Chapter 11
Dalton
“I have a confession to make,” Devolin said with a mouthful of fries.
Within minutes of my arrival, we were set up and chowing down on the dinner I’d picked up for us.
I paused with my burger halfway up to my mouth and met her gaze. “You do?” Then bit into the beefy goodness, courtesy of Fairfax, a local pub owned by an acquaintance of mine.
She nodded, swallowed her food, then grinned. “Not that the food isn’t great, but I had an ulterior motive in calling you.”
Maybe I hadn’t been the only one who had grown fond of our visits. To be honest, they were the best part of my days. This, combined with her words, made me grin. “Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm…” She licked at the drop of mustard that had landed onto her finger.
The act, although innocent in nature, set about a chain reaction that had me shifting slightly in my seat to ease the tightening in my pants. To say I was flustered with how this woman affected me would be an understatement, but then again, I’d been obsessed with her for the better part of a year, prior to meeting her.
“I was hoping that we could talk about what I found,” she looked down to her food, “that is, if you can.”
Well that knocked me out of my musings about her. Staring at her, I hesitated. “Dev…”
“It’s okay,” she paused. “I understand—”
Setting my burger down, I was quick to reach over her lap and cover her empty hand. “That’s not why I’m here, Devolin.”
Her eyes rounded. “It’s not?”
I shook my head, smiling. “I like you.” She swallowed hard. “I’m here as a…friend.” This got me a relieved expression, when I would have hoped to have seen one holding a bit of disappointment. “I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t interested in discussing how you came about those files, but it’s not why I pushed for our visits.”
She remained silent, coyly averting her eyes from my intense gaze.
Fucking sweet.
Adorable.
Hot.
Completely clueless about her appeal.
“Look at me,” I demanded, making her eyes snap to mine. She studied my face. “At this point, with all that you’ve shared, with what I’ve told you about me, I’d like to think of us as friends. Are we not?” She gave me a subtle nod that had me relaxing. “Good. And since Brycen isn’t completely done with pulling the information from your devices, and we’re far from piecing all that shit together, I’d rather not talk about the case just yet.”
“But—”
“Not yet,” I warned. This seemed to frustrate her, if the sour expression on her face was anything to go by. “I will come to you when it’s time.”
Instead of acknowledging my words, she huffed, then shoved a couple of fries in her mouth, remaining mum for the next few minutes. Then, in a very petulant tone, she asked, “When am I getting my laptops back?”
Had it come from any other woman but her, it would have grated on my nerves, but from Devolin, it was cute. So cute that she had me laughing, which seemed to incense her further.
“I’m being serious, Dalton. I need to work.”
The humor was knocked out of me, her words serving as a reminder that she worked for that criminal, Hewitt.
“About that,” I cleared my throat. “You work for Gordon Hewitt?”
“Oh, no! Not you too!” She shook her head from side to side, her demeanor going from irritated to outright furious. “I got it from your sister and my mom, who think Gordon’s creepy, and I didn’t take it from them, but I’m certainly not going to take it from you!” She proceeded to drop her food in the Styrofoam container and closed it, pushing it at me. “I think we’re done here. Take your food and go, Dalton.” She wiped at her face with the napkin, then threw it onto her bedside table. To further prove her stubbornness, she jutted her chin out, nose up in the air, and concentrated on the wall in front of her.
“Dev—”
“Gordon’s been nothing but good to me,” she defended. “He stuck with me when I had to reduce my hours. He let me work from my damn hospital bed! He’s been nothing but nice to me. He is a little eccentric, but…”
I set my food down as she rambled on. Much like my sister, I could tell that if I didn’t find a way to stop her, she’d go on and on and on. Standing, I bent forward, then pinched and held her chin with a stern, “Devolin!” Her mouth snapped shut, her head turned toward me, eyes freezing on mine.
“I’ve got to work, Kip,” she whispered.
Gaze softened, my head moved toward hers. I knew her eyes were green, but since when did they glimmer like emeralds with tiny flecks of gold like that?
“Sweetheart…” I licked my lips, feeling the warmth of her breath fanning over my mouth. Fuck, I needed a taste of her. Just a small one. Ensnared, I inched closer until my lips barely brushed hers.
Devolin emitted a tortured sound, tilting her head away from me. “Dalton, no.”
That subtle contact had affected her as much as it had me. Even though she turned her head, she wasn’t pulling away. As much as I wanted to push the boundaries, I knew I had to give her what she wanted right then. Something told me that this connection of ours was too important to rush things.
Therefore, I didn’t give into my baser instincts to lean back in and devour that sinful mouth of hers.
Instead, I leaned my forehead onto hers. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She nodded her assent, then reached for my hand that had somehow wrapped itself around the side of her neck and pulled it away. Giving it a squeeze, she released my hand, then set hers on my forearms, easing me backward, where my ass found itself back in its seat.
“You…” Her fingers touched her lips. “You need to go.”
“Sweet—”
“Please,” she begged softly.
I managed to croak an, “I’ll go,” before I got up, left the uneaten half of my dinner where it was—on the floor—and took one look back at the woman that was doing a number on my head, before dragging my ass out of there, trying to figure out how something that felt so right could have turned out so wrong.