I text her my number.
Thirty seconds later, my phone beeps.
Jessica
You’re going to pay for that.
Like I haven’t been paying since the second I laid eyes on her.
After the morning huddle, where we discuss the day’s priorities and I’ve set everyone on their tasks, it takes two minutes for Ryder to come into my office, close the door, and sit down in the chair across from me.
I give him my undivided attention. “What’s up?”
He stretches out his long legs and laces his fingers over his stomach. “I think that’s my question.”
I contemplate pretending I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I decide against it. “I assume this is about your sister.”
“Yeah, it’s about my sister and whatever the hell is going on between the two of you.”
I want to say nothing is going on with us, but that’s false, so I hold out my hands like I’m appealing to his common sense. “Again, why would I have called you?”
“She wasn’t driving her car, so you didn’t know it was her.” His dark-gray eyes narrow on me. “Seems the logical explanation.”
It is, but I’m not about to affirm his suspicions. I stick to the truth with a whole lot of stuff left out. “I didn’t know it was her.”
His jaw sets in a mulish line. “There was an intensity between you when I pulled onto the street. It didn’t look like two people who’d just met.”
I shrug. “I might have been a bit hostile to her.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, lack of sleep and being chased around for a half hour while in the middle of an investigation that includes a high-profile, corrupt politician made me irritable. And I don’t know if you’ve met your sister, but she doesn’t take well to being yelled at.” I meet his gaze directly and say with complete and utter honesty, “She aggravated me.”
Slowly, he nods. “Uh-huh.”
“Are there any questions other than the ones I’ve answered numerous times?” I gesture at my desk piling up with things that need attention. “Or can we get on with our day?”
He’s silent for a long time. “I don’t like the way you look at her.”
I weigh my answer then say carefully, “You know I don’t do complicated. Which she is, to the nth degree.”
Before he can respond, there’s a knock on the door, and I look through the window to see my desk clerk, Jeanene Gatto, standing there. I wave her in.
She’s a no-bullshit ballbuster in her forties who takes zero shit, which is why she’s great at her job, including managing the citizens of Revival, who believe I belong to them.
She opens the door. “The mistress is awake.”
“Thanks.”
Ryder and I are already standing, shifting seamlessly from personal to work mode.
“I’ll drive,” he says.
“Works for me.” I start grabbing my things.
“Meet you in five.” Ryder walks out the door, heading to his own office.
I pull out my phone to text Jessica.