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Testing The Boss(17)

By:Mallory Crowe


She tapped the pen repetitively on the paper as she waited for Longineu to get there. Please be something, she thought. This case was dead end after dead end.

Not that public corruption cases she worked in Texas moved much faster, but at least she was home when she was working those. Not stuck in New York, working white-collar. This could be the break in the case she was waiting for, and if they could bust Longineu for tax evasion, that would be enough to make her career—even if none of the Thirteen Stars went down with him.

If there was one thing the government liked, it was money. And the agents who found the money.

She could hear Cali and Longineu’s footsteps before they spoke. Cali did a quick introduction before she left the men to it and Evelyn leaned in closer.

Only to practically jump out of her chair as someone knocked on her slightly open door. She regained her composure and cursed under her breath, taking out one of the earbuds as she turned to look at the intruder. Cali.

“Hey,” she said with a forced smile. “What’s going on?” Hopefully it was something small and she’d be out of Evelyn’s hair ASAP so she could go back to listening.

“Hello.” Cali’s smile looked genuine. “I wanted to check in and make sure everything was working out so far.”

Great, she was trying to be friendly at exactly the wrong moment. “Everything’s fine. Luke has been keeping me really busy,” she said briskly. Hopefully Cali would take the hint and leave.

Cali’s gaze quickly scanned over the desk and Evelyn bet she was noticing that there was no paperwork in front of Evelyn to signify she was busy at all. “Well, if you have a spare moment, I’m taking a long weekend and could use some extra hands.”

“Of course. I can probably stop by after lunch to see if you need anything.”

“Sounds great.” Except Cali’s expression practically screamed how suspicious she was.

Evelyn didn’t care about Cali being suspicious. As long as she didn’t mention it to Longineu on the way out, which Evelyn thought was highly unlikely considering Cali’s normal professionalism.

But after a few seconds, Cali was still there. As though she wanted to voice her concerns but was working up the nerve to question not only the new girl, but the boss Cali had worked with for years. Evelyn didn’t have time for patience, though. She needed to be listening to Luke and Longineu right now.

“If that’s all, I really need to finish this up for Luke.” She pointed her pen at the empty notebook as though it was filled with a mile-long to-do list.

Cali’s frown deepened, but she finally nodded. “Sure. Come see me when you want some more to do.”

After she was out of the doorframe, Evelyn reached out with a leg to kick the door shut. It bounced on the frame but didn’t latch. Close enough. She wasn’t going to get up and miss any more of this conversation.

She shoved in the other earbud and leaned forward, trying to orient herself with what they were saying. It sounded as if they were exchanging pleasantries still. Talking about the stats of some sort of sports players...football.

Not her favorite sport, but not the most boring one. They went on about the most recent game for a while before Longineu got down to business. Apologizing for the way the Ken situation went down and making sure Luke knew they were a professional organization.

Evelyn held a hand over her ear, trying to listen for any tense undertones or any signal that Luke might be uncomfortable. But he sounded like the easygoing guy she was so used to. As they got back to football and discussed the newest draft picks for Rutgers, Evelyn rolled her eyes.

But it made sense that Luke would be into it. She knew from his file that he’d played in high school, and judging from his still cut body, he still enjoyed sports.

And then her mind was back on his abs. She’d been so damned determined to put last night behind them, and of course she’d walked in on him all...sweaty. Why was that so hot? Sweat was gross and smelly, but seeing those biceps and chest all shiny had been anything but gross to her in the moment.

Nope. That man would be haunting her fantasies for the rest of her life probably. Which wasn’t exactly professional. Or logical, for that matter. But Evelyn was coming to understand that her attraction to that man didn’t give a flying fuck about what was logical.

She picked up the pen and started to draw the rough outline of a man as the conversation went on. She added on a few ridges and planes until the shape started to resemble Luke more and more.

And then the conversation finally went to the good stuff.

“I have a meeting coming up,” said Luke. “I can move it over, or we can continue this later. I’d love to know a bit more about the operation.”