“You think I’m capable of this?”
Ten minutes later, Linus had read through the summary and, from what Paula could tell, had given it a second read. The portfolio contained an overview of her conversation with Miranda Bormann. The entry was a timeline of sorts, chronicling dates beginning with Bormann’s initial discovery of the discrepancies regarding her finances, all the way to her nephew’s suspected visits to Joss Construction.
“We just wanted to be thorough.” Paula had even included a snapshot of Hayden Bormann.
Linus seemed to register no recognition of any of it. “But you? You really think I’d be party to something like this?”
“This isn’t personal, Linus—”
“The hell it’s not.” He slammed down the portfolio and turned away in disgust. The intensity of his voice didn’t match its volume, which remained quiet in its fierceness. He bowed his head, and Paula could see the muscle along his jaw working vibrantly.
“This isn’t the way I do business.”
“I know that, Linus—”
“Do you? Do you really?”
“Linus, please. I know you have a respected reputation.”
A flicker of his earlier ease returned. “How do you know that?”
Her smile was cool as she shifted a shoulder. “A good DA knows what businesses contribute most heavily to her city’s economy, and she knows who runs them.”
“And still you come to me with this.” He sent another disgusted look toward the folder.
“We were just covering our bases, Linus.”
“And does it matter that I’ve never heard of Hayden Bormann? Or his aunt?”
“Like I said, we’re just trying to cover our bases.”
“Covering bases isn’t easy.” Linus considered. “Isn’t this kind of work a little below your pay grade? This is the kind of work for an ADA and his team of assistants, isn’t it?”
“I work just as hard as everyone in my office, and this is personal. I owe Miranda Bormann.”
“Why?”
“She was my professor in law school. She’s a good woman who doesn’t deserve to be going through this—definitely not from someone in her very own family.”
More of Linus’s anger seemed to drift away. Paula could almost see the transformation taking place as understanding filtered into his expression. When he looked to the portfolio a third time, his expression held more curiosity than disgust.
“She’s not out for blood, L. She just wants answers.” Paula slapped her hands to her sides in a bewildered fashion. “She’s holding out hope that there could be explanations here that go beyond shady dealings. If her nephew is up to something underhanded, she hopes his clients aren’t involved, that maybe they’re just unaware of what’s really going on.”
Linus had retrieved the folder. Again, he was scanning its pages.
“I know I could’ve been a little more up-front on what I wanted to talk to you about when I saw you yesterday with Barker—”
“You don’t have to explain, Paula. Least of all to me.” He raised the portfolio. “May I keep this?”
She waved toward it. “It’s yours.”
“What’s your time frame on this?”
“We, um, we wanted to be thorough,” Paula reiterated. “Professor Bormann says the questionable transactions only took place when she was out of town. She’s not planning on taking any trips for a while. This is a personal matter so...we’re on our own time.”
Linus smiled. “You and Sophie must have the streets clear of crime if the DA has the kind of time to devote to something like this.”
“I’ve got a good staff.”
“Right. Another perk you’ll miss?”
Paula gave a playful wince at his reference to their conversation in Mexico.
“So did I read that wrong, or have you really had your fill of the big chair?”
“It’s not an easy job.” She gave a refreshing smile. “It’s like Professor B says—there are all kinds of ways to serve.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
“The smartest,” Paula confirmed.
Linus gave another look to the portfolio. “I’ll talk to my staff. Maybe they’ll remember something I overlooked.”
“Thank you, Linus.” Paula began to collect her things. “And thanks for the pastries.”
“Don’t you want to know where I got them?”
“Hmph, my heart does. My hips might complain.”
Linus’s liquid brown gaze began an immediate assessment, and Paula refused so much as a flutter of her lashes while she endured it.
“Your hips have absolutely nothing to complain about,” he said, smiling when Paula made a hasty departure.
* * *
“Well, well, don’t you have work to be catching up on after all that time on your back?” Paula called out when she breezed into her office to find Chief of Detectives Sophia Hail-Rodriguez waiting to see her.
Sophia’s gray eyes were alive with happiness and humor. “Oh! I wasn’t just on my back. I—”
“Spare me.” Paula raised a hand.
Sophia laughed as a sobering light crept into her gaze. “I’ve been trying to decide whether to give you the cold shoulder after the way you just left me during the most perfect moment of my life.”
“Well, your yummy husband hung around, didn’t he?” Paula noted. “Doesn’t get more perfect than that.”
“Correct.” Sophie inclined her head teasingly. “And he keeps trying to top himself on how perfect he can make things.”
“That’s what they’re supposed to do, I hear.” Paula rounded her desk and went to shuffle through the mail she found there.
“Too bad someone’s making that difficult for him.”
“Oh? How so?” Paula’s question held an absent tinge as she continued to shuffle her mail.
“Tig’s got an opportunity to get us away for a few more weeks of fun and sun, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get to go.”
That caught Paula’s attention. She took her chair then, eyes lawyer-sharp and expectant. “Something’s up?” she asked.
“Oh yeah.” Sophie sighed. “Trouble is, it’s been happening right under my nose and I didn’t know a thing about it.”
“So we didn’t get them all?” Paula shook her head, understanding Sophie referred to the members of law enforcement they’d already rounded up in connection to the money laundering racket they’d foiled.
“Nah.” Sophia waved off Paula’s guess. “This situation happened a long time ago. I guess me and my bestie aren’t as tight as I thought. Otherwise, she’d have told me she was pining for a guy I’ve known almost as long as I’ve known my husband.”
Realization had Paula rolling her eyes. Puffing out her cheeks as well, she stood and went to help herself at the bar near the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city of Philadelphia.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sophia asked.
Paula shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Alright,” Paula snapped, balling a fist. “If it didn’t work out, I didn’t want to have to talk about it. Especially with you. As it turned out, it didn’t work out, so—”
“Whoa, whoa. What do you mean, ‘especially with you’?”
“Let it go, Soph.”
“Uh-uh.” Sophia left her chair and joined Paula at the bar. “What is this? What’s going on with you? Eli and Tig say L is a mess.”
“Well damn, have you all just gotten together and discussed this?”
“Yes.”
Even as Paula bristled in response to her answer, Sophia took pity. “Honey, we’re sorry. We just love and care about you both. It’s killing Tig and Eli to be so happy while Linus is so miserable.”
Paula stilled. “Miserable?”
“According to them, he’s been a mess since he saw you in Cortina.”
“Oh please, you guys are making too much out of this now. Linus was just...caught up in the moment.”
“And what about you?” Sophia challenged. “’Cause it’s clear you aren’t your usual take-the-world-by-the-scrotum self.”
Paula sneered. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. What I’d like you to mention though is why you wouldn’t tell me of all people about Linus? Why would you think it wouldn’t work out for you guys?”
“I didn’t think that.” Paula pushed back from the bar. “I wanted to marry him, and when it didn’t work out that way... Sophie, I didn’t tell you because whenever I’ve been really happy in my life, it’s never lasted. I’m not just talking about with men, either. Linus, he... I’ve never been that happy. I don’t think I’ve been as happy since.”
Concern had Sophie frowning. “Honey, what happened?”
“That’s just it.” Paula’s voice held an amused, bewildered tone. “I have no idea what happened.”
“Well, didn’t you want to—”
“Not anymore, Soph.”
“Paula...” Sophie looked more uneasy. “You realize that with me and Tigo married, there’s a chance you and Linus will run into each other a lot?”
“I know.”
“Can you handle that?”
“Please.” Paula looked offended. “’Course I can.”
“Prove it. The guys have to go to The Bahamas. Tigo, Eli and Rook want to make it a couples trip for obvious reasons, but they don’t want Linus to feel left out.”
“Seriously?” Paula’s offended expression sharpened. “It’s pretty low of you guys to hinge the fate of your sex trip on me.”
“And yet here I am, doing it anyway.”
“Why do I have to be there?” Paula sounded close to whining, and she didn’t care. “I’m pretty sure that Linus won’t be in any danger of being left without a date.”
“Well, well, is that your way of acknowledging how dreamy he is? I’m surprised.”
“I didn’t acknowledge that.”
“So you disagree that he’s dreamy?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You aren’t saying much of anything, you know. What’s wrong? Can’t think with visions of Linus Brooks on the brain?”
Paula waved toward her office door. “If you have no official business to bring to the DA’s office, Chief...”
“Mmm...pulling rank.” Sophia looked smug. “My, my, you are frustrated. I think I know a guy who can help you with that.”
“Soph, I swear—”
“Uh-uh-uh, no hitting the Chief of Ds...”
“I think I outrank you.”
“I’ve got a better right hook.”
“We’ll see.” Paula returned to the bar with intentions of finishing the drink she’d started to prepare.
“Honey, Linus doesn’t want to go down there with anyone but you.”
Paula blinked, then turned to consider her friend. “He said that?”
“According to Tig and Eli, it was pretty obvious. Whatever you talked about in Mexico must’ve really gotten to him.”
“Hmph.” Paula returned to fidget with her glass. “I’m sure that’s not the case after what I said to him this morning.”
“Dare I hope you’ll give me the scoop? Or is this more gossip I’ll have to get from my husband?”
“Do you remember Professor Miranda Bormann?”
“One of your law professors? Sure.”
“She’s got some personal problems involving a shady nephew. He may be doing business with Joss.” Paula took a seat on one of the bar stools. “Since Linus is the guy all new clients have to meet first—”
“You think Linus is into something dirty?”
“I didn’t say that, Soph.”
“So lemme guess, after your talk this morning, he believes that’s exactly what you think.”
“I just don’t think I’m his favorite person right now, so... I should probably skip this little getaway. So should you.” Paula pointed a finger in Sophie’s direction. “Considering you’ve been away so much already.
“I calculate I’m owed more time.” Sophie pointed out. “Besides, let’s not forget we’ll be deep in winter soon—better to get out while the gettin’s good. But this is about more than sun and fun.”
“Oh?” Paula pushed off the stool she occupied.
“Me and T think we’ve found the perfect way to repay Rook and Veev for Mexico. The place in The Bahamas is an island all to itself. There’s an amazing villa less than ten miles from Finley Cay, near Nassau.”
“Nice.”
“I know, right? The guys have to take the trip anyway—a brainstorming session for ways to develop the island. The villa alone makes it a marvel—the perfect spot for one of my favorite couples to become man and wife. In the meantime, my other favorite couple can work on their issues.”
“Soph—”
“I’ll get more details to you soon. It’s still another few weeks before we head out.” Sophia went to her friend, took her by the shoulders and squeezed. “You’ve never quit a thing as long as I’ve known you. Don’t wimp out now.”
Paula knew it was pointless to argue, so she didn’t.
Satisfied, Sophia nodded and then grabbed her coat and bag and prepared to leave. “If you’re worried about you and Linus being the only unattached ones there, don’t be. Clarissa’s having this same conversation with Rayelle, and Linus already talked Barker into coming.”
“This just keeps getting better and better.” Paula sighed.
Sophia fixed her oldest friend with a stern look, and then she was gone.
* * *
“Paula?” Linus hesitated before completely abandoning the confines of the elevator. He felt it best to announce himself, or else risk a less cordial introduction to her security team.
“In the living room!”
Linus heard her call and used it to locate the space. His steps slowed. She’d called out with such familiarity that he wondered if she had gotten him confused with somebody else. He called himself a fool, remembering that he’d had to be announced before entering her place—or her elevator, to be more precise.
His past was against him, which was why he was neck-deep in guilt and self-consciousness. She invited you up, idiot. Just be grateful and don’t waste the chance, he told himself. Linus made his way through the exquisite penthouse apartment. In spite of his uncertainty over being there, it didn’t prevent him from appreciating the home. He’d always favored the craftsmanship of the building from the outside. He’d never had the chance, or rather, never taken the chance, for a closer inspection.
Once he’d been told that the residence was home to the DA—his estranged former love—he’d steered clear. Now, he had confirmation that the interior was equally impressive. The color scheme ran in warm browns and rich cream enhanced by glossy woods, some of which were trimmed in brass and bronze.
The place was a fine balance of male comfort and female elegance. Linus found Paula surrounded by gorgeous art and body-pampering furniture. She appeared anything but relaxed hunched over her laptop, which was perched on a square pine coffee table before a long overstuffed sofa and matching armchairs. She and her tote bag occupied one of the chairs.
Linus couldn’t hide his smile and didn’t try to. How could he, when she was every bit of a reminder of long-ago evenings when he’d drop by her more modest apartment to find her in the midst of meeting an encroaching deadline? Linus bowed his head then, clearing his throat as the memory turned down a different path. Deadline or not, he’d have had her naked and moaning less than an hour after his arrival.
She was watching him suspiciously as he left the memory behind.
“I see you still have something against using a desk,” Linus said, deciding she wouldn’t appreciate knowing where his thoughts really rested.
Paula took stock of her area. “I can promise you my desk at work gets lots of use. Did you find out anything?”
She’d leaned back in her chair to watch him, and Linus’s mind was a total blank. A total blank if he didn’t count his brain rapidly firing as he assessed the lush line of her legs and thighs that were bared by the oversized 76ers T-shirt she sported.
Paula straightened suddenly, reading Linus’s assessment all too clearly then. He snapped to as well and moved deeper into the room.
“There’s nothing to report,” he said, “but my staff’s on it, and they’re very thorough.” That was the only bright spot in the entire mess, Linus mused. He was counting on the thoroughness of his staff to give him more time with the woman he cursed himself daily for losing.
“If there’s anything to find, they will.” He moved farther into the room. “I’ve got them going over all current jobs and those completed in the last year.”
“Thanks, Linus. Professor B will be glad to hear it.”
Linus smiled. “You guys seem close.”
“We are.” Paula’s smile was laced with memory. “She was very good to me. In ways I can never repay.”
Linus decided to turn the conversation before the air grew too heavy with past regrets. “Paula, about this morning—”
“Forget it.” Heat swept her, and she pushed away from the armchair. “A kiss is the least I could give you for those pastries.”
“Glad to hear that.” A shallow furrow took shape between Linus’s long, heavy brows. “I’m actually talking about the way I acted when you got to the point of your visit. I haven’t lost my temper, really lost it, since that night—”
“Linus—”
“I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did this morning. You’re trying to help someone you care about. I definitely get that, in spite of what you might think of me personally.”
Paula didn’t know what to say and prayed he’d say more.
“I came here to tell you that. We, um, we may have to see each other a few times before this is all over, and I don’t want...any more drama between us.”
Paula nodded, and a small burst of laughter escaped. “No, we sure don’t need any more of that.”
“I hear Sophie talked to you about the trip.”
Further amused, Paula scooted deeper into her chair. “Talked to? Ordered me is more like it.”
“Will you follow her orders?” Linus strolled over to the mantle to enjoy the pictures of Paula and Sophie that lined it.
“Doesn’t look like I have a choice.” Debate crossed her face then. “Sounds like you do though.”
Curious, Linus turned to study her.
“You’re free to take whoever you want, L, because now that Sophie knows we...have a past, she’s on a mission to fix us. All this wedding planning and love-conquers-all stuff is going to her head.”
“It’s not the worst thing to have go to your head, you know?”
Paula huffed. “Well, just because I have to suffer doesn’t mean you should.”
“I won’t be suffering, Paula. At least not because I’m not getting what I want out of this trip.”
Paula shook herself free of the ability his eyes had to take hers captive and suspend her in desire. “You know, you really shouldn’t bother driving all the way across town while we solve this Bormann thing.” She latched onto the topic at the forefront of her mind. “We can cover most of this by phone.”
“And your professor is sure her nephew came to see me?” Linus had already dismissed her suggestion to handle business any other way but in person.
“She’s not sure of much. She has to be careful who she asks, or she’ll get certain members of her family involved before she’s ready to. According to the private investigator she hired, her nephew’s been seen visiting Joss. Understandably, the guy couldn’t go in asking questions about who Hayden Bormann was there to see.”
“So naturally it’s me.”
“Linus, I’m—”
“It’s alright. I didn’t mean anything by it. Tig and Eli have no clues about this guy either.” Sighing, Linus massaged all ten fingers into the nape of his neck. “That means whoever this is hasn’t gotten past me to the client stage.”
Paula noticed a more pensive look take hold of his fierce features. “What?”
“The trip we’re putting together in The Bahamas is really about business.” Linus shook his head over the irony. “We have a ton of proposals we’ve been debating for a while now.”
“Debating?”
“That’s another way of saying Eli and Tig have questions. Usually I’m the one with doubts—picking apart every detail to find a weak spot.”
“Which is why you guys always turn out A-rated properties.”
Linus appeared surprised by the compliment.
“I’m only repeating what the word is around town. They’re lucky to have you,” she said, thankful he released her from his steady gaze before she began to squirm beneath it.
Linus shrugged, his friends and partners taking his focus again. “For one of us to have hesitations is cause for a proposal to go on the TBD pile. Tig and E are big picture guys, which you need in a business like ours, but too many businesses like ours have fallen by the wayside because they overlooked details that came back to bite them in the ass.” He shook off the idea.
“Anyway, this stack of proposals is what we hope to get through during the trip. I’ve got my staff looking at past and current jobs, but not these. I’d be happy to let you take a look at them if you want.”
“Yeah.” Paula looked surprised and pleased by the offer. “It’d be great, especially if I find something and I know it’s nothing you guys have put your hands on yet.”
“We have everything printed in hard copy, but I could get it to you on a drive if that works better,” he offered. “We should probably avoid couriers and such. Best to keep this in as few hands as possible.”
“Agreed.” She shook her head in wonder then. “Linus, thanks.”
“Not a problem.” Something shifted, intensified in the way he studied her. “I’ll drop it by your office around noon tomorrow.” He made the offer, hoping to work in time alone with her during the lunch hour.
Paula’s eyes brightened with acceptance and then dimmed almost a second later. “I’ve got a working lunch with my staff tomorrow at Dugall’s.”
Linus whistled, thinking of the posh establishment with only private dining rooms. “A lady who knows how to treat her staff.”
Paula waved off the implication that she overindulged her people. “It’s only on special occasions.” Like letting my people know their boss is calling it quits, she tacked on silently. “We should be done by one, one-thirty. I could swing by after.”
Disapproval rimmed Linus’s gaze. “That’s a hike, Paula. How ’bout I just drop it off for you there at Dugall’s. That’s easier for you, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, um, yeah it would be,” she accepted and prayed she didn’t sound as eager as she felt. Paula... She could practically hear the berating tone she often used to call herself down.
The man was dangerous, she reminded herself. He was dangerous in a subtle, seductive manner that approached determined, yet deliberate. That manner teased and tempted his quarry until she was naked and moaning beneath him. Linus Brooks making it “easier for her” had so many connotations. They made her head spin while every other part of her throbbed.
“Thanks again, Linus.
“You’re welcome. Why’d you come see me about this?” He posed the question on the same breath.
Despite its suddenness, the question didn’t surprise Paula. If he was as instinctive as she’d heard, and by now pretty much believed, she was certain that the question had occurred to him since before she’d left his office that morning.
“Well, you said everyone has to come through you first, right?”
“But you didn’t know that, or did you?” He slipped both hands into his trouser pockets while regarding her coolly. “You seem to know a lot about the way I handle my business.”
Paula barely attempted a shrug. “Nothing strange in that given what’s going on here, what we’re investigating.”
“So that’s why?”
“What difference does it make, Linus?” She closed her eyes, using everything inside her to tamp down a sudden urge to moan. Jeez, the girl was making yet another steadfast climb to the upper levels of her conscience.
Paula scooted to the edge of her chair, but her moves weren’t fast enough. Linus was there, blocking her way when he took his place before her on the edge of the coffee table. It took him no time to set her work materials on the sofa.
“Why’d you come to me at all?” he probed. “It would’ve been easier for you to take it to Eli or Tig, right?”
“Would you please stop with the ‘easier for me’?” She tried again to scoot from the chair.
“Why? It would’ve been, right?” His fingers curved around the backs of her knees, keeping them apart and immobile.
Paula labored to shove aside the sensation his touch ignited. “I didn’t want to worry them with this if there was no need—”
“But worrying me was alright?”
“I didn’t much care if you were worried or not.”
He grinned, appreciating the dig. “Somehow I didn’t think you of all people would want to see me upset.”
“But that seems to happen regardless, doesn’t it?”
“Did you miss me, Paula?” His question countered hers, and he smiled when the truth he wanted to see flickered in her bright eyes.
Paula bristled again, drawing on everything she had to fight against emotion. “What difference does it make?” Her voice was a gasp.
“Because I miss you.”
She shook her head, knowing that she was working to convince herself instead of him. “It’s too late.”
“Is it?” Linus used one hand at her knee to keep her still and accessible to him. The other roamed her inner thigh until he was cupping her core. His thumb commenced a lurid assault on her clit beneath her panties.
“Linus.” She was melting for him, but if she accepted what he offered—what she wanted—and lost him again, it would crush her.
“Why won’t you let me talk about that night?”
“I’m not the girl you want.”
Linus took a knee before her then. He used his wide frame to keep her open for him. “You’re wrong. You’ve always been the girl for me.” He spoke at her collarbone before his divine mouth cruised the line of her neck and he sucked her earlobe.
Paula cursed the whimper she heard coming from her throat. It didn’t stop her from nuzzling her ear against his mouth, angling it to gain more of his attention. Still, she was desperate to keep some semblance of the upper hand.
“She—she’s gone, Linus.”
“Is she?” He rotated his thumb while increasing the pressure of his treatment at her ear.
“Is she?” He murmured the question this time. His mouth traveled from her lobe to her jaw and finally the corner of her mouth. There, he nibbled and sucked her bottom lip until she granted him access.
The deep, steady thrusts of his tongue had her offering quiet wavering moans and instant participation. Paula met his thrusts with her own, all the while shifting to claim greater attention from his skillful thumb at her crotch.
Linus wanted her closer too and stood to accomplish that. In the midst of their kiss, her honey-toned thighs curved about his lean waist to lock him in a lush embrace. He broke the kiss then, hungry for the fragrance that clung to her skin.
“It’s just down the hall,” she said.
“What is?”
“Where I sleep.” Her tone was innocent in its simplicity.
Far from innocent, Linus’s grin was a devilish one. Not tonight, he vowed.