“Lemme grab a laptop. We can work upstairs in Mavis’s office. She’s on vacation.”
Emerson would never be free of her phobia if she didn’t confront it. And she would slow her progress on the case to a debilitating crawl. After the day she’d had, she needed to find something. Anything. She buried her face in his chest. “I want to overcome this. Give me a second.”
He inhaled a slow, deliberate breath and she copied him. Slow inhale, slow exhale. They stood there for what felt like eternity, breathing as one. Her heart rate slowed and she stopped shaking. Gazing up, she offered a little smile.
“I can work down here.” She released her vise grip. “I know this isn’t professional, but you are the perfect person to help me. You’re fearless and I admire that so much.”
“Thank you,” he murmured.
She took a step, then another and another until she was standing in his spacious dungeon. She stared at the console, his bed with the still-rumpled linens. Forcing herself to keep on going, she imagined windows. He pulled out a chair for her and she eased down.
“Nice job, Easton.” He sat beside her and powered up the computers. The monitors sprang to life as she stayed focused on her breathing.
Sitting at his command center, Stryker was the epitome of power. His inner strength bolstered hers. And for a man who wore his anger like a second skin, he had shown her such tenderness.
His fingers flew over the keyboard while he accessed multiple software programs. “What are we looking for tonight?”
Their eyes met. “I haven’t been able to find April’s family. There are several April Peterses on social media, but the accounts are private.”
“I can access those. What else is on the agenda?”
Sex. Sex is on the agenda.“You want to talk about the B&E at your company?”
A shadow darkened his eyes and he raked his hand through his hair. “No.”
Not wanting to push, she let it go. “I’d like to start reviewing club surveillance for anyone who might have been stalking April.”
“How far back you wanna go?”
“A month.”
He turned back to the console, but she couldn’t tear herself away.Stop staring at him.After several more seconds of soaking up all that rugged beauty, she dragged her attention back to the monitors on the wall.
Moments later, he said, “Surveillance is teed up going back a month. I’m in the three most trafficked social media platforms and I’ve pulled up all the women named April Peters. My IDware only works if they have a profile pic of themselves, so I’ll manually check each account.”
“Great plan.”
They worked side by side, but she couldn’t ignore the constant pull. She had this unrelenting urge to look at him, or stroke his arm. She inhaled a slow, calming breath and his baseline scent filled her lungs.
His phone buzzed with an incoming text. “Grub is ready. You good staying put?”
“Yeah.” Rather than view this as being alone in a closed-off space, she would appreciate the much-needed break from her tempting partner.
“Back in two.” He vanished up the steps and she fought against the fear that slithered up her spine. Though she wanted to bolt after him, she stayed rooted in the chair, reviewing the surveillance. Dozens of people sidled up to the bar in the course of a shift. April waited on everyone with a smile. Emerson had learned to distance herself from the victims, but her heart ached as she watched this lovely woman slinging back drinks.
Stryker returned and her body came alive and relaxed at the same time. He had such a powerful effect on her. He stroked her back, between her shoulder blades where her boomslang tat lay beneath her clothes. “Holding up okay?”
A tingle of excitement skittered through her. She could get damn used to his touch. “I’m still here. Areyouokay?”
When he didn’t respond, she glanced over. He was back to work, scouring social media accounts, while eating his burger. “You good with music?” he asked.
“Sure.”
He pulled up a mix of seductive tunes.
Within ten minutes, Stryker broke the silence. “Got it.” He threw a social media account onto a wall monitor. “April hasn’t posted in over a year, but this is her account and that’s her brother.”
He went back to typing. The man’s social media account appeared on all six screens, along with his name and a contact number.