Page 67 of Her Wicked Hero

“Marcia, come sit down next to me.” He held out his hand again. It was so tempting. Seeing Zed there, in his bronze gloriousness, wearing nothing but boxers was tough to resist, but she was going to. It was a matter of principal.

“Tell me what’s going on,” she insisted.

“I will. You don’t have to sit next to me. But if you do, I can show you some things on the computer, it’s easier this way.”

“Oh.” She grabbed his hand like she’d wanted to and sat down next to him. “So, what are you going to show me?”

“Querida, first I want to say thank you,” his voice was so solemn, but his eyes twinkled devilishly.

“Uhmm, okay. I’ll bite. For what?”

“For telling Kane we have fantastic sex,” he drawled.

“Oh, no,” she wailed. “Did he hear me?”

“Oh, yeah,” Zed’s smile flashed white, “he did.”

Suck it up. Just suck it up and stay on point.

“Show me what’s on your laptop,” she waved her hand to the computer resting on his knees, “and tell me what’s going on

Zed was still chuckling when he opened the computer.

“Now Marcia, in all honesty, after my session with Jackson tomorrow, you and I were going to meet with the team to go over things.”

She knocked her ankle against his. “I guess I might have gone over the top, huh?”

“You do tend to have a temper.” Before she could apologize, he kept talking, “But I happen to love your fiery side.”

The man was making her blush again. Would that ever stop happening?

A picture of Raymond filled the laptop, but not as she remembered him. He was wearing Navy dress whites.

“That’s just all sorts of wrong,” she said.

“I agree,” Zed said grimly. “He’s gone off the grid, but Harold’s brought in an FBI Profiler to try to determine why Raymond became focused on you, and what he hopes to gain.”

Marcia laughed and held up her hand like a kid in school. Zed looked at her with that raised eyebrow of his.

“Yes?” he asked.

“I know the answer to this one. He’s a misogynist, and I made fun of him and shot him.”

“And for extra credit, can you tell me what he hopes to gain?” Zed asked.

“He wants to make me die painfully.”

“You have just passed the Navy SEAL profiler class, Ms. Price. Congratulations. However, the correct usage of batshit, crazy motherfucker was not used.”

Damn, this man was perfect. Just listening to his laugh, a girl could get lost in those eyes. Stay focused. Focused. But that chest, and those biceps.

“Okay, what about Jefferies?” she asked when her voice wouldn’t tremble.

“That man is profit motivated, but it turns out, he’s made a new friend who has political motivations. His new friend is a Russian oligarch who has made friends with a new nationalist in Turkey.”

“So, Jefferies could be after either of Mr. B’s projects for financial gain, but the nuclear materials seem to work better with the new Russian guy.”

“That about sums it up.”