He brushed the backs of his fingers over her pink cheekbone. “Beth?”
She sighed.
Eric forced himself not to give in to the warm feeling spreading through his chest. It was just a blow job, man. Get it together. It was just sex.
“Beth? I’ve got to go.”
Her eyes finally opened, widening when she saw him sitting there. “Oh!” She twisted around, holding the sheet to her chest.
“Go back to sleep. I just wanted you to know I’m leaving.”
“I…” Her gaze slid to the doorway and she nodded. “Okay.” She obviously wanted to avoid any awkwardness, too.
“I’ll call later,” he promised, then got to his feet before he screwed up and kissed her. He glanced back as he left, and he could have sworn he caught her smiling. He smiled, too, but not until he was safely outside.
Hard to believe, but…last night had far surpassed their first night together. That had been hot, yes. Desperate. Mind-blowing. But last night had been all that and more. Including the part where she’d fallen asleep pressed tight to his side.
She surprised him, constantly. Every interaction with her left him less sure of who she was. Funny, considering he’d been the one with the fake name.
She just seemed so…soft. Not just her skin, but everything about her. Soft and so much more vulnerable than he’d ever expected. He was really glad he’d gone to her place, though he still had no idea why he’d gone. Well, he knew why he’d gone. There was no question of that. But why had he decided to risk it?
Six months ago, it had seemed the height of danger, meeting her. It had felt foolhardy and wrong, sleeping with a stranger, and a notorious one at that. It had been completely out of character.
But now…now he was a different man. Every part of his life felt uncertain. Hell, he didn’t even know what his character was anymore. Compared to that confusion, Beth was solid. After all, there was no question of what he wanted from her, and how much he wanted it.
Three hours later, he was still gliding through his day as if it weren’t quite real. He’d showered and eaten. Now it was time to get to work, but he checked his phone as he stepped into the brewery, just in case he’d missed a call from Beth.
“Just the guy I wanted to see,” a man said from the dimness of the bar.
His eyes were still adjusting, but Eric recognized Luke’s voice. He stuffed the phone in his pocket. “Hey, Luke. What are you doing here so early?”
“I’ve got news about the investigation.”
“Good news?”
“After Monica called your friend, I started pushing a little harder. It seemed suspicious. I mean, more suspicious than the Kendalls usually are. We’ve found some evidence of how Graham broke into other places. Some were just standard break-ins that he paid local thugs to carry out. Some seemed to be crimes of convenience. Renovations that left buildings vulnerable. Stuff like that.”
“Okay.”
“But there was one man who struck me as cagey. So after I heard from you about Monica, I pressed him harder. His place was hit late last year. A big catering and event company that had a lot of employees over the past ten years, not to mention all the payment information from clients. He’d always claimed not to know anything about any of it, but he was lying.”
“He knew Monica?”
“He slept with her. He’s married. That’s why he suggested she come to his office. Or maybe she suggested it, he couldn’t seem to remember those details.”
Eric shook his head. “So it was the exact same situation?”
“Pretty much. Counting the owner of that construction company she slept with, that’s three men. Maybe that’s all there are. But that’s enough to charge her as an accessory.”
“You’re going to charge her?”
“The D.A.’s leaning hard. They’d much rather she give up her brother.” The double doors to the back room opened, and Luke looked up with a smile.
“Hey, Luke,” Tessa drawled with the kind of smile for her boyfriend that a big brother shouldn’t see. Eric cringed, but Tessa ignored that and walked up to kiss him on the cheek. “Eric, did you and Jamie really make up?”
?
?We talked. We’re fine.”