it from her and I pretty much work to pay the taxes. Hence the car I drive. Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” He studied her, and the attraction he felt for her bloomed as strongly as ever. By the way she was holding herself, ramrod-straight yet a bit fidgety, she sensed it, too. Might as well come right out and acknowledge it, right? “What I wanted to say is...I’m attracted to you.”
Her eyes rounded comically.
He seemed to be giving her one shock after another, and, man, it gave him a thrill. Deciding he was having too much fun, he forced himself to say, “But I don’t want to be attracted to you. That’s why I don’t want to work with you. I thought about seducing you to drive you away, but I decided not to.”
She gave an incredulous laugh. “Well, that’s mighty big of you, Detective Granger.”
He grinned, liking how she looked and sounded when she laughed. He bet he’d like it even more if she laughed with genuine joy rather than mockery. “Not really. Honestly, I think if we spend any significant time together, it’s gonna happen on its own.”
“It?”
He raised a brow. “You want details? ’Cause they say anticipation is half the fun.”
She sucked in an enraged breath. “Well, you’re certainly full of yourself.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she pressed her lips together. Probably expected him to comment on how she’d soon be full of him. But he wasn’t that tacky. Either that, or he just didn’t want to be too predictable.
Shrugging, he leaned against one paneled wall, his gaze wandering to the entry table and framed pictures next to him. His eye caught on a picture of a teenage Nina laughing with a girl that looked remarkably like her. A sister, perhaps? Probably. She was pretty, too, but even though she smiled in the picture, her gaze seemed troubled. It was a notable contrast to the happiness in Nina’s eyes. In the picture. Not now. Now she was looking at him with wary expectation. As if waiting for him to acknowledge something. What had she said? Oh, right. That he was full of himself.
“Actually, I wish it was just a matter of being conceited. But I’m just a realist. I don’t want to act on the attraction. Neither do you. But regardless, if we spend the next week together, it will happen.”
Her pupils dilated but she raised her chin rebelliously. “And that’s not enough to scare you away?”
“I guess some part of me still likes to live dangerously,” he said softly. He frowned at his choice of words. Feared that she’d catch his meaning—that part of him no longer liked to live dangerously anymore. Feared that she’d wonder what had caused a change in him and maybe even question him on it. And he did not want to talk about Lana with this woman. Not now. Not ever. Quickly, he asked, “Do you? Like to live dangerously?”
“Not particularly.” She paused several seconds, as if weighing her next words. “How long have you been here, by the way?”
“Outside, you mean? Not long. Why?”
“Because I’m wondering something. You’re trying to scare me away with this silly idea of us ‘doing it.’ Maybe you’d try scaring me away a different way, too.”
He straightened and scowled. “What do you mean?”
She pursed her lips, as if she was weighing something over in her mind, then she shook her head. She even waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. “Oh, nothing. It’s just, you’ve suddenly shown up being all charming and honest. It’s thrown me for a bit of a loop.”
“You find me charming like this? I’ll have to keep that in mind.”
He caught it. Just the hint of a smile before she wiped it away. It made him wonder how far he’d go to see it again.
“What I mean is, I have to wonder if you’re luring me into some kind of trap even as you deny doing so. If you’re pretending to put all your cards on the table even as you stack the deck against me.”
“Well, no matter what I say you’re not going to believe me, are you?”
“I suppose not.”
“Right. So we’re going to be professionals about this. Whether we want to be or not. We’ll give this shadow program a real chance, and let the rest take care of itself. No hidden agendas or dirty tricks. Deal?” He held out his hand for her to shake.