She smiled back sweetly, but her eyes were hard. “No doubt. Did you forget to tell me something when you were here on Friday?”
“He’s working with you.”
The words registered, but they hadn’t come from A.J. Her captain was still standing nearby. “What?” she asked, dazed. “Did I hear you right?”
“Nothing wrong with your hearing, Parker.”
“Why, exactly?” She looked at her captain in frustration. How could he saddle her with the very man Sienna wanted to be miles away from?
“He’s being assigned to us to work this gun case with you. The Navy doesn’t want all those weapons floating around on the streets, either. He’s your special liaison purely in an official capacity,” Raoul said.
“I can handle this case without the US Navy breathing down my neck.”
“I have complete confidence in you, Parker. But this comes from the mayor. He wants those assault weapons off the street. We have no choice. It’s now a joint investigation.” She could see the apology and the sympathy in his eyes, but it did nothing to alleviate the building anger.
Captain Sandoval turned and left, the gym door closing on the seething silence.
She glared at him. With a one-word epithet, she pulled off the boxing gloves and with deliberate precision, threw each one at him. He fended off each glove automatically.
Then she marched past him intending to take a long shower. Maybe the hot water would help her deal with the fact that the man whom she couldn’t resist and hoped to never see again was going to be tagging along with her practically twenty-four-seven. Short of committing professional suicide by refusing to work with him, she had to suck it up and bite her tongue.
“Sienna, wait.”
He grabbed her arm. Cold fear and expectant heat both washed through her. Fear of herself and the unaccustomed intensity of her desires; heat because where this man was concerned, she couldn’t seem to control the desire.
He drew her toward him. “Hands off, hotshot.”
He flashed her a look petulant and dangerous. Too much like Lucifer brooding on some secret fantasy of rebellion. “You didn’t have any problem with me Friday night.”
Something in Sienna snapped. She pivoted, twisted out of his grasp, and took him down to the mat. Following him down, she pressed her knee into his sternum.
His hat flew from his grasp and the air woofed out of his lungs with a satisfying sound. A.J. looked at her and spread his arms, palms up as if her anger was a palpable thing he had to ward off.
“Whoa, Sienna,” he gasped.
“I don’t like to beambushed, Lieutenant.”
“Can I explain or are you going to teach me a lesson?”
“Are you mocking me?” She glared at him, pressing her knee a little deeper into his hard flesh. Remembering how his sleek belly and hard-muscled thighs had felt against her skin.
“Hell, no. I believe you could do it.” He rested his head and shoulders against the mat to release some of the pressure against his chest.
“Explain why you’re really here,” she ordered tightly.
“You told me yourself that my brother could be implicated in the theft of guns.”
“You went behind my back, mister.”
“Yes,” he said emphatically, “I did.”
A.J. took a deep breath. Sienna could feel the movement of his hard body beneath hers and for a moment, she got lost in the sensation.
“If you think that I’m going to wait around and do nothing when David may be in danger, you’re crazy. I had my stepfather, Senator Anthony Buckner, call the Secretary of the Navy, who called the mayor, who called the commissioner, who called your captain.”
“It’s not like your brother’s a suspect. He may have information that could help my investigation.” She paused. “Why don’t you just call him and have him come down to division HQ? I can hear what he has to say, and you can go on your merry way.”
“I would if I could, but he’s missing.” He watched her as the words sank in, a solemn expression darkening his eyes.