Chapter Sixteen
Bethany
"So, is Dylan Wylde our criminal mastermind?" The DA was waiting in my office when I arrived. "Wow, you look great. Is that what a weekend off can do for a person?"
I smoothed my cheeks and hoped she didn't see evidence of all the blushes Dylan had given me, all the tickling caresses from his stubble. I put my things down on my desk but had to stand awkwardly as Melinda lounged in my desk chair.
"He didn't confess, if that's what you mean," I said.
Melinda snorted. "They never do. Can you imagine? We'd be out of jobs."
I moved back as she stood up and came closer to examine me. I forced myself not to fidget. There was no way she could tell how intimate I'd become with one of our people of interest.
"Dylan is very knowledgeable about the market and I think he'll be a great help; I don't think he's in on any of the criminal activity," I said.
The DA caught my carefully clear gaze. "But we need proof. Either way. But, I mean, come on. Can you imagine the headlines if your Dylan Wylde was behind the biggest chop shop ring we've ever seen?"
I could, and the thought twisted my stomach in knots. "Well, I hope we've got other suspects. I'll start making a list of people who have the connections as well as the know-how."
"Like Dylan Wylde. He's pretty much the profile." The DA headed for the door but paused and gave me a hawk-like smile. "By the way, how did your luncheon go?"
I dropped into my office chair faster than I intended and winced. "Interesting."
"Did you get him out of your system?" she asked.
My cheeks fired with heat, but I kept my demeanor calm. "Let's just say I'm certain Dylan will cooperate with me on this case."
The DA arched an eyebrow and chuckled. "Well, that might get complicated. Watch out for yourself, Durham. This case could be a career-maker."
My boss swept out and as soon as my office door was closed behind her, I collapsed on my desk. For a moment, I gently bumped my head against the stack of files there but nothing helped. My brain was just a fog of Dylan.
What had I gotten myself into?
I slowly dragged myself upward and, fortified by Taylor's rocket fuel coffee, I managed to start working. Three emails in, and Dylan's name had already come up an uncomfortable amount of times.
What had Dylan gotten himself tangled up in?
I grabbed my phone and held it in a stranglehold of indecision. It was starting to feel like Dylan was in serious trouble. I wanted to warn him and give him a chance to explain himself. He deserved to know.
If I brought him into the investigation, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be out. The DA would not take kindly to me tipping off one of her 'people of interest.'
I snatched my hand back and stood up to pace. It was insane that I was even having such a debate. My career had always come first, it was the most important thing in my life, and here I was wondering if maybe a fling was worth it.
Thankfully, my office phone rang and made me jump a foot in the air. I lunged for my desk and picked it up.
"I was going to call and tell you to cut it all off, but I think we should use your Dylan connection a bit more." The DA barely stopped for breath. "There's some kind of big, showy shindig going on at that shipping magnate's, and I want an inside look."
I blinked and tried to get my brain to catch up. "You want me to go to a party with Dylan Wylde?"
"Keep up, Durham. The shipping magnate," the DA barked.
"Collin Maxwell. We think it might be one of his off-shot companies that has been shipping the stolen vehicles," I recited.
"Exactly. Go to his party with Dylan; two birds with one stone and all that," the DA said.
She hung up the phone and left me buzzing.
Seconds ago, I had finally worked my way into letting Dylan go. My career was going to come first. And now my career depended on going on another date with Dylan. My head was spinning.
"Taylor, I'm taking an early lunch." I let go of the buzzer and got up on shaky legs.
My assistant met me at my office door. "Here's the number and address for the dress shop she recommended."
"And?" I could tell by Taylor's rapid blinking there was more to the message.
He cleared his throat. "She said, 'nothing too flashy but make sure it's low cut.'"
I groaned. My boss was the epitome of why people called lawyers sharks. And that made me the blood in the water.
Annie was my only lifeline.
She met me in the foyer of our office building, already armed with my favorite soda. "Please tell me we're going out for lunch. I need to sit down and hear every single detail."
"This isn't lunch?" I joked as I took a slurp of the soda.
"That's just of a boost to get you out the door and to Chin's." Annie pushed me toward a waiting cab and we were at the Chinese restaurant in record time.
"All right, now, spill," Annie said as soon as we sat down.
I started to tell her everything from my work-sanctioned date to how far the weekend went. My friend gaped in shock, clapped her hands in joy, and then marveled at how quickly everything was getting out of hand.
"I swear to god, I couldn't be more jealous!" Annie squealed. "Not only do you get to go undercover for work but it's in a ballgown on Dylan Wylde's arm!"
I shook my head. "Didn't you hear any of the other hundred problems?"
She was about to make me rehash everything over a second order of shrimp rolls when my phone rang. Taylor's words came out in a tangled rush, but it was enough to make me hang up and scramble to pay my part of the bill.
"What? What happened?"
"One of the cars on our watch-list was just stolen. It was a violent car-jacking, and they're worried the driver might not live," I said.
Annie picked up on my urgency and waved away my worry. "I'll take care of all this but I'm eating your shrimp rolls."
"They think it was the same ring of thieves we've been tracking," I told Annie.
"And you're worried they might try to pin it on Dylan?" Annie read my mind and raced me out to another waiting cab.
"I'm not crazy, am I, Annie? Normally, I'm such a good judge of people."
Annie swatted my shoulder as I climbed into the cab. "Don't worry. You'll find the evidence you need. You'll crack this case."
The ride back to the office was a blur but my vision cleared when I saw Dylan was calling. I needed to talk to him, but it had to be private. I ducked into the back hallway of our office foyer and hid out by the vending machines.
"Dylan, hi!" I hoped he didn't catch the sharp note of stress in my voice.
"Tough day at work?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, fine. Just a tough day trying to catch up with everything here," I babbled. "How are you?"
Dylan paused, considering my strange tone. "I'm fine. Sorry I burned the pancakes this morning. I hope that's not what sent you running."
My heart rate tripled. "No, not at all. I was just worried about being late to work. My boss was actually in my office chair when I arrived."
Dylan's laughter cleared the rest of the panic from my mind. "Wow. That almost makes me grateful that the only person I have to face at work is Joey."
I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I left in such a rush. I really didn't mean to give you the wrong impression."
"Good. Great. Shit." Dylan's attempt to muffle his sudden swearing did not work. "Sorry, I'm at work, too. So distracting."
"Thanks for calling," I said.
Dylan reined in his focus again. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that we were okay."
I couldn't help myself. "We are but you can check again later."
"Yes, ma'am."
I hung up with a huge grin on my face and let it linger all the way down the hallway to the elevator bank. Then I brushed it away and reminded myself I had an important case. It was becoming more and more important to me every minute.
Luckily, I had enough to focus on at work because it would have been easy to slip back into daydreams of Dylan.
"What do we have?" The DA called me and our whole team from our offices just minutes after I had finished reading the carjacking report.
"It's the only theft that's been interrupted," I said.
The DA turned on me and nodded. "Yes. They slipped up and because we had a watchlist of cars they might target, we caught them. Now what?"
"We interview the victim, ah, when they recover," I said.
"Police on the scene said the victim described a large man with a skull tattoo on his right arm. He fell unconscious shortly after, so we will have to wait to confirm it," the DA said. "Until then, start working this angle. Connect the dots. I know they're there!"
I worked the rest of the afternoon without another break. I probably wouldn't have come up for air if it hadn't been for Annie's insistent calling.
I finally relented on the third call. "All right, Taylor, I'll take her call."
"I know you're busy, but I saw one of your 'people of interest' when I was heading back from Chin's," Annie said.
"Oh, good. Please give me something new!" I cried.
"No. Not good. It was Dylan."
I didn't like the way Annie paused. "What about Dylan? Why do you sound so weird?"
"Well, he was with someone."
"Annie, for gods sake! I'm a big girl, just tell me!"
Annie took a deep breath. "He was with that blonde. Remember? The short one who was all over him the first night you two reconnected?"
The memory was clear because the same biting jealousy came back. Only this time, it was ten times stronger.
"So? That doesn't mean anything. Maybe they just ran into each other," I said.
"Sure, sure. I'm just saying you might want to check out their connection. For your case, of course," Annie said.
I hung up the phone with shaking hands. Annie was right, I needed to check out any suspicious connections that Dylan had for the DA's case. It was just dangerously close to being a conflict of interest. It was an abuse of my position as an assistant district attorney to use my clearance to check up on personal relationships.
I decided to refile everything in my office first but when that was done I still had to check up on Dylan's relationship with the busty little blonde. The case needed connections.
I called Dylan's building and gave the security guards all my credentials. They sent a copy of the security footage to our secure server, and I settled in to review it. I started with the morning I left, just to get over the embarrassment of seeing myself on camera.
That's when I spotted her slinking up to Dylan's apartment. She must have been there when I was getting dressed!
I paced my office for almost a half an hour and then finally sat down at my desk again. If my heart was breaking there was no better place for me to be. Focusing on work would get me through the heartbreak.