Page 6 of To Catch a Sub

Colette lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “Come now, Landon, I don’t think grumpy is one of the things I make you feel.”

The fact that her words mirrored his thoughts made his teeth grind.

Anu held open the conference room door and Landon steered Colette in. Landon made to follow her, keeping his hand on her shoulder, but Anu stopped him.

Reluctantly, he let his hand drop, watching Colette as she took a few tentative steps.

Anu pulled the door closed, but thanks to the glass they could still see her. Colette’s acting was impeccable—she was hugging herself as she looked around nervously.

She looks like the museum intern I first met.

He’d wanted her almost from the moment they met, the spark when they touched—that first touch entirely accidental—intense and strong.

“Landon.”

He steeled himself, braced for a reprimand, before facing his boss.

“That was a rather shocking display.”

Yes, it had been. Time to deflect.

“Ma’am, whatever she says, she’s lying. Look up her file. She’s been tangentially connected to dozens of robberies. She’s a very good thief, which is why she isn’t currently incarcerated.”

“I intend to look up her file.” Anu frowned up at him. “And I’m not a fool.”

“No, ma’am, you’re not.”

“We’ll deal with her, but for now I need to know, is the way you…handled her. Touched her—” Anu stopped, looking slightly uncomfortable, but only for a moment. “That was Dom behavior?”

He crossed his arms, hating this conversation. “No. Not exactly. She’s dangerous and I was controlling the situation.”

“I see.”

“Director…Colette and I have a history.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. We met, during an investigation. And we… Before I realized who she was…” He shook his head in frustration.

“And was that relationship sexual?”

He wished he could say yes. Say she’d fucked him to distract him from suspecting her, but it had been more than that. His heart had been involved.

“To an extent,” he said slowly, then shook his head. “The one thing I know, without any reservation, is that Colette Beaumont can’t be trusted.”

* * *

Colette watched Landon and his boss through the window.

Her body still hummed in reaction to the way he’d pinned her. For a few breathless moments, she hadn’t known if he was going to arrest her, kiss her, or…

Landon was shaking his head, his back almost painfully straight as he spoke to his boss. A second later he opened the door, and she prepared herself to play the part of the upstanding citizen.

If there was an option to only deal with Landon, she could have been herself, or at least the version of herself that was as close to core-truth as she allowed other people to see. Odd that she was comfortable being that person with Landon.

Even the murderous look in his eyes as he stalked into the room didn’t change the fact that she trusted him. His boss didn’t follow him in. Colette could see her through the glass, apparently waiting for something. Maybe security. Merde.

“Did you get a talking to?” Colette asked with a mocking frown.