wasn’t happy.”
Another knot formed at his jaw. “No, I don’t suppose he was.”
“It’s my job. If I hadn’t gone after him, the rookie would have, and he was too young and too green.”
His head snapped up at that, but he didn’t share what he was thinking and instead said, “But you wouldn’t have taken two to the face.”
“I gave back as good as I got.” Sort of.
“That you did.”
I changed the subject when I asked sort of tongue-in-cheek to lighten the mood. “Did you always want to be a billionaire?”
I was happy to see it worked when his shoulders weren’t held quite so rigidly. “I used to work for a diving company when I was a kid in Montenegro. When I was older, I owned that diving company and put the profits into buying a hotel. Saw the trend of Hollywood using Montenegro for movies, worked out deals to house cast and crew in the hotel, bought another hotel. It all took off after that.”
That explained his accent. There was clearly more to that story because how did he go from working at a diving company to owning it? I wasn’t going to press for details. Not that I wasn’t interested in the details, but he’d shared a part of his past with me when the last time he closed off. I took it as a victory and moved the conversation on. I lifted my glass, met his gaze and asked, “Do you still have the diving company and hotel?”
His focus shifted. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I liked how he was looking at me. “I do, yes.”
I took a sip of wine, put my glass down. “That’s a great story.”
“Your parents still live in Marlton?” he asked smoothly.
I didn’t hide my surprise. “You remember that?”
“Of course.”
So simply said, but my reaction…I reached for my glass and drained it because I didn’t see this man coming, but, damn, he was getting under my skin.
He topped off my glass. “Yes, they still live in Marlton. Retired, and planning a trip to Europe.” I paused and smiled. “To be fair, they’ve been planning the same trip for decades. I don’t know that they’ll ever actually go. I think it’s just the idea of it they like.”
He looked intense, but what he was thinking I didn’t know. “Where in Europe?”
“Italy or Spain. They aren’t sure,” I said, flashing him a smile. His focus shifted to my mouth, and those eyes grew stormy. My voice was a little off from the lust that lodged in my throat, when I added, “See, the idea of it is the draw.”
He had a thought on that but kept it to himself. “How’s the investigation?”
There was the smallest part of me that recognized his interest in me could be a ruse to get me off the scent, but my gut was telling me this man wasn’t involved. Did he have secrets? Absolutely, but not any that pertained to the case, so I answered him honestly. “We’re hitting a wall.”
Benson returned, replacing the salad plates with our dinner: grilled salmon, drizzled with a dill cream sauce, asparagus and roasted fingerling potatoes. My eyes jerked to Kade. He was already watching me. “Salmon,” I whispered.
“You’re on a kick.”
In response, it was more than lust that moved through me. My voice was a little hoarse when I said to Benson, “This looks delicious. Thank you.”
He left as quietly as he entered.
“Hitting a wall?” Kade asked, bringing the conversation back.
“Yes,” I said, then lowered my fork and put my hands on the table. “I was actually going to reach out to you before I got your text.”
His brow rose.
“This could be way out of left field, but I saw the report on the news about CyberTech.”
Kade put his fork down, his focus completely on me.
“I could be barking up the wrong tree, but murder usually stems from greed…money.”
“I agree.”
“Our case took a strange turn.” I shouldn’t be sharing the details of the case with him because he was a person of interest, not that I thought he had anything to do with Samantha’s death, but I really wanted to use him as a sounding board.
“And you’re hesitant to share with me and not just because of protocol.”
The man was astute.
I answered without thought. “I don’t think you have anything to do with Samantha James.” His expression shifted again, stirring warmth that moved through me slowly, seductively. “Even in light of our new direction, I crossed you off the list