Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,21

you think you’re the only one you can rely on, thus that hard exterior you have to display.”

She nods. “But, sweetheart, you don’t have to, not with me.” Her devotion swings my way, and she rewards me with a sincere smile, and if this smile were to speak, I’d say there’s a thank you in it.

The precinct is hopping, and with every person who passes by, most of the men turn their heads to watch Malia’s ass, but some are obvious and stare at her tits, too. In similar booty shorts as last night and a low-cut tank top, she’s showing more of her stomach than I want others looking at. She’s a vision, but I keep reminding myself she’s not my vision. She’s not mine.

My partner, Stewart Higgins, a first-year detective barely able to sit at the grown-up table, pushes to his feet the second he sees me coming, but it’s not on my account. “Shanahan, I didn’t think you’d be in today.”

“Yeah, it was my hope to, kid.” My partner hates me calling him kid, but since he’s already drooling over Malia, I push it more than the norm. “Is the boss lady in?” I ask, pointing at the chair for Malia. Higgins gives me a curt nod and a silent warning with Vanessa, but I don’t heed it. I normally don’t with this kid. “Malia, Higgins, Higgins, Malia. Have a seat, sweetheart, and I’ll be right back.”

I narrow my eyes to my horny partner. This time, it’s me with a silent warning that Malia is hands-off. He returns it with a mock salute, and I ready myself for Vanessa. Higgins’ first question grates on my last nerve. “Oh, is he your uncle?”

Higgins knows good and well I’m an only child, but his dig is evident, and it’s the age gap between us.

I tap my knuckles on the frame to Vanessa’s door, which is open. She pops her arrogant head up, and the smile which had been on her face falls when her gaze connects with me. “Shanahan, thought you were off today.”

“Yeah, I had to log in some evidence.” I hold up the bag with the note in it.

“Okay, let’s see what you got.” She points at the same seat I sat in yesterday. Standing up, she peers out her office windows into the precinct, and her eyes must find Malia. “Who’s the girl with you?”

I reach for the back of my neck and stretch before I give her the answer. “It’s Malia Strickland,” I respond.

“Um, so how did this happen?” She sits back down, leans back in her chair, her hands linked behind that fucking tight-ass bun on her stupid head.

“You wanted me to chat with her, and yesterday, I left with Matt. She was at the Montgomery house and called me this morning when this letter was left for her outside her dorm room.” Vanessa’s eyes narrow in on the letter, and I’m left to speculate what the conniving bitch will say. I assume she’ll take this personally, knowing during our engagement I’d thought of Malia Strickland as more than just a case.

“Hmm.” With most people, the hmm would be just this, but with Vanessa, there’s so much to be inferred by the word with only three letters. She continues to read the note.

“Well, shit, Smith Turner has been in lockup for three days now. It can’t be him unless he had someone else drop it off.”

She’s reaching for straws. “Hey, Captain, let me ask you a question.” I hate calling her captain, but then again, I hate being in her space. “Who told you Malia Strickland was back in town?”

She angles her head to one side as though I’m speaking a foreign language. “What do you mean?”

“It’s an easy fucking question, Vanessa. Who the hell told you Malia Strickland was back in town?”

She pushes to her feet, her hands in fists pounding her desk. “You better watch it, Wells. I’m not your little Twinkie, someone who just smiles at you and falls to her knees to stroke your ego.”

“Oh, honey, you could never handle my ego anyway.” I stay seated, a sardonic smirk covering my lips. “So, Malia, who told you she was back in town? She told no one. No one knew.”

Vanessa pushes back in her chair, her arrogance lighting up the room like a Christmas tree. “That’s not true. The school knew, and they called to give us the heads-up, so this whole sinister plan that someone on the inside leaked the