That hateful stare made its way to me, and unexpected anticipation fisted my gut. Then, it was happening. She was looking at me and I was looking at her, and the short moment between us rolled away with her eyes.
“Oh great. He sent fucking Casanova to get me.”
Shit first impression. Check.
“Agent Reyes is fine,” I countered, squaring my shoulders back. She rolled her eyes back white again.
“Let’s just go.”
And she was off. I caught up behind her, my strides long to keep up as she tore through the building. This woman threw a wrench right the fuck through my vacation plans, and she was acting like I was the one who pissed in her soup.
She pushed her way through the front doors of the precinct and out into the sun that boiled my skin in seconds. Scarlett flipped her head down, gathering her mass of hair in her hands, tying it all up with one of those bands women wore around their wrists. She spared me a cursory glance like she’d actually forgotten I was there.
“You can just go and I’ll tell my dad you took me home. Sound good?”
Curling my fingers tight, I spoke, “That’s not how this works. I’ve got orders.”
“So fuck your orders. My mom’s house is only forty minutes away. I’ll get an Uber, and you can go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before my dad ruined both of our days.”
She did propose an enticing deal. But—
“We’re not going back to your mom’s. I’m taking you back to Quantico to your father.”
Her bare shoulders went rigid.
“What?” She whipped around to me, that quick-to-spark fire back in her eyes. “I’m not going back there.”
I shifted in my shoes, already past the point of patience. “Actually, you are.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, buddy, but I’m not fucking going.”
My teeth crunched together. I could be bottoming out inside of a cute waitress right now.
“It’s not up for discussion, Scarlett.”
Her entire face openly soured. “Don’t say my name like you know me. You don’t know me. We’re not friends.”
“Correct. You’re my boss’s daughter, and I’m not getting my ass chewed out by showing up in Virginia without you. My car’s over here.” The flat of my boot warmed against the sun-cooked cement as I stepped off towards my SUV. “Let’s go.”
“I already told you.” Her voice was a sharp whip, flaying my tolerance right down the fucking middle. “I’m not stepping foot near that place, so call up my dad and tell him to expect another disappointment from me. He knows I’m good for it.”
Self-deprecation was the ‘in’ thing now for young folks, right? I was sure all that entitlement shoved up her ass since the day she was born made her privileged life just tragic.
Pivoting back, I found Avery’s daughter with her arms crossed over her chest like a child. She was petite like one too. Tiny waist. Tiny hands. Tiny feet. The only thing big about Scarlett Avery was her goddamn mouth.
Restraining the urge to throw all one hundred pounds of her over my shoulder, I tightened my knuckles instead. “Do you think you could do this tantrum thing in the car? We’ve gotta get going.”
Her cherry lips parted slightly at me, emotion scrambling her face like she wanted to unzip her chest and let hellfire pour out. I’d only known her for two minutes, but I’d bet anything she had an arsenal of it stocked up inside that small frame of hers.
“I have this urge to play shocked that you’re not listening to me, but I’m honest to god so tired of pretending to be surprised by men anymore,” she spoke, gaze sharp but tone bored as fuck.
Oh cute. A standardized hatred for the male species.
How unique.
She moved her bladed focus from me to the back pocket of her white shorts. Like her, they were also ridiculously tiny. Producing a phone, she started typing away on it, and I was positive whatever she was typing spelled trouble for me.
“What’re you doing?”