about. The walls and floor were bare, and the place smelled like burned microwave popcorn.
“Wow, Kendall is a sneaky liar
“Don’t forget power abuser and drug pusher.”
She jumped, her gaze flying across the room. Framed in the door leading to what she assumed must be the cells was Mr. Tall, Dark and Mysterious.
“Um, hi,” she said to Hunter, shuffling nervously from her right foot to her left. “I came to see Caleb…?”
“He’s finishing up the interrogation. He’ll be out in a few minutes.”
She nodded, then looked back at the door. Should she leave? She’d definitely rather, but something about Hunter’s stare made it hard to run away.
She glanced back at him, then away again. Twining her trembling fingers together, she stared aimlessly around the ugly space.
“Would you like to sit?” Hunter asked, now leaning against the door frame in what she supposed was a casual pose. Except that he still looked as if he could kill a person with his pinkie.
“Um, no. I’ll just… Um, maybe I should come back later?”
“Stay.”
Command or request? Did it matter? Pandora bit her lip, then stepped farther into the room so she could set her purse on one of the desks.
“I’ve heard about your store. Intriguing. I didn’t realize your cat was psychic, too, though.” His tone was conversational, but his blue eyes danced with laughter.
A giggle escaped, and with it, some of Pandora’s tension. Who knew, superhottie had a sense of humor. It was hard to look at him for too long, though. He was so intense. If she wasn’t in love with Caleb, she’d be stuttering and blushing and weaving all sorts of sexual fantasies.
“Bonnie’s not psychic. She tilts her head because she had a series of ear infections when she was younger,” Pandora replied, finally relaxing enough to lean against the desk. Then she paused, thinking back to both the cats’ unnatural behavior toward Russ and Kendall. “I mean, as far as I know, she doesn’t actually read minds.”
His face impassive but his eyes still laughing, Hunter nodded and walked over to a small refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. He handed it to her with a small smile.
Wow. Maybe he wasn’t that scary.
Pandora bit her lip, then unable to help herself, she blurted out, “What does Caleb do for you? He’s…what? A cop? DEA agent? Why does everyone think he’s an unemployed no-good drifter?”
“Because I am an unemployed, no-good drifter.”
Pandora only jumped a little before turning to see Caleb standing in the doorway. Hunter just slanted his gaze toward the other man, then nodded and headed out the front door.
His hand on the knob, he turned back and told Pandora, “It was good to meet you. We’ll talk again.”
Her heart slamming against her chest, Pandora gave a jerky nod. She waited for the door to close before asking, “What’s going on?”
“Russ Turnbaugh and Jeff Kendall are under federal arrest. We’ve commandeered the sheriff’s holding cells until a team arrives to take them in.”
“Federal?”
“Hunter’s with the FBI.”
“And you?”
“I was with the DEA, but I quit a while ago. Right now I’m exactly what I’ve said. Unemployed and clueless about what I’m going to do next.” His words were as guarded as his expression. He looked as if he wasn’t sure if she was there to talk or to beat the living hell out of him.
Pandora nodded, then looked away. A part of her wanted to beg him to make sure whatever it was, he did it with her. Another part, burned one too many times, warned her to hold back until she had the truth. All the truth.
“Are you working for the FBI, though?” Her chin high, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look in control, instead of on the verge of being a blubbering mess again.
“Hunter was my college roommate.” He sounded less cold, more like himself now. She could actually see him starting to defrost. Whether it was because she wasn’t hitting him, or he was shedding his interrogation-cop attitude, she wasn’t sure. “We’re friends. I was doing him a favor.”
“I didn’t realize the FBI looked into small-town drug problems.”
“Not usually.” He shrugged. “But there were extenuating circumstances in this case, and the drugs are a new blend. Something they wanted to stop before they gained a foothold.”
“And you offered to help out of the goodness of your heart? Because you were bored being all unemployed and clueless?” Pandora winced, not sure where the anger was coming from.
“Don’t blow this out of proportion. The bad guys are caught and they won’t be using you or your store any longer. You’re cleared and everyone knows it.”
Cassiopeia was right. He had staged that little scene for her benefit. Pandora’s heart pounded, emotions flying about so fast she didn’t know if she should be thrilled, grateful or simply furious.
She settled on a combination of all three.
“Oh, no. No blowing things out of proportion. I should be relieved I won’t have to go through weeks of grilling questions, false accusations and the loss of my computer and privacy this time.” She was yelling by the last word. Apparently she’d glommed on to the fury more than all the other emotions.
Needing to get a handle on herself, Pandora held up both hands, took a deep breath.
Calm.
Centered.
Another breath, and she was pretty much collected.
“Look-” he said.
“No,” she interrupted with a snap, whatever she’d collected scattering again. “I’m not finished. You came on to me. You poked through my computer, you made yourself at home in my house. You slept with me, over and over and over. And the whole time, you were investigating me?”
“I told you, you were cleared. I never suspected you, not really. Hell, you’re not even the person I came to town to investigate.” His jaw snapped shut. For the first time, Pandora saw Caleb angry. Not the stoic hard-ass thing he did so well, but really, truly angry.
Smoldering heat flared deep in her belly. It was kind of a turn-on.
“Look. You know the truth now. What’s the big deal? Can’t we just move forward from here?”
Move forward? Where? How? Wasn’t this where he mounted his big black hog and rode off into the sunset?
The idea of that, of saying goodbye to him forever, was like a knife in her gut.
“The big deal is that I was falling for you and you were investigating me,” she shouted. Horrified, she clapped both hands over her mouth. That was so not the way to dial back the drama.
CALEB FELT LIKE SHIT.
The rush of the bust, with its extra dollop of happy that he’d been able to take a schmuck like Kendall down, was gone. Now he was faced with the reality of what he’d done. With how he’d hurt Pandora.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said, knowing the words were totally inadequate, but having no idea what else to say. Pissed, he shoved his hands through his hair. He hated this. Hated not having a clue how to fix things with her.
“You lied to me,” she said, her chin wobbling a little.
But he knew she wouldn’t let him until he’d cleared up this mess.
“Not lied,” he corrected scrupulously. “Just…withheld information.”
“If not me, then who did you come to town to investigate?”
Caleb hesitated. Not only was it an open investigation, which meant the information was still confidential, but this was his father. Sure, the FBI had an entire database dedicated to cons they suspected him of. But most people,
