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Her crestfallen expression told him everything he needed to know.
“That’s what I thought.” He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, still not sure he quite believed her and wanting to see the proof for himself. “Listen, I think Lawrence is as crooked as they come, despite his squeaky-clean reputation and his forty years in Congress. Nobody’s that pristine. But if you want to nail this guy, you’re going to need solid, irrefutable proof of his misdeeds. Otherwise no one’s going to believe you and the senator and his nephew will get away with whatever nefarious deeds they’re doing.”
“Oh, I’ll get it, don’t worry.” Aileen shifted in her seat and leaned forward over the table to grab a strawberry. Her position allowed him a peek down the front of her PJ top and he glimpsed an expanse of creamy, soft flesh and the gentle rise of the top of her breasts. Heath had mentioned her being too skinny earlier, but that had mainly been to get some kind of rise out of her because honestly, right now she looked damned near perfect to him. He coughed to cover a small groan and his cock twitched in appreciation of her fine assets.
Not cool, bro. Not cool at all.
This is Murph’s little sister, not some late-night booty call that lingered over into the morning, he reminded himself. Then Aileen dropped her napkin on the floor and she bent over to pick it up and his mouth went sandpaper dry.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what a beautiful booty it was too.
All taut and pert and just begging for him to cup those globes and hike her up against him as he pressed her to the wall and thrust his cock so deep inside her that she begged for more. He’d give it to her too, over and over and…
Aileen continued on, oblivious to his carnal fantasies, and Heath shifted in his seat to accommodate his rapidly hardening dick. Scowling, he refilled his coffee mug then took a large swallow of the scalding hot liquid, enjoying the distraction of the burn in his throat.
“My plan is to pressure the senator into making a mistake,” she said, now nibbling on a buttery croissant. For someone who didn’t eat breakfast, she seemed to be devouring his food pretty well. “From my research, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what he’s doing. I’m guessing he helped set up EnKor as a fake company and he’s using it to skim millions of dollars from their investors by having them buy into all that green energy technology that doesn’t actually exist. Believe me, I’ve tried locating the guy EnKor claims invented their systems and he’s a ghost. No face, no birth date, no address, no nothing.”
“Yeah, Murphy went looking for him too, with Shayma and couldn’t find anything.”
“Huh.” She frowned. “How long’s he known this girl?”
“You could find out for yourself if we took a little trip over to The Plaza today.”
“Ha, ha.” Aileen gave him an incredulous stare. “We have a deal, remember? Besides, I don’t want Murphy involved until I know what I’m dealing with. So, tell me more about this girl. How did they meet? Where’s she from? Is she nice?”
“They met through Daveed. Shayma’s from Al Dar Nasrani. And yes, she’s very nice.”
“What’s she doing all the way in New York City at Christmastime?”
“Now here’s where things get interesting.” He sat forward and grinned. “The reporter in you should love this. Shayma came here because she was engaged to Daveed.”
“Wait.” Aileen sat back and crossed her arms, only serving to highlight her excellent rack. Not that he noticed. Nope. “I just read in the tabloids Daveed’s engaged to someone else.”
“Yep. My ex-fiancée, Melody Haskall-Ebons.”
The confusion in her expression deepened. “Let me get this straight. Shayma, who’s dating my older brother Murphy, originally came to New York to marry Daveed, but she couldn’t because he was already engaged to your ex-fiancée?”
“About sums it up, yeah.” He raised a brow. “How’s that for soap opera?”
“So Daveed’s got someone and Murphy’s hooked up, but where does that leave you?”
“Alone.” The word emerged harsher than he’d intended, but he didn’t want her getting any ideas about him needing a matchmaker. He was fine by himself. Gave him more time to concentrate on his new tech business and work on this mess with the senator. Besides, after the whole debacle with Mel, he wanted to lay low and not stir up any more shit in the media about his personal life. “Just the way I like it.”
“Amen,” Aileen said, though he could’ve sworn he saw a flicker of disappointment in her amber eyes before she looked away from him. It was for the best, really, no matter how awkward and uncomfortable it might feel now. The two of them together was way too far out in left-field to ever work. They were too different, too focused on their own careers and life goals, too independent. Weren’t they?
She sighed and brought his attention back to the present. “Anyway, from the reports I’ve been reading from Capitol Hill, Senator Lawrence is gearing up to have his committee vote on whether to give EnKor a huge government grant. If it passes, he’ll end up pocketing the money himself, eventually. That’s why I need to stop him in his tracks.”
Glad to have something else to focus on other than her delectable body and his raging libido, Heath began clearing up his breakfast dishes. “And how do you propose we do that?”
“Mind if I take a look at your morning paper?” she asked.
“Be my guest. It’s in the living room.” He tossed the trash and stuck the leftovers in the fridge for later then joined her near the front of the brownstone. “Find what you were looking for?”
“Yep.” Aileen turned to face him, putting them much closer than he’d expected. Form here, he could see just how long and dark and thick her eyelashes were, feel her warmth through the T-shirt he’d pulled on after his shower this morning, smell a hint of her coconut shampoo and fabric softener from her sheets. She stared up at him a moment, seemingly as stunned as he was, and bit her lower lip. “Uh, it says Senator Lawrence is still in town making pre-holiday appearances. To keep the pressure on him, we need to follow him, see where he goes, what he does.”
“He’ll recognize your face from the park though, won’t he?”
“Not if I go in disguise again.” Aileen’s little smile gave him all sorts of wicked ideas. “And this time I’ll have a boyfriend with me. How about you and I pretend we’re a couple out to buy our Christmas tree and admire the window treatments at Barneys? Newspaper says he’ll be there in about two hours to shake hands and kiss babies.”
