Holding Out For A Hero. HelenKay Dimon

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      “Meaning?” Josh asked as he shuffled her toward the door.

      “After this meeting, Eric won’t let his staff put your calls through.”

      Josh’s steps hesitated as he glanced down at her. “That what he did to you?”

      No longer stalling, she picked up her pace. “We’re not talking about me.”

      “Well, either way you’re wrong. Eric will talk to me. Without you.” Josh shoved the door open and gestured for her to walk through.

      “You think you’re so special?”

      His jaw clenched. “Hell, yeah.”

      Chapter Seven

      Josh managed to hold his temper until they reached the elevator bank. But just barely. He wanted to unleash. To let out all of the frustration he experienced since figuring out Deana was following him around Hawaii.

      She took away his choice. She walked into his life and forced him to do the one thing he vowed not to do—rescue someone. And now he had to wrestle with the visual image of Eric and Deana being in bed together, thoughts that only infuriated him further.

      Josh waited until the two lawyers standing in the quiet hallway disappeared back into their offices. “What the hell was that about?”

      She hit the DOWN button. “You tell me. You’re the one who dragged us out of there before we could find out anything helpful on Ryan.”

      “I did that to keep you from insulting the one guy I need to communicate with me during this investigation.”

      “Eric? You mean the same guy who basically told you to go away so he could get to a more important meeting on his schedule?” She stopped tapping the button and stared up at him.

      “Actually, yes.”

      “In case you’re wondering, there wasn’t another meeting. That was fake. Eric wanted to get rid of you.”

      Josh snorted. As if he hadn’t picked up on Eric’s lie. Hell, Josh knew Eric blew him off. Josh also knew Eric’s unhelpful reaction had to do with Deana’s presence and nothing else.

      “He’s my best contact in that office,” Josh explained.

      She shook her head. “If Eric is Ryan’s only chance, we may as well give up now.”

      Josh refused to argue. She wanted to see Eric as the enemy. Fine. Let her make this impossible. He didn’t care. He could let it go.

      That theory lasted all of two seconds…. “Eric is a good guy, you know,” Josh said, because he couldn’t help himself.

      “You two are real close, are you?”

      Josh had made a decision about Eric’s character a long time ago. They weren’t friends. Didn’t hang out or even talk all that often. Still, Josh had worked with the man on a few drug cases and knew Eric valued justice as much as he craved the big corner office with his name engraved on the door.

      “Is that a real question or are you just being insufferable to annoy me?” Josh asked even though the real question was why he kept killing himself defending Eric to her…and why he cared about any of this.

      Even though Josh now knew the source of the Eric–Deana tension was a dating relationship, he wanted to know more. Everything about Deana intrigued him. She was an odd mix of inconsistencies and predictabilities. Hot and cold at the same time. What really pissed him off is that he hadn’t seen the Eric angle coming. Whatever the two of them had, they kept it quiet. Or, at least the sordid details never reached Josh in Kauai.

      “We can agree to disagree on the issue of Eric,” she said.

      She didn’t move. Didn’t even blink, but Josh could feel her turn up the chilliness factor. If Josh guessed right, the only thing keeping her from bolting for that emergency staircase to her left was a heap of pride and a refusal to be seen as weak.

      He appreciated the self-preservation aspects of her position, so he tried to explain. “Eric controls most of the evidence.”

      She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter because he won’t help you.”

      From the choppiness of her voice Josh wondered if they had strayed off topic and were talking about something other than Ryan’s case. “We need to come to an understanding.”

      “We already did.”

      “I thought so, but apparently not.” He glanced around for the perfect spot. Before she could balk, he took her hand and with the other palm pushed the door to the men’s bathroom open.

      She leaned back, putting most of her weight behind going in the opposite direction. “What the hell are you doing?”

      “Talking to you.” Since the element of surprise was on his side, and because he outweighed her by a good sixty or more pounds, he got her into the white-tiled room with only a few tugs.

      “This is ridiculous.”

      “Don’t move.” After a quick check of the two stalls to make sure they were alone, he clicked the lock on the door and faced her down.

      “We’re going to talk in here?” Her squeal bounced off the metal stalls.

      It was the most emotion he had heard from her all day. Even during a scene with a man who clearly once meant something to her, she had managed to keep her cool, to sound distant and uninterested.

      That was over. Josh needed answers. Needed her to understand who was in charge and how exactly this bizarre business relationship of theirs was going to work. Getting her cooperation was key. She had backed her body into a corner, seemingly careful not to touch the wall or anything else in the small area.

      Red stained her cheeks. “You can’t just—”

      “Yes I can.”

      “It smells in here.”

      He inhaled the antiseptic scent of bleach and urinal cakes. “I’ve been around worse.”

      “Lucky you.” Her chest rose and fell.

      Even under the high-buttoned blouse, he could see her fight for breath. He assumed that had more to do with the close quarters and her lack of control over the situation than her concerns about the crap on the bathroom floor.

      “This is a public restroom,” she said as if that would have some impact on his decision to talk to her.

      “Your choices were the lobby, the elevator, or here. This is more private and more convenient.”

      She glanced around, making a face at the stray toilet paper rolled across the floor. “And the most disgusting.”

      “Sorry, your highness. Next time I’ll rent out the penthouse for you.”

      Her СКАЧАТЬ