Testing The Boss(19)
Evelyn’s eyes widened. “My people? The FBI?”
“Don’t look so shocked. You do come from public corruption. Your entire job was finding dirty cops.”
That would be a problem. Mainly because there were enough people at the Bureau who knew about her assignment that it would be almost impossible to nail down who it was. If it actually was a dirty agent, which Evelyn wasn’t willing to believe yet.
“Either way, I feel that I should warn you that going to meet Longineu on Friday might not be a good call. If he suspects something, I don’t want you alone with him.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “Is that right?”
“It’s my responsibility to get the Thirteen Stars and keep you alive. I’d prefer to do both.”
He nodded briefly. “Well, that’s nice, but I don’t care.”
“You don’t care?”
“If this is the guy who tried to kill Emma, I’m going to nail his ass to the wall. Not tiptoe around at the slightest threat.”
“And if he tries to hurt you?”
“Then I’ll take care of it.”
Cocky man had no idea what he was saying. “And if he tries to hurt me?” she tried, hoping to talk some sense into him.
“Then I’ll kill him.”
Evelyn was taken aback at the sudden declaration, but Luke seemed one hundred percent serious. “I’m, um, I’m supposed to be protecting you.”
Luke scoffed and stood, meeting her eyes over his desk. “As long as you’re helping me, you’re under my protection. I might not be a ninja like you, but around here, Devereaux protection means something.”
Evelyn opened her mouth and shut it just as quick. She didn’t know what to say to that. Just a day ago, she could’ve sworn that Luke wanted to kill her, and now he was protecting her? For that matter, she hadn’t been very fond of him one day earlier either.
“I appreciate that,” she finally muttered as she backed up a few steps. “I’m going to talk to a coworker and I’ll let you know my assessment of the Friday meeting.”
“Assess all you want. I’m still going,” said Luke.
Evelyn reached back for the door. “And I’ll consider that when I’m assessing. Good-bye, Luke.”
Before he could say anything else, she slipped out of his office and closed the door behind her. And looked right into Cali’s big, blue, suspicious eyes.
“Updating Luke on your...project?” asked Cali, the innuendo clear in her tone.
Evelyn sighed. On the list of her problems, worrying about Cali thinking she and Luke were screwing was on the bottom of her list. “Yep,” she said as she headed back to her office. “Just showing Luke all the ins and outs.”
She left Cali standing slack jawed as she shut the door to her own office on the woman.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Gail straightened her leather jacket before she tucked the rest of her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be better if Luke knew I was there?”
Evelyn shook her head as she sat back on Gail’s bed. “Luke is smart, but he’s not a field agent. I can’t trust him not to look for you or give you away. Also, I think my faith in him to keep himself safe is giving him a confidence boost that he needs right now.”
“I thought you said he had more confidence than ten men combined?”
“Well, yeah. In terms of looks and his job. But I think he’s a little out of his league here.”
“So it increases your confidence in him?”
Gail was much too perceptive for her own good. “If you don’t want to help, just say so.”
“I can do a simple watch and report job.” She smiled, obviously enjoying giving Evelyn a bit of crap. “At least you’re worried about his safety now. That’s a step up from last week.”
“Just because I didn’t like the guy didn’t mean I wanted him to die.”
“Didn’t like him? Does that mean you like him now?”
Evelyn tightened her lips and pulled out a phone from her bag. “Here’s a disposable phone for you to keep me updated on what you see.”
“So you really like him?”
Evelyn couldn’t tell whether Gail was just really bad at taking a hint or whether she didn’t care about the hint. “Just because I don’t want Luke to die doesn’t mean we’re best friends.” For the most part, she’d hardly seen him since that Wednesday in his office. She’d gone to Cali and asked whether she’d needed help with anything after lunch, like she’d promised, and had been busy the rest of the week helping Cali and catching up on her own Bureau work.