“I thought you said you’d go back to work.”
He sighed. “I did, didn’t I? And if I see you naked, that isn’t going to happen.”
He looked so unhappy, she couldn’t resist touching him. She leaned down and cupped his face in both of her hands and gave him a simple kiss, barely brushing her lips against his. When she pulled back, he looked a little stunned.
“Rome?”
He said nothing as he looked at her. She resisted the urge to fidget, just barely.
“Is there something wrong?”
He shook his head. “No, love, there isn’t anything wrong. I’ll leave you to your bath.” He walked to the door then stopped, looking back at her. “Call if you need anything.”
She nodded and watched, perplexed when he shut the door and left her. What was that about? She sighed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to figure it out. She didn’t know the romantic nature of men. Fighting them, or beside them, that was easy. But trying to understand how their minds worked, that was just not her strong suit—not on this level. Hell, she didn’t understand what she was feeling, or how to deal with it. She decided she would be able to think better after a long, hot bath, just as Rome had suggested. She tugged off her clothes and sunk chin deep into the scented water, glad that for once she had followed some good advice.
· · · · ·
“Anything going on tonight?” Rome asked Micah over the phone. He could hear the muffled music in the background telling Rome that Micah was up in his office.
“Nope. Actually kind of quiet after your performance last night.”
Rome rolled his eyes. “I didn’t perform anywhere. I just laid the groundwork to catch someone’s attention. Did you have any problems with your employees today? Anyone call in sick?”
“No, like I said, a quiet night. I thought I would see you both here tonight.”
He bit down on his irritation. “We’ll be there tomorrow night. I figured it would be odd if we showed up tonight.”
Micah chuckled. “Yeah. Sure, tell yourself that.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You just didn’t want anyone looking at your new plaything.”
“She isn’t a plaything. I thought we went over this earlier today.”
“Oh, there’s Evan. I’m talking to Rome.”
He heard Evan in the background.
“No, he’s pissy because I called Maria a plaything.”
He ground his teeth. “That’s Agent Callahan.”
“And he’s now saying I have to call her by her title.”
Evan said something else, and Rome felt his face heating again. Dammit, these two were enjoying this too much. Soon the phone was jostled, and the next voice he heard was, of course, Evan’s.
“Hey, bra, how’s it going?”
He sighed, knowing there was no way out of it. No matter how much he tried to keep himself aloof from the whole group of friends, he couldn’t seem to do it. They just ignored him.
“Fine. We’re looking over all the women to see if they had any contact with police. We’ve found eight so far. But if some of them were given warnings, or maybe not even named, this could be hard.”
“May wanted you to know that she talked to Lisa’s roommate, and she said she did have contact with the police.”
Rome sat up. “What happened?”
“Nothing big. Her roommate had a fender bender. It was just a few days before the murder.”
“Can you shoot me the info on the roommate?”
“Sure.” He said nothing for a second. “So May said you’re kind of serious about this Maria.”
Rome sighed. “I know you and Micah have moved into the Dr. Phil camp, but I don’t think I want to discuss my relationship with you.”
“You’re right. He is pissy. Did you not get her to submit last night? What?” Micah was talking in the background.
“It was one night, and this is part of the job.”
“Be careful what you say, bra. Take it from Micah and me. It only takes one time to know someone is that perfect sub. So you better be ready to fight for her if she is.”
He shifted in his seat, not wanting to talk about it. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about it. Rome was pretty sure if he did, he would end up having a full-blown panic attack.
“Again, I’m not in need of any Dr. Phil advice.”
“Just trying to save you some problems.” There was some talking in the background. Dammit, they were doing it again. He didn’t have the patience for this tonight.
“Anything else?”
“No. I’ll get the info on the roommate. Be careful.”