Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) (12 page)

T
he call came early
the next morning. Del knew the answer before the phone rang, but he still answered.

“Hey, Boss,” Adam said. His voice was weary. “We got a positive match. Her parents made a positive ID.”

He pulled on his knit jockey boxers and tiptoed out of the room. He glanced back before he closed the door and smiled. She was hugging the pillow and pleasantly snoozing beneath the covers. As gently as he could, he shut the door, hoping he didn’t wake her just yet.

“I figured. Call everyone, we’ll do a meeting at…” he looked at the time on the kitchen clock. “Let’s do it at eight. Gives everyone ninety minutes to get in. Make sure you have Elle’s report for us to see. I know she will be there, or I expect she will be, but even so, I would like to see those two reports side by side.”

“Okay. I take it I don’t need to call Emma.”

He opened his mouth to tell Adam to fuck off, when a small hand slipped around his waist and Emma leaned against him. She had dressed, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t feel her breasts pressed against his back. He had to fight the need to sigh.

“No.”

“Hmm, so it was after midnight…”

“Doesn’t matter. Money goes to charity.”

“Sure, sure, Boss.” The tone in Adam’s voice told him he wasn’t taking him seriously.

“I will write anyone up who profits from gambling. It’s illegal in the state of Hawaii.”

“Come on, Del. You know we wouldn’t willingly break the law.”

Damn, he was definitely going to have to have a talk with his team. “Call everyone. I’ll see you then.”

“They identified her?” Emma said.

He turned to face her and kissed her nose. “Yeah.”

She nodded. “I guess the only comfort in that is she isn’t suffering anymore. I can’t imagine what that could have been like.”

He cupped her face. “Take it from me, don’t. Don’t
ever
think about that, not while you are working on their case. It can cloud your vision, make you see things the wrong way. The most important thing is finding justice for the victims.”

She studied him for a long moment, then her mouth curved slightly. “You’re a really good man, Martin Delano.”

Del shook his head. “I’m not
that
good. I felt like I took advantage of you last night.”

“You did not. If anything, I took advantage of you. You are not always the one in charge, Del. You need to learn to accept that.”

“Yeah, then who is?”

She rose to her tiptoes and brushed her mouth over his. The small gesture tugged at his heart.

“Sometimes, you just have to let someone else do the saving.”

He felt his mouth curve. “Are you applying for the job?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” she asked. “It’s before sunrise.”

She walked to the door and he watched her go. It was hard not to. She was wearing an old T-shirt that was three times too big for her. She’d pulled her hair up into a pony tail and it bobbed with each step.

Emma rose up to her tiptoes to look through the peephole. “Good lord, it’s that bitchy reporter. And she has her whole bloody crew with her.”

“I can hear you through the door, Ms. Taylor. I understand you are working the case, and I want to ask you a few questions.”

“Go away. I told you I did not want to talk to you the other day.”

“All I’m trying to do is get to the truth.”

Del shook his head. Jin Phillips was never going to learn. He understood reporters had a job to do. They were important to help the police in a lot of ways, but there were those like Jin. She didn’t care who she hurt as long as it made her a star. That wasn’t about the story. It was about herself.

“I don’t bloody care what you think you are trying to do. I would just like you to leave.”

“I understand that you are on the hunt for the killer. That the TFH is solely dependent on you to catch this man.”

He should have seen what was going to happen next, because Emma did have a temper. It was slow to heat, but when it did, people ended up injured. She had given him a broken nose to prove it once.

Emma emitted a sound he had never heard before. It sounded like a battle cry, and her opponent was going to be Jin Phillips and her crew. Before he could stop her, she flipped the locks and flung the door open.

“Emma, no.”

But it was too late. The bright light shone into her apartment, and the camera was rolling.

“I understand that in today’s twenty-four-hour news cycle, you need to manufacture rubbish on a daily basis, but I will not have someone come to my household like this. This is my private home, and you are trespassing. And even if you are not in my house, you are on private property. I doubt very much if the management of this building would appreciate your behavior.”

Jin said nothing for a few seconds, as she looked from Emma to him. “Captain Delano?”

“That’s enough,” he said, slamming the door.

“That prat. How dare she come to my house and accost me?”

“Emma, do you realize what this means?” he asked.

She nodded. “They need to hire some new security around here.”

Del looked to the heavens for help, but found none. He took her by the arms and looked her in the eye. “We are going to be on the morning news, both barely dressed.”

She crossed her arms. “It’s not my fault. She showed up here at this hour.”

“Everyone is going to see that I spent the night here.”

“So. The entire office has a bet going on when we would have sex.”

He blinked. “You knew about that?”

She nodded. “Your team bets on everything. They have a bet going on about how long it will be before Graeme shoots Elle or beds her. I am leaning toward beds, because there is a thin line between love and hate. They also have a bet on whether or not DGD is into necrophilia, which he is not.”

He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. Damn, he really had missed that they were doing that. “I’m gonna have to talk to them.”

“They’ll keep doing it.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?”

“That they bet on my sex life?” She chuckled. “I don’t care because I feel like I won the lottery.”

For a second, he couldn’t think of his next comment. It had been there on the tip of his tongue, but now it had dissolved. Emma was smiling at him as if he were a great big treat she wanted to eat.

“And, I couldn’t let her say those things about your team. They are the real reason you solve so many cases. What she insinuated wasn’t true, and you know how I am when people attack my ‘
ohana
.”

She would be ruthless. There was no doubt about it, Jin was probably in for more trouble in her life at the end of the investigation. Emma could be cruel if she detected a threat against those she saw as her family. Maybe it was because Emma had been on her own for so long that now she had people in her life, she was fiercely protective of them.

“I appreciate that, and I am sure the team does too. But there is another issue at hand. We are going to be on the news. And now, she has made you a target.”

He saw the moment it hit her. She shook her head. “Oh, no, not me.”

“Not you?”

“He goes for single women who are looking for a man. I got one.”

She said it like it was the most normal thing, and she smiled at him.

He sighed. “There is that, and then, it will hit the news, and the mayor will want to know why I am sleeping with one of my team.”

“First of all, I am not part of your team. I am actually contracted by the state, under the auspices of the governor. You have nothing to do with it.”

He blinked. “Is that true?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, it’s true. You signed the papers. Didn’t you pay attention?”

He shrugged, feeling embarrassment creep over him. At the time, he wanted her on his team so badly, he would have signed away his bike to get her on it. Okay, maybe not that, but close.

“Secondly, I don’t care who knows we are sleeping together. I don’t have hang ups about that.”

He blinked again. “You don’t have a problem with it?”

She shook her head. “If I had an issue with it, I would not have slept with you.”

He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “You are definitely one of a kind.”

She nodded and kissed him. “Of course I am. My mother always said I was.”

It was a horrible point in their lives right now, what they were investigating, but just looking at her cheeky little smile made his heart dance.

“What?” she said.

He shook his head and leaned down to kiss her. She responded immediately, slipping her hands up his arms to his shoulders. Opening her mouth, she welcomed him. He wanted more, so much more, but they didn’t have time. Regretfully, he pulled back. He kissed her nose.

“Thanks for being you.”

She frowned. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling fine,” he said picking her up. “We need to get into the office.”

She laughed, and for a short time at least, he would live in this moment.

T
he news broke
before they even got into the office. Her phone was buzzing as they walked through the door, and the mayor was already waiting for Del in his office.

Emma saw her brother’s face on her phone and frowned.

“Sean, is everything okay?” she asked.

“What the hell was Del doing at your condo this morning?” he asked. He sounded like he was pronouncing every word from behind clenched teeth.

“We just got up.”

Del glanced at her, but she waved him on. He continued on to his office. Bloody hell, the man was sexy normally, but when he went into alpha mode after strapping on his gun, it made her want to jump his bones all over again. He had a way of walking into a room that let everyone know he was in charge. It made him irresistible.

“You aren’t helping the situation here, Emma,” Sean said, bringing her out of her thoughts about Del.

“What does that mean?”

“You are sleeping with Del.”

“Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“He’s your boss.”

“No, he isn’t. I work under the auspices of the governor. Why do I have to keep telling people this?”

“I don’t think it’s right.”

His tone told her he thought he had the right to command her what to do. She held her phone away from her ear and looked at it, then brought it back.

“Excuse me?”

“You and Del. It isn’t a good idea.”

Of all the nerve. The man came and went as he pleased, and lived one of the most unconventional lifestyles. She never questioned him, never looked down on him. Now he was going to tell her she shouldn’t be sleeping with Del?

“You know what I think is a bad idea? Calling me up and telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing. Usually, when people do that, I tell them to bugger off.”

Then, she clicked the phone off. She was still fuming. After the irritation of this morning, she had calmed down—mainly thanks to Del. From the moment they had met, he seemed to know how to get her to relax. He always knew how to make her laugh. Now, her brother had gotten her ticked off again.

“Oh, he makes me mad.”

Cat looked up from her tablet. “Who, the boss?”

“No, well, sometimes, but my brother. I don’t know why he thinks he can tell me what to do.”

“He’s your brother.”

When Emma just stared at her, Cat sighed. “I forget, you didn’t grow up together. But big brothers feel the need to be protective of their sisters.”

“That’s stupid.”

Cat chuckled. “Many times. One of my older brothers actually brought out his hunting rifle and cleaned it in front of my prom date.”

“That’s barbaric.”

“Yeah, and it didn’t scare me a bit, since I convinced Shane Mamoa to do a little bit more than just kissing that night.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but she heard the yelling coming from Del’s office. The door was closed, so it was hard to tell exactly what was being said. Del was the one doing the yelling.

He came storming out, anger flushing his face.

“Boss?” Cat said, apparently a bit overwhelmed by Del’s behavior.

It wasn’t normal. He was grumpy, he would get onto his team, but he never yelled like that.

He ignored Cat and looked at Emma. “Please tell this idiot that we have not been sleeping together all this time.”

She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “It isn’t any of his business.”

He blinked as she looked at the mayor. “It really isn’t.”

“You are an employee of this city—”

“Again, I have to mention this, but I don’t work for the city, or even directly for TFH. I made sure of that when I signed my contract with the state. I work for the governor. Does no one read the contracts they sign around here? Bloody hell.”

“I’m not too sure he is going to be that happy about this situation.”

The mayor was now really getting on her nerves. Why were people being so judgmental? It wasn’t like they were sacrificing puppies and kittens.

“What situation would that be?” she asked.

“You and Captain Delano.”

She glanced at Del, who was barely holding onto his temper. If she didn’t defuse the situation, Del might just pull off the mayor’s arms and beat him over the head with them. Then she looked back at the mayor.

“First, just like you, it isn’t his business. But, he knows.”

“What?” Del demanded.

“It’s not like I called him this morning and told him about sleeping with you. When you first approached me about the job, I felt with our personal lives—being that he is friends with my brother—might be a problem. Also, I knew I had a little crush going, and while I didn’t think it would even happen, I wanted to make sure if there were any barriers to that happening, they were out of the way. So, I went to the governor and worked out a deal where I worked for him and not Del. He can ask me to do things, but my rates and my contract are all with the governor.”

“Oh,” the mayor said. “The report this morning made it sound like you are the only one in the office who can catch the killer.”

“If you believe that, you really don’t know much.”