An ironic smile spread across her lips as she realized in some ways, she and Kane were more alike than she’d ever expected. Both of them were running from their grief. The difference was, she’d buried herself in the intellectual puzzle of the job, whereas he’d run straight to the danger.
“Melinda, I’m—”
“You’re right about something else, too, Kane. You and me? We’re not partners. But right now, there’s a zealot group buying up illegal guns. They think it’s okay to put out a hit on the woman who dared to infringe on their ability to get those guns, intentionally or not. We’re going to see this through and shut this source down. Then we can go back to the way things were before.”
The muscle in his jaw pulsed, his eyes narrowed assessingly. But in the end, he just nodded. “Deal.”
In the instant before he turned and walked away, she regretted all of it. She regretted giving him any hint of the loss she’d experienced when both her husband and son had been killed at the same time. She regretted showing him the way to piss her off and push her away. Maybe most of all, she regretted agreeing to keep working with him.
Chapter Fourteen
When the doorbell rang at close to midnight Sunday night, Davis frowned and tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans before he checked the peephole. Then he swore and opened the door wide for Leila.
She stepped inside without waiting for an invitation and he peered past her, onto the street, looking for the patrol car he’d requested to be stationed outside her house until they solved this case. Until they knew for sure no other BECA members would come after her.
A black and white was idling in front of his house. Leila’s protection.
“I told the cops I was coming here. They insisted on following me over,” Leila said.
He closed and locked the front door as she glanced past his entryway into the living room, curiosity on her face.
When was the last time he’d had a woman he was dating in his home? It had been too long. Not that he didn’t date. But his relationships never lasted long enough to get to the “why don’t you come over?” stage. A few dates in and he’d know whether it was going anywhere. Rather than hurt the woman later, he broke it off sooner. It had happened for so many years, he’d figured that long-term just wasn’t for him. It was disappointing—he’d always imagined settling down some day—but he’d prefer to be alone than pretend a relationship was going somewhere permanent when it wasn’t.
But Leila looked good in his house. As she strode past him and settled onto his big, comfortable couch without an invitation, he hid a smile.
He hadn’t called her. He’d kissed her like he needed her as much as he needed air yesterday morning, and then he’d left for the TCD office. When he’d returned, he’d avoided being alone with her, avoided an awkward conversation or another kiss. Because when it came to Leila, his willpower was shot. But he needed to solve this case first. Needed to figure out who was behind the illegal arms sales and the defective armor before he could even begin to think about whether a relationship with Leila Petrov was possible.
Leave it to her to force the issue. He should have known she wasn’t going to wait for him to decide he was ready.
He followed her into the living room, settling on the edge of the chair across from her, not trusting himself to sit beside her and not reach for her.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at his seating choice, but then she leaned forward. “Tell me about the illegal gun sales.”
“What?”
She smiled slightly, but then the expression was gone, replaced by her serious, CEO face. “You thought I was going to demand answers about that kiss in my office?” She lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to that.”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed.
Kane was right that he’d lost all focus when it came to Leila, but was it any wonder he couldn’t resist this woman? If he’d met her under other circumstances, he would have long since invited her into his house.
The thought made any amusement fade fast. He was going to do everything he could to shelter her from any fallout from whoever had been using her company as a source for illegal activity. But when it was all over, he had to walk away. Had to go back to his job and let her try to pick up the pieces. Because no matter how much he wanted everything to be okay for her, it was unlikely her company would come out of this unscathed. It was unlikely she would come out of this unscathed.
No matter how much he wanted to separate his growing feelings for Leila from the investigation, he couldn’t really do it. When this was all over, she was sure to resent him. Regardless of how he felt about her, would he ever be able to separate that from what had happened to Jessica? Could he ever truly forgive her for running the company that had caused his friend’s death?
“Don’t get all closed up on me now,” Leila said, misunderstanding whatever emotions she’d seen on his face. “I know it’s an active investigation. But we agreed that we’re in this together. You told me there have been illegal gun sales coming from my company for more than a decade. So, let me help you figure this out. How much longer has it been? How many guns?”
Davis studied her, her expression intense despite the skinny jeans and long, loose T-shirt she wore. Her hair was down again, her makeup nonexistent, and he realized how much he liked her non-CEO look. The real Leila, the one people in her office didn’t get to see. But she’d let him in, let him see her vulnerable, trusted him with information about
