My jaw drops. “I would have if you hadn’t been yellin’ at me!”
“Wait—what’s happened?” Trent intercepts us.
“Lena Perkins isn’t Lena Perkins,” Drake replies, a muscle below his eye twitching. He explains the rest of the story.
“And you didn’t say anything right away?” Trent glares at me. “How long did you know?”
“Not long!” I protest. “I was going to call you whether or not I got the document.” I shrug. “And I would have told this idiot sooner if he hadn’t have strolled into my office like he owns the damn building and started yelling at me.” And kissing me.
Yep. We definitely won’t mention that little incident to Trent.
“I need a warrant.” Drake cuts his eyes to me although he’s speaking to Trent. “Get Brody on it and get it signed off before Judge Barnes takes off for his Saturday evening dinner and dance with Mrs. Barnes.”
“Got it.” Trent disappears back into his office, the door closing behind him.
“There’s no point in rushing,” I mutter, following Drake into his office. “The offices are all closed tomorrow.”
He narrows his eyes. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t have it on their front desk at eight a.m. on Monday morning.”
But I bet I can find out before that.
“Okay.” I shrug again. “Why did you need me down here, then?”
He shuts the door and locks it. Oh, shit. That never ends well for me. I swallow when he turns and walks past me. Slowly, he removes his guns and sets them on his desk. Then he leans against the edge of it and stares at me. His arms bulge as he crosses them over his chest.
“Like it or not, it’s clear we’re gonna have to work together on this,” he says, each word slow like he’s still testing them out in his mind. “Your team—somehow—seems to find things mine can only dream of.”
“They don’t always do it legally.”
“What was it you said before? What the HWPD doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”
I tilt my head to the side and regard the dominating man before me. “Are you tellin’ me to break the law, Detective? Because I don’t think that’s in your job description. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Drake’s lips curve upward, and his eyes sparkle with amusement. “Absolutely not, Ms. Bond. I’m merely stating a fact or two. Clearly nothing I say to you is going to change your mind about continuing with this case…”
His pause makes me smile. “I’m sorry—am I supposed to justify that asinine comment with a response?”
“Touché,” he mutters, still smirking. “As I was saying, you’re not dropping this case, but it’s not safe for you to work it. And I know what you’re gonna say”—he holds his hand up to stop me when I open my mouth—“so the only way to keep you safe and let you have your way is by us workin’ it together.”
“Contrary to your belief, I can actually look after myself.”
“I’m not disputing that, Noelle. I’m sayin’ to you, sweetheart, that it ain’t safe for you to work this case. No matter how good you are with a weapon.”
“I don’t know that my safety needs to be a concern of yours. I already have three brothers who worry about me. I don’t need a fourth overbearing man in my life, thank you.”
“And your dad?”
I shrug. “He’s a smart man. He worries, but he lets me handle stuff. Then, when I fuck up, he laughs and says, ‘I told you so.’ It works.”
Drake shakes his head and stands, walking over to me. “Fine. Have it your way. You pretend I’m not worrying about your safety and look at it pragmatically.” He grabs my shoulders and steers me toward a chair in front of his desk. I drop into the seat, and he perches on the edge of the table again. “Our investigations keep crossing. Your team finds things mine doesn’t. Mine…probably doesn’t find anything yours can’t,” he admits with a slight laugh.
I grin. “At least you know I have the best.”
He inclines his head in agreement. “I have access to documents and findings you don’t. You also have a particular skill set. Something my female officers don’t have.”
“Which is?”
“You’re a total bitch.”
“Do you want me to break your kneecaps?” I push up out of the chair, but with barely a touch to my shoulder, he pushes me back down.
Okay. Maybe I am a little.
Drake laughs. Bastard. “Not in a bad way. At least, most of the time. For what it’s worth, that just then? The bad way.”
“Explain what you mean before I make good on that threat, douchewank.”
“Douchewank?” He raises an eyebrow, pauses, then shakes his head. Again. He does that a lot around me. “You’re a bitch because people look at you and see the sweet Southern girl with good manners and a smile for everyone. They don’t look at you and see the calculating, suspicious investigator dissecting their every word or action. They see the Noelle you want them to see—and she isn’t the version of you with a gun tucked into her pants.”
I get up and look at him, my hands on my hips. “I do what I have to do get my job done.”
“People underestimate you, Noelle,” Drake says huskily, standing once again. “They don’t do that when they look at my team. Even when they’re undercover—they know they’re cops. Even people who know you don’t really know you.”
“What can I say? I’ve got more layers than Hell.”
His lips twitch. “The only way we’re going to catch our man is by working together. I can’t allow you access to my case files, but I can’t stop you from reading them on my desk or in my car—”
“Again with the law-breaking suggestions.”
“Another,” he murmurs with that smile. “I’m not your favorite person, and you’re sure as fuck far from mine, and I’m pretty damn sick of you meddling in my investigation, so it’s easier to invite you into it and have both of us on the front line of the case.”
“You’re not my boss,” I warn him. “I won’t take orders from you.”
“There’s only one kind of order I could give you and have you obey and it doesn’t involve the workplace.” His low laugh sends shivers down my spine. “I won’t tell you what to do, Noelle. For the most part, our investigations will remain separate, but every evening, we’ll convene to share notes, and we’ll keep in contact during the day about any new revelations. Does that sound fair?”
“And you won’t dispute my staff’s maybe not-so-legal methods of getting information?”
“If it blows open this case, then no.”
I take a deep breath and meet his eyes. If I ignore the lust and annoyance and determination there—and I am—they’re completely honest. And if I have to be honest with myself, I know he’s right. We may as well combine our investigations.
“As long as we avoid lapses in judgment,” I whisper then clear my throat.
“Absolutely.” He smirks again. Seriously, he’s a total bastard.
“Fine. We’ll work together.” Ugh. “I feel a little sick from agreeing to that.”
Drake’s smirk becomes a mischievous grin. “No sicker than I felt proposin’ the idea. I’m gonna get this certificate Monday morning and we’ll work on Lena’s life in Houston—see if there’s a connection to Daniel.”
I can’t help my smile. I can’t. I slowly walk backward, bringing my thumb to my mouth. “I’m going to Houston tomorrow. You can wait until Monday morning or you can come with me.”
His smile drops. “I’m comin’. You can’t go alone.”
I roll my eyes.
“Trust me, Noelle. When I say it ain’t safe, it ain’t safe. You’re embedded so deeply in this investigation that your connection is deeper than just coincidental discovery places and being hired by the victim’s husband.”
His words send a chill through me—one that crawls and twists its way across my skin until I’m all but shivering. “You think I’m in that much danger?” I ask softly.
His lips’ thinning is his answer.
“Then I guess you better come with me. Meet me at my house at six a.m. Look like…well, not like a cop.” I shrug and turn to the door.
“What exactly are you hopin’ to find in Houston?”