“Almost died, Emmett.” She crossed her arms at her chest, the move deepening the bit of cleavage he could see. “We both could have been killed. Just like that.” She gave a sharp snap of her fingers.
“I know.” His eyes locked with hers. “I can’t tell you how sor?—”
“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry.” Anger fueled the heat reflecting in her narrowed gaze. “Not for that. You had no way of knowing that man was there.”
“I should have known.” His brow furrowed with anger and regret. “If I was doing my job, I would’ve seen the security system was down.”
“You didn’t see it was down because the asshole who took a shot at me didn’t want you to see. That’s what Blake said, right?” Her hands dropped to her narrow hips. “I heard you guys talking on the phone when you got home the other night. He said the alarm didn’t go off because he’d somehow rigged the system.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Emmett gave a stark shake of his head. “My job is to protect you. I let myself become distracted, and you were put in danger because of it.”
“Bullshit.”
The blurted curse word caught him by surprise. “I’m sorry?”
“I put myself in danger the second I decided to look into Amy’s disappearance. And I didn’t hire you to protect me I hired you and your team to help me find her. Which, you did.”
“And in the process, you’ve become the new target.”
“I’m well aware,” she shot back. “But if you reallywant to apologize for something, how about for shutting me out?”
“Shutting you out?” he parroted the ridiculous thought.
Only it wasn’t ridiculous. It was the absolute truth. And the woman who appeared to be wearing nothing but his shirt had just called him out on his shit.
Emmett wasn’t used to being confronted about his habit of keeping the women he spent time with at a full arm’s length. Probably because those encounters were very few and far between.
It had been several months since he’d been with anyone, and even then, those experiences were always consensual one-offs. A way to blow off some steam with no regrets and zero strings. And it had worked out just fine for him and his partners.
Until now.
Until her.
Somehow, in the span of less than two weeks, the intriguing journalist from Missouri had wormed her way deeper and deeper inside his hardened heart. He hadn’t intended to let his carefully constructed walls down. Not for Janie or anyone else.
Truth be told, Emmett wasn’t sure he’d even realized it had happened. Now that it had—now that he’d begun to truly care for her—he couldn’t help but feel he was too far gone to think about walls.
It wasn’t as though he’d consciously chosen to let himself to fall for the brunette beauty. But even now, all he could think about was how badly he wanted to pull her into his arms.
“I’ve been following up on leads,” he explained awayhis noticeable absence from the apartment these past few days. “I’ve been trying to find the people responsible for Amy’s death and the attempt on your life so you can stay alive.”
She didn’t say anything at first. Instead Janie slowly filled her lungs with a long, cleansing breath. Letting it out slowly, she kept those almond eyes on his, her next words exposing the full truth of the story he’d just given and not just the part that helped his case.
“This is the longest you’ve been alone in the same room with me since you brought me here that night. And when you are here, you act like I don’t even exist.”
“That’s not true.”
Was it?
“No?” Janie jumped right in with a list of reasons her argument was valid. “You refuse to look at me. You barely speak to me. And you’ve pawned me off onto Gwen and the others like a child in need of a babysitter while you go off to ‘follow your leads’.”
She’s even sexier when she’s pissed.
“I really have been working.”
The disappointment that fell over her reached into his chest like a giant fist squeezing his heart.
“So close,” she whispered sadly. “You know, it really is a shame. You and me?” A breathy sigh escaped from her slightly parted lips. “I really think it would’ve been great.”