Secret Agent Under Fire. Geri Krotow
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to keep Silver Valley safe lead to deeper relationships off the clock.”
“Like you and Kayla.”
Rio’s expression faltered and she saw a red tinge on his cheekbones. He-man, detective and Trail Hiker team lead was blushing over his woman?
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Rio, I didn’t mean to fluster you, for God’s sake.”
“Save it. You know you fit in almost too well here, don’t you, Abi?”
“Maybe. How did you meet Kayla?” Rio’s girlfriend was a local florist Abi had met at the SVPD police picnic last week. Before the arson case had escalated.
Rio’s smile disappeared and his jaw tensed. “At a murder scene. The second time.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Rio.”
“It wasn’t a personal friend of either of ours, but by the time we closed the case Kayla had been shot at, more than once.”
“She sounds pretty tough.”
“That she is.” The look of bemusement and absolute adoration that changed Rio’s demeanor from grim to grateful shot stabs of jealousy through Abi. Would she ever elicit that kind of emotion from a man?
She sure hadn’t in DC: all the more reason to consider her relocation to Silver Valley permanent. As the song said, a change might do her good.
A short rap on Rio’s office door interrupted her thoughts and was the only warning they had before the door opened and Keith Paruso entered.
“Hey, Rio, great work—” He cut himself off as he took in Abi’s presence. “Abigail.”
“I’ve already told you, Chief, it’s ‘Abi.’” She stood and held out her hand. “Nice to see you again.”
“Right.” Despite the doubt in his reply he took her hand, and she had to admit she wasn’t impartial to the heat, the damned sexual electricity that she felt engulf her as fully as his hand enveloped hers. “Only if you call me Keith.”
“Fine. Keith.” She smiled and sat back down. Keith didn’t take a seat but stood near Rio’s desk as he greeted Rio.
Damp hair and the pungent scent of soap weren’t all that told her he’d gone home and had a quick shower. His worn but clean jeans and collared shirt emphasized his broad shoulders and how his torso tapered to the waist of his unbelted jeans, where she noted he had a button fly.
Oh, God, was there anything sexier than a man in button-fly jeans?
Can it, Redland. Rarely had she become involved with a fellow officer or agent on any case. It seldom ended well and, in her case, it had been disastrous. A flash of memory had her in the stifled surroundings where a drug dealer’s last stand had cornered her and Frederick. Fred, the one man she’d ever thought she could make a life with...
Until he’d married said drug dealer’s daughter, after freeing her from the clutches of the crime ring.
“That’s where Abi comes in. Abi?”
“Abigail. You’re up.” Keith’s hand was on her bare forearm, his breath whispering over her cheeks as she looked up at him. She looked at his hand, strong and warm against her skin. His face revealed nothing save professional courtesy and collegial concern. But his eyes flickered with—patronizing glee. Wait, did he think he was doing her a favor by touching her? Did he think she needed the male attention? That she’d react to his touch?
And he’d called her Abigail again, damn it.
“Sorry, my mind wandered. Just piecing together the evidence we have so far.” She lifted his hand from her using two fingers and pulled her arm away. She looked at Rio. “I’ve already told Colt my thoughts.”
“Which are?” Keith spoke up, no hint in his tone of the emotion he’d revealed a moment earlier, or of her obvious rebuff of his he-man tactics.
“I don’t like how this fire starter has gone from burning down, what, six or seven barns? To all of a sudden move up to larger commercial properties, like the convenience store last month, and before today he aimed at historical landmarks. Today, the run-down farmhouse. It’s not usual, not for a straightforward profile. This isn’t someone who gets off on simply lighting fires.”
“Tell us something we don’t already know.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. So the man had smarts to go with the cocky player attitude. Abi could overlook a sexy man but the sexiest attribute to her was always intelligence. Followed by a sense of humor, which Keith was demonstrating through his obvious need to tease her with his blatant come-on behavior.
Ignoring the way his biceps flexed against his chest, Abi shrugged. “Right. So it’s obvious to me that you probably have more than one arsonist. Even though the notes left at the scenes are all the same, from the same paper stock and ink. One person, one entity may be directing several different people to commit the arsons. That’s why I’m not convinced these are hard-boiled fire starters.”
“I’ve thought the same thing.” Keith looked at Rio. “I told you this three weeks ago, and I mentioned it to Colt this morning. Today’s spotting of the suspect makes it three out of a total of eight fires after which we’ve seen the suspect take off once the engines arrive.”
Rio’s brow creased and he leaned on his forearms. “Three times none of us caught him, damn it.”
“He had an escape vehicle and a driver. There has to have been another vehicle they drove the ATV to. And then, maybe some kind of hidey-hole in the Appalachians. No one disappears this easily without help.” Abi stopped before she said anything about the Trail Hikers supersecret command post buried deep behind a cave, which had long ago been sealed from tourists. Keith Paruso wasn’t a Trail Hiker.
“What else do you have, Abi?” Keith’s voice was like a caress, damn it. It made her thoughts jumble as a guilty heat ran up her chest, her throat, her face. She wasn’t sure how, but somehow he knew she’d been thinking of him and not the case. More like he assumed she was thinking of only him. She could practically see the planets revolving around his head—this man really did think it was all about him.
“Nothing that’s worth talking about right now.” She stood. “I need to get some notes together before the big meeting. I’ll meet you both in the briefing room.”
* * *
“You seem to have Abi riled up but good, Keith. Care to explain?” Rio grinned and all Keith thought about was how pissed his sister Kayla would be if he gave her boyfriend a black eye.
“No, I don’t. This morning’s the first time I’ve ever seen her. You never mentioned a contractor working at SVPD before today.”
“No reason to bring it up. We have contractors in every now and then. It’s not usual, but it happens. This just happens to be a more visible case. And Abi is, well, more visible, too.” Keith knew with certainty that Rio’s heart was all for Kayla. He never even mentioned that he thought another woman was attractive. As Kayla’s brother, Keith was glad, but as a man, the thought of one woman having such control over his emotions made him cringe. “You seem to like what you see. In our contractor.” Rio’s grin widened.
“You are so damn lucky my sister is in love with you.”
“If things go right, we might be brothers, Keith.” Rio’s expression sobered.
“You’re kidding? Does Kayla know?”
“No, and please don’t say anything. She doesn’t want to hurry our relationship, but, frankly, I’ve been ready to marry her since we started dating again, when I was still working your case.”
Keith nodded. During his “case,” he’d been falsely accused of endangering the lives of citizens who’d been in church when it was set on fire. During its most well-attended service of the year—the children’s