Luke stood up, his chair shooting behind him at the sudden motion. “Damn it, Evelyn.” He crossed the room in a few long strides. He pulled the arm of her chair until it rolled out from the table and set his hands on the armrest on either side of her, caging her in. “I’m not going to pretend the last three days never happened.”
She started to get up, but he didn’t budge, and she remained stuck in the chair. “Get out of my way, Luke.”
“Stop treating me like just another one of your assets.”
“You are just another one of my assets. The fact that we slept together has no bearing on our interactions from now on.”
Luke leaned in closer. “I still want you. You still want me. Don’t let a little guilt over something that wasn’t even your fault cloud your judgment.”
“The only thing clouding my judgment is you.” She brushed her fingers over the tender spot on his forehead where he’d been struck the night before. It was now a nasty dark blue and raised. “If I’d been doing my job, I never would’ve showered with you. I would’ve been in the living room, standing guard like I was supposed to be doing.” She pushed herself up again, and this time, he did move out of her way. “So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to doing my job the way I should’ve in the first place. Distraction free.”
Evelyn crossed to the door and Luke watched her go. “Just tell me one thing,” he said right before she left.
She paused before she stepped out of the office. “What?”
“I’m a damn fun distraction, right?”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “You weren’t the worst distraction,” she conceded before she left.
Luke smiled as he looked around the empty office. That was promising. He’d get Evelyn back even sooner than he expected.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Evelyn tried to shake off the shivers that raced through her. Even though Luke hadn’t touched her, it was as if she could feel him all over.
She let her head fall back and rolled it around, trying to get back to her equilibrium. Luke had a way of throwing her off balance, even with just a look. All the more reason for her to keep her distance.
She didn’t know why it was so important to him to be with her. From what she knew about playboys, once they had a taste, they were normally done. But she supposed there wasn’t much normal about Luke.
As she approached Cali’s desk, she forced herself to go blank. She needed to be focused for this next conversation. “Hey there,” she said, and the blonde looked over immediately, smile in place. Evelyn wished she could be that cheery. Or at least know how to fake that kind of cheer.
“Morning, Evelyn. It’s nice to have you back after your sick day.”
“About that, do you have a few minutes to talk somewhere private?”
“I actually have a lot I need to—”
“It’s important,” stressed Evelyn. She tilted her head toward the conference room between Michael and Luke’s offices. “Let’s go.” This time she brought in her official FBI tone that tended to get things done.
Cali set her computer to sleep mode and stood. Evelyn led the way to the conference room and pushed the door closed once Cali was inside.
“Have a seat.” She motioned to the closest chair of the twelve around the oversized table.
Cali raised a brow at Evelyn’s authoritative tone but sat down, pulling her skirt down as she crossed her legs. “Fine. I’m here. What do you want?”
“So you’ve probably guessed I’m not an intern.”
Cali shrugged. “Hey, if Luke wants a pretty new intern who doesn’t actually do any work, it’s not my place to judge.”
“Funny. That sounds judgey.”
“It’s not my place—doesn’t mean I won’t do it.”
Evelyn smiled. She really didn’t want to like Cali as much as she did. The woman seemed like Evelyn’s opposite. Her clothes, makeup, and hair were impeccable, and she was somehow able to resist Luke’s charm. But it was past time to tell Cali the truth about why she was here. “My real name is Evelyn Price, and I’m an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Cali blinked a few times but kept her expression mostly under control. “Not just FBI, huh? Must be serious when you don’t even use the abbreviation.”
Evelyn studied Cali and noticed that, despite her joking tone, she’d straightened in her seat and her foot tapped out a nervous rhythm on the floor. At least she was taking this seriously.
“So are you investigating Luke?”
“No. Luke is helping me with an investigation that has been ongoing for years. I’ve been the lead agent for the past few months. We were trying to keep Luke and Michael’s involvement under wraps, but word is out. So for the next week or so”—hopefully not longer—“I’m going to be hanging around Luke a lot. We thought you had a right to know.”