Drink your coffee, girl!
Sienna turned away from him, unable to handle that intense stare as she hurried to the fridge to grab some creamer. “Look,” she said on a sigh. “You don’t want me. You just like the idea of me.” And it was better that they got that out of the way now.
He snorted with laughter as she turned to face him. Damn it, it was like he got sexier every single time she looked at him. “Please tell me more about this insane idea that you have.”
She wrapped her fingers around the mug, frowned at him over the rim. “It’s not crazy, and I’m right. You don’t want me.”
He laughed again, shaking his head now, as if she’d lost her mind.
“Look, I have a fairly dangerous job,” she said.
“I know. So do I.” He lifted a shoulder as if to say So what?
But she knew better. “You want someone softer, someone who works a regular nine-to-five and who doesn’t get put into dangerous situations.”
He simply lifted an eyebrow as he watched her. “Where the hell are you getting this from?”
“You wouldn’t be the first guy who couldn’t handle my job.” Wouldn’t be the first guy in law enforcement either. She’d tried dating someone in law enforcement before. A DEA agent, not a detective, but he definitely hadn’t been able to handle her job. Not only that, but he’d tried to tell her what to do, as if she’d asked for his help.
And if things went south with her and Carson, it would be so complicated because of their families. It wasn’t like they could avoid each other forever. Nope, they’d be stuck having awkward conversations every time they saw each other and just, no, no, no.
He frowned at her. “For the record, I like what you do. I think your job is interesting. I think you are interesting. I’ve never said I want you to change your job. I’m not sure where this crap is coming from, but it’s not from me.”
“Crap?”
“Yeah. I like that you go toe-to-toe with me. I like that you’re a smart-ass. I like a lot about you. Even when you’re driving me crazy,” he said as he turned back to his laptop. Then he started muttering under his breath to something on the screen. Before she could think about responding, he said, “Tell me about Kevin Fox.”
She paused before she took another sip of her coffee. It went down smooth and hot, but she focused on the man Carson had just brought up on his screen. “Fox is a loser. But he’s in jail.”
“What happened with that case?” he prodded.
She’d included Fox’s name in her list of recent cases for Carson, but hadn’t given much detail because, well, Fox was in jail.
“Not much to tell. He used to knock his wife, Hailey, around until she finally got up the courage to leave him once she was pregnant. He lost his mind when she tried to leave. He already hurt her badly, on a fairly continual basis. But he was smart about the way he abused her, leaving no marks that anyone could see, and she would never press charges.”
“The guy’s brother is a cop?” He looked at his screen, his expression going darker.
“Yeah. But that guy is all right from what I can tell. He had no idea what his brother was doing, but Fox made it sound like she would have no one to turn to, that no one would believe her. And she believed him. It was like he brainwashed her into thinking she was trash.” Sienna wished she could punch the guy again just for good measure.
“How did you get introduced to the wife?”
“A friend of mine, an attorney, took her case pro bono. And she recommended that Hailey hire me—I also worked for her pro bono, although she made me a quilt as a thank-you.”
Carson half-smiled at that.
“Anyway, I followed him for a while, got some really interesting pictures of him committing random crimes. He was just a piece of shit in general and he likely would’ve gotten himself tossed in jail sooner or later. He’d already been arrested and jailed a couple times, but I took what I had and turned it over to the police. Somehow he found out it was me, and when he was out on bail he stopped by my office talking trash, trying to intimidate me. He also had a weapon on him, though he didn’t use it. When I refused to back down, I could see the shock on his face. He eventually took a swing at me but he missed and I broke his nose. He tried to say that I attacked him, but unfortunately for him I’ve got security cameras in my office for that very reason.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Damn.”
“You think he might be involved?” Maybe the guy’s brother had wanted revenge or something? But no, Sienna found that hard to believe. Fox’s brother had seemed pretty decent, had been getting Hailey stuff for the baby, doing a lot of work around the house for her. And the break-in at Sienna’s place had been too methodical, too clean. Someone had been looking for something specific and Fox was nothing more than a blunt object with no finesse. The guy was in jail anyway.
“I don’t know anything at this point, but you didn’t have much next to his name other than the words ‘asshole’ and ‘deserves another broken nose,’ so I wanted to ask.” Amusement flared in his blue eyes and she fought the effect that had on her.
She was already on a slippery slope with Carson. Because everything he did affected her. “Sorry about that,” she murmured, wincing. “I was exhausted last night. Let me look back over what I sent you.” She’d tossed together a file for Carson and his partner, wanting to give them as much information as possible, but clearly she’d been half asleep while putting it together.
“Tell me about this guy, Leo Tizon. You don’t have much next to his name either.”
She drank more coffee, savored it. “There’s not much next to him because he’s a new client. He hired me because he thinks his partner is screwing him out of money. They own a bunch of food trucks and the margin of profit is already fairly slim. But he thinks his partner is siphoning money away a little at a time.”
“Is he?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure yet. But I’m pretty sure his partner is screwing his wife. So, not exactly a stand-up person.”
Carson winced. “You really see people at their worst, don’t you,” he murmured.
She wasn’t surprised by his insight. His job was different than hers, but he still saw people at their worst too. “No more than you, I imagine.”
He paused and then nodded. “Yeah. I usually see people on their worst day. Or at least on a really bad one. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that when they’re acting like assholes. Trauma can bring out the worst in people and they react poorly.”
“Do you like what you do?” She’d never asked him before and she was curious.
He nodded and turned in his chair, once again giving her the full weight of that blue stare.
It was a little bit intimidating to be on the receiving end of all that sexiness.
“I do,” he said. “I like solving puzzles. Kinda like you. And I like helping people get justice.” He paused, a heavy weight hanging in the air as if he wanted to say more.
“What?”
“When I was in college, I was friends with a girl who was raped. The detective handling her case was, well, lazy. A piece of shit if I’m going to be blunt. He didn’t handle the case the way he should have, treated her more like a suspect than a victim. She never got the justice she deserved and it always stuck with me. I’m not saying it’s the only reason I became a detective, but it’s part of it. That whole thing stuck with me. Our system is broken in a whole lot of ways and I want to be part of the solution.”