Page 63 of Smoke Screen
He shrugged. “As long as everyone is happy, I’m good.”
“You know, I get that. I’m always the mediator between the littles and the elders. Even now that we’re grown.”
“You ran herd on them?”
She nodded. “I did. I enjoyed helping my mom. Plus, I missed my dad and wanted him to be proud. I still try. That’s why this thing at work is making me crazy. I mean, how could they think I had anything to do with it?”
Between the two of them, they had serious people-pleasing issues. Probably why she was easy to talk to. Confide in.
Jeez, he’d gone soft.
“Unfortunately,” he said. “You’re collateral damage. The feds are under pressure. They’re kicking every tire. Eventually, they’ll realize they’re wasting their time. I’d love for us to be the ones to prove it. We’d never get credit for it, but I’d make sure the right people knew.”
She shook her head. “I’dhatethat. Not receiving acknowledgment for my hard work.”
“I do hate it. That’s why I get pissed at that dickhead Blakely.”
She let out another amazing laugh. This one with a snort kicker that made his chest do the weird warming thing.
But, hey, cutest damned snort ever. “Did you just snort?”
“Heck yeah.Youjust called a United States senator a dickhead.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely. I’ve just never heard anyone actuallysayit.”
“Well, welcome to the world of Blackwell, where honesty reigns supreme. Even when it’s painful.”
For a few seconds, she didn’t speak. He slid his gaze to her, made eye contact and … whoa … felt the pull. The yearning to submerge himself in those blue depths.
Dang it. Shouldn’t have looked.
Those eyes might be the devil’s best work because here he was, moving closer, a tether pulling him along.
He should fight it. Dig his heels in and … too late.
Phin inched closer,the movement subtle, masterful even, yet so very welcome.
When a man looked like Phin, the idea of kissing him,touchinghim, would never be difficult.
Reckless maybe.
Ithadbeen a rough few days, and he’d been kind. Miraculously so.
And there’d definitely been a lack of that lately.
When he paused,she leaned in, refusing to break the spell and tilting her head, letting him know, without a doubt, she knew what she wanted.
Generally, never a problem with her.
She wantedthe swish. That glorious flip-floppy feeling in her stomach that occurred when all the goodness in her world briefly united. It had been there during her happiest moments. Museum visits with her dad, the last family Christmas, her college acceptance and graduation, the day her mother got a clean bill of health after a cancer scare.
That swish?
Worse than any drug.
Phin’s lips touched hers, softly at first, testing. His breath warm and tasting faintly of the coffee he’d had during the meeting with his brothers.
