a good nurse,” he replied in a terse voice.
His brother’s answering silence lasted far too long for his liking. “What?” Derek said defensively. “Say what’s on your mind, Tate.”
Tate lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant pose. “Seems to me you’re into more than her nursing abilities. You invited her to dinner—”
“Sawyer invited her,” he cut in.
“And the private ranch tour? That was all you, Doc. You wanted to be alone with her.”
He found himself unusually flustered. “That woman is damn secretive. I just wanted to get some answers.”
As they approached Sawyer’s classroom, Tate grabbed Derek’s arm and forced him to stop. “It’s okay to admit you like her,” Tate said in quiet voice. “Tess has been gone for two years. It’s about time you started to show interest in a woman.”
Discomfort wrapped around his spine like strands of ivy. Tate was wrong. He didn’t like Amelia, not in a romantic way, at least. He respected her. Appreciated her skills. Enjoyed her company.
Lusted over her gorgeous face and curvy body….
Shock spiraled through him. Holy crap. He did like her.
He shifted his gaze and noticed the barely restrained grin on his brother’s face. “Just figuring it out now, huh?”
Derek promptly averted his eyes and took off in a brisk walk again. They reached Sawyer’s classroom, but when he poked his head into the room, he saw that Sharon Bentley, Sawyer’s teacher, hadn’t wrapped up her current conference. She held up one hand to signal she’d be another five minutes.
Derek nodded in response, then stepped back into the hall and gestured to the wooden bench lining the wall. He and Tate sat, their big bodies awkwardly positioned on the kid-size bench. Both stood at six feet, and the bench was so low to the ground it was as if they were sitting on the floor.
“Anyway, about this Amelia thing,” Tate continued.
“I can’t talk about that right now. I … I can’t.” He let out a breath. “Tell me what’s happening with the investigation.”
Tate’s expression hardened. “The sting operation is going down next week.”
“So your informant came through?”
“Yeah, Miller’s giving us the locations where the girls are being held. My supervisor has me posing as a buyer—I’m a rich New York businessman looking to buy myself a sex slave.” A combination of revulsion and rage dripped from Tate’s tone.
Derek felt pretty sick himself, and he was totally feeling his brother’s rage, too. It horrified him to think that innocent girls were being sold off in a sex ring as if they were cattle. Both Tate and Emma were working overtime to crack this online ring wide open, and the coordinated efforts of the FBI and the Pennsylvania and Ohio PDs were finally paying off, especially now that Solomon Miller, a minor player in the ring, was working as an informant to help law enforcement nab the ringleaders.
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