of uniformed policemen exited the elevator, but my gaze didn’t settle on them for long. It found the one person I’d half-expected, half-dreaded would arrive when I’d heard those sirens.
Ryker.
He was still wearing the same clothes he’d had on earlier, though the flirtatious grin from dinner was gone. His expression was serious, turning hard when he spotted Parker.
“You were the one who called it in?” he asked Parker, who nodded.
“He’s on the floor above this one. Randolph Hinton, one of our VPs.”
Ryker turned to a couple of the uniformed cops and spoke to them. A moment later, they were heading for the stairs, weapons in hand.
“Did you see anyone? Hear anything?” he asked, taking out a small pad of paper and a pen from inside his jacket.
Parker told them about hearing the gunshot. “I went to investigate and saw a man leaving the floor. When I called out to him, he fired at me.”
My blood felt like it turned to ice at this and I whipped my head around to stare wide-eyed at Parker. He glanced sideways at me, but his attention remained on Ryker.
“Looks like he missed,” Ryker said, jotting notes on the paper. He glanced up. “Too bad.” His smile was cold.
That set my blood pressure skyrocketing and I opened my mouth to let him know exactly how big an asshole he was, but Parker seemed to sense what I was going to do. His hand grasped my arm in a firm grip and squeezed. I shut my mouth, but I shot him a glare just to let him know that I didn’t appreciate being silenced.
“What about you?” Ryker asked, turning his attention to me. “Did you see anyone?”
I shook my head. “I was in the closet.”
Ryker’s eyebrows flew upward. “Excuse me?”
Okay, well that hadn’t made much sense. “I mean, after we heard the first shot, Parker—I mean Mr. Anderson—had me get inside the closet while he went to go see what had happened.” I didn’t mention the gun Parker had taken with him.
“So there’s no one to corroborate the fact that you say someone else was in the