was past dinnertime and Melon was demanding attention. Josie was fixing sandwiches, her long hair hanging about her shoulders.
“Sweetie, would you grab a hairband from my bag on the counter?”
He grinned as he walked over to her large bag. “You trust me to go through your purse?”
Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “I hardly have any secrets in there. But then, I think most men are afraid of women’s purses.”
As he peered inside, his brow knit. “Jesus, babe, where would I find one?”
“Pull out the clear plastic cosmetic bag. There’s one in there.”
He dug out the smaller bag, recognizing two lipsticks, a small compact, a comb, and a pink elastic band. “Is this it?” At her nod, he unzipped the bag and reached his large fingers into the small bag. Pulling out the hairband, his attention was snagged by another object. “Why do you keep a mini drive in your cosmetic bag?”
She glanced up, shook her head slightly, then dropped her gaze back to the sandwiches. “I don’t. In fact, other than my hairbands, I rarely use that bag. I should throw it out, but I never know when I might have the occasion to touch up my lipgloss.”
“Babe, there’s a mini drive in here.”
He reached down toward the bottom of the clear bag, his fingers snagging onto the tiny drive. Holding it up for her to see, he watched her brows lower as she stared, first at the drive and then up at him.
“Jorge, I have no idea where that came from. I don’t use those, and I’ve never seen it.”
“Fuck.”
She jerked at his curse, then sucked in a quick breath. “Oh, my God… do you think Caesar put it there? When he was coming from my office?”
“Don’t know, babe, but it would explain why no one has tossed your office or home. If no one knows he had this or hid it, then they only think you have suspicions, not evidence.”
“Will we look at it now?”
“I’ll look at it.”
She blinked, her chin jerking back slightly. “But Cobb, I might be able to help! There might be something in it that I would understand!”
He twisted so that he was facing her. “If I think that you can help decipher something, then I’ll ask. Otherwise, Josie, my job is to keep you safe, and part of that is to keep you out of this.”
Her pale eyes narrowed. “Out of this? I’m in the middle of this!”
Stalking over to her, he cupped her cheeks, loving the feel of her soft skin. “You’re right, you are in the middle of this. Tell you what, let’s eat and then we’ll see what we have. I’ll send it to my people and they can work on it as well.”
She lifted on her toes, kissing him, and nodded. “Deal.”
While they ate, he slid the drive into his laptop and looked at the financial records that filled the screen. Cobb knew with enough time he could decipher what records they were viewing, but with the ponderous amount of information, it would take too much time. Josie admitted she had no idea what the files were referring to.
Deciding that he’d let LSI work on deciphering the contents of the drive, he downloaded a copy and sent them through his secure line to Josh. Setting the laptop to the side, he joined Josie on the sofa, and they curled up together to watch TV.
As she began to yawn, he had no idea how she wanted to proceed. Would she want him to sleep in the guest room? Or join her in her room? He hated to ask but found himself nervous as he waited to see what her thoughts would be. They flipped out all the lights, and he checked the security before meeting her down at the end of the hall.
She stood in her doorway, her gaze darting all around. “I… don’t know where you want to sleep, Jorge. If you’d prefer to sleep by yourself, that’s fine. But… if you want, I’d really like it if you’d…”
“Just tell me what you want, babe.”
She shrugged as her smile widened. “I’d like it if you slept with me.”
The air rushed from his lungs in relief. He stalked forward, scooped her up into his arms, and carried her into the bathroom. “I’ll let you get ready for bed, and I’ll grab my things from the other bathroom.” Uncertain about sleeping nude, he pulled on boxer shorts.
A few minutes later, they crawled underneath the still-messy covers. She was adorable in her