As brilliant as the woman was, she wasn’t the City of Miami’s official attorney, which created more questions as to why she’d been assigned such a case.
When the door opened, Malco looked up from his phone and felt like he’d had a punch to the gut. The Frida he knew—beautiful as an ice queen in her business suits, perfect make-up, and up-style hairdo—had been magically replaced by a completely different woman. Her face scrubbed clean and her chocolate hair brushed into a shiny cascade over her shoulder, she was dressed in a plain t-shirt and jeans that detailed her wealth of soft feminine curves and made her look even more alluring. Keeping his expression professional would be hard. With her tiny, damaged feet in canvas sneakers, she was still wobbly, but steadier than before. Her dark eyes held strength and resilience in them, as if she’d shored up her defenses while she cleaned up.
“Any news from Shane?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet. But knowing my bosses, and the fact that intruders were in your apartment, they’ll take precautions to avoid running into anyone.”
Taking another step, Frida nodded. “That sounds like Shane.”
The way her voice softened and her body relaxed made him wonder what kind of relationship the lawyer had with his boss. There was no way in hell Shane Rhodes would cheat on Emme. What the dynamic duo shared was off the charts, but maybe Shane and Frida had a relationship way before the Alliance Agency.
“You seem to be close to Shane.” The statement was out before he could prevent it, and in a much rougher tone than he’d intended.
“I met him on the West Coast, just before I moved here to Miami.” Suddenly, a glimmer flashed over her onyx irises, putting a frown on her face. “I hope you’re not insinuating anything untoward, or I don’t care if my feet hurt, I’ll put one of them up your ass.”
Malco’s gut unclenched, and he fought a smile, unexpectedly relieved to hear her words. It was obvious Shane would never betray Emme; the man was too devoted to her to even think about it.
And why was he concerned with who’d been in Frida’s bed?
He didn’t have time to ponder the weird discomfort that rose with that thought as a ring broke the silence.
Frida jerked and reached for her back pocket. “Frida Montalvo.”
Apart from hearing a male voice, he couldn’t understand the words, but the expression on her face as she locked eyes with him told him something was wrong.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t touch anything.”
Malco tensed and immediately went to get his coat he’d left on a nearby chair, never letting her out of his sight.
When she hung up, he saw her brace herself, her fire returning. “Someone has broken into my office. Police are already there. They cut the alarm but didn’t count on the silent alarm I’d installed in my locked safe where I keep all my important files. The security firm alerted the police, and they arrived before they could access anything. I need to go. They’re waiting for me.”
Frida started to hobble toward the door, but Malco gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Easy. Let me call in reinforcements.”
The look of irritation that passed over her face was quickly followed by a contained snarl. “I told you the documents in that locker are sensitive to the case I’m working on. It seems they’re no longer safe, and I won’t leave them there, not even with the cops.”
Malco felt like he was handling a stick of dynamite with this firecracker of a woman—one on the point of explosion. He tried his best to keep an even and calm tone, even though he was tempted to put her over his knees and force sense and caution into her.
“I totally understand. However, we’re protected and safe inside the Agency, but outside, we don’t know where the threat is coming from. We’re talking about gang members that are volatile and dangerous. A gang that’s possibly in cahoots with the DA’s office, so they’re even more unpredictable. We need to be smarter than them, or the only place you’re going to be headed to is the cemetery. You know what gangs are like, how they think. You need to do the same.”
Under his touch, Malco felt her relax a little, taking a deeper breath to get her impulses under control. When she finally locked her gaze with him, the fire had turned into embers, just as fiery, but dosed with logic. “You mean they’re probably outside, waiting for me to leave so they can put a bullet in my head.”
That statement coming from her lips made him wince, his guard coming up instantly, making Malco want to protect her more than he would on any other case. There was something about Frida and the threats surrounding her that made his protective side surge like never before. That made him stop and consider if it was wise for him to be on this case. He barely knew her. Why was he reacting that way? He told himself it was probably because of his own negative experience with gangs.
“There’s a strong possibility they are. Let me make a call, get more of the team in on this, either with us as back-up, or as tails to see if they can pick up anyone following us. I’d prefer more people than less when we leave the compound. At least until we have a better sense of who’s after you.”
He could almost see the wheels turning in her head, her intelligent mind assessing the circumstances like the talented lawyer she was.
When she finally nodded, Malco almost sighed in relief. He’d half-expected her to fight him, but her will to win was greater than her pride. Reluctantly, he removed his hand from her and took out his
