Testing The Boss(30)

But he had a feeling Evelyn wasn’t the type to sit idly by while he took care of everything. So the best he could hope for was distracting her long enough to keep her out of more trouble.

“You look refreshed,” he said as she pushed her damp hair to the side and sat down.

“Well, three showers in one day will to that to a girl.”

Luke frowned. “Are your eyes still bothering you?”

“No. I felt pretty much back to normal after the shower here last night.” She held up one of the drying ringlets of dark hair. “This, however, demands to be washed every morning. Curly hair problems.”

He smiled at the thick hair he’d become so fond of as the intercom buzzed. Luke switched the burner to low. “That should be Michael.”

“I love having official meetings in my pajamas,” she muttered before she took a sip of orange juice.

“I meant to wake you up a while ago, but I figured you needed your rest.” Actually, he’d gone as far as to enter into her room to wake her. But the sight of her had stopped him cold. She’d obviously had a restless night. All the covers were kicked onto the floor in one big lump, and her hair was a sweaty mess around her face. As he watched, her legs kicked out as if even in her sleep she was fighting off her attacker.

But it wasn’t the first time she’d had to fight for her life. He knew it from reading her file, and there was visual proof in the small but devastating scar on her upper thigh. The bullet wound that was the reason for her transfer to New York City in the first place.

After seeing how restless her night had been, Luke hadn’t been able to bring himself to wake her. She needed every moment of sleep she could get. And now he was grateful he hadn't. She looked refreshed, almost no hint of redness left in or around her eyes and her damp hair was drying into the curls he’d become so fond of.

Even though she was in her pajamas, she’d put on her bra, which was a great shame. Her thin, flimsy top had done almost nothing to hide the beautiful peaks from his gaze last night. And now that she felt better, he was making it his number two priority to free those breasts to his gaze. Preferably today.

But number one was making Longineu pay for what he’d done.

Luke scooped some eggs onto her plate and set the skillet down. “Eat,” he ordered. “You’ll need your strength.”

He could practically feel her glare burn into his back as he left the kitchen to check through the camera to confirm it was Michael. Once he saw it really was his brother, he hit the button to bring the elevator to his level.

Luke glanced around the corner and smiled when he verified that Evelyn was eating. Good. She was stubborn, but at least she wasn’t stupid. The ding of the elevator rang through the apartment and the doors glided open. Michael and Lori looked decidedly somber.

Damn it. These were supposed to be some of the happiest days in his brother’s life. A whole new rage snaked through Luke even as he forced a smile. “There’s the happy couple!”

Michael cracked the tiniest grin, but Lori stepped forward and wrapped her arms forcefully around Luke. “We were so worried about you! I had to physically restrain Michael from coming here last night!”

Michael rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“No, I bet that was just an excuse to break out the handcuffs though.” Luke winked. “I always knew you’d be the bitch in the relationship.”

“Luke!” said Lori, while Michael muttered a curse at him under his breath.

There. At least he’d lightened the mood. Sex was always a good way to change the subject, in his experience. “Come on in. There are eggs and an FBI agent. What more could you want?”

He led them into the kitchen, where Evelyn had stopped eating and stood next to the island. “Hello, Michael, Lori. I hope your trip was nice.”

“It was.” Michael leaned against the counter on the other side of the island. “I heard you had a party at your place without us.”

Evelyn’s eyes went wide. “Luke and I were over there for training purposes only!”

“Umm...” muttered Lori. “I think he was talking about the guy who tried to kill you.”

“Oh.” A blush crept up Evelyn’s cheeks. “The murder kind of party.”

Luke turned away to pour himself some coffee as he tried to suppress a laugh.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Michael, never one to mince words. No wonder Evelyn liked him more than Luke.

“Well, we’ve obviously lost the element of surprise. But not everything is lost. Based off the information Lori was able to give us from her uncle’s files and computer, we have more leads than ever. Also we have a full set of prints from the gun we recovered last night, along with some fresh DNA. As soon as we find him, we have enough to put him away for decades. So if we find him, it won’t be hard to cut a deal. Like I’ve been saying, all we need is one good witness and some computer files and we’ll have a case.”