“And even if Detective Knox does turn out to be some sort of double agent who’s willing to risk his career by handing over…whatever it is he thinks can help…it’s fruit from the poisonous tree. So while it may help lead us in the right direction, nothing he shares with us will be admissible in a court of law, and therefore it will negate any chances of prosecution for the real killer. So either way, I’m fu?—”
“Cassandra, stop!” He laid a gentle hand over hers, effectively bringing the woman’s panicky movements to a halt. “Logan already put a call into a guy he used to work construction with. He’s got a crew coming first thing in the morning to take care of the porch. By this time tomorrow, you’ll never even know that paint was there.”
Emotion filled her baby blues, that gorgeous gaze of hers glistening behind a wall of unshed tears. “What am I going to do, Archer?” Cassie’s whisper was thick, the question followed by a desperate plea. “Please.” She blinked, setting free twin tears that raced simultaneously down both cheeks. Her chin quivered, her words breaking apart as she implored him to, “T-tell me w-what to do.”
10
Lifting both hands slowly toward her, Archer framed her beautiful, worried face and stared deep into her stunning gaze. “Trust me.” He used his thumbs to brush her tears away. “That’s all you have to do, sweetheart. Just…trust me.”
“I do trust you, Archer.” She gave a quick, nervous lick of her lips that drove him wild with the urge to kiss her. “But ‘I’m…scared.”
“I know you are, sweetheart.” Archer leaned in close, pressing his lips to her forehead before resting his there. “I know you’re scared, but I’ve got you. I’m here, and I’ve got you.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he prayed she could feel the promise to keep her safe in his warm embrace. Cassie returned the gesture, even giving him a tight squeeze as she rested her cheek against his chest.
As he stood there, hugging a woman who was only supposed to be a client, Archer was filled with a sense of homecoming that should have terrified him but didn’t. And when she lifted her head from his chest and brought her gaze back up to his, he no longer saw the tension and fear he’d so easily recognized minutes before.
What Archer found instead was…
Desire.
Pure. Unadulterated. Desire.
Despite the day’s tumultuous events, there was an unmistakable hunger darkening within those incredible swirls of blue. A feracious need perfectly matching the same one filling his veins—and his eager dick—this very second.
“Cassie…” Her name was a warning.
“Yes?”
A quick blink preceded a look so innocent…so fuckingpure…it sent a rush of arousal straight to his aching crotch. Lowering his hands to her narrow hips, his grip strained beneath the pressure of the war raging deep within.
“I’m trying to do the right thing, here.” He really,reallywas.
“The right thing?”
“I shouldn’t be touching you.” And yet, he couldn’t seem to stop. “You hired me to protect you. We shouldn’t?—”
“You touched me earlier, in the car.”
Not nearly enough.
“That was…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the kiss they’d shared was a mistake. Because damn it, it hadn’t felt like a fucking mistake. It had felt…
Hot.
Wet.
Passionate.
Right.
Archer wouldn’t call the intimate moment a mistake, because it hadn’t felt like one. Not in his gut or his heart. Rather than speak an untruth, he told her, “It was highly unprofessional. And I know it probably sounds like a line, but I swear to you, I’ve never done anything like that with a client.”
“Not ever?”
“No.” A truthful shake of his head. “Not even once.”
“You ever come close?”