unwanted—from her six brothers. And she’d managed to grow up and be a responsible adult despite it all.
She supposed she should have known Brady would end up a detective. He came from a long line of cops. She knew his dad and granddad had been on the Philly force, as had an uncle. She thought again about the meeting she’d just left with the mayor and commissioner—the latter, still in bed with the flu, attending by phone conference. They’d sung Brady’s praises to the moon, regaling her with stories of the amazing feats of detective work that had led him to be one of the top-ranked detectives on the force. Pretty impressive for someone who’d just hit thirty.
They’d also made it clear, though she’d already come to the same conclusion, that he wouldn’t take lightly to their plan. However, they hadn’t backed down on it either. A lot was riding on making this situation go away quickly and quietly. They told her they expected her to live up to her own not-so-humble reputation and get the job done. Whatever it took.
And she’d decided what it took was for her and Brady to have a meeting when both of them were rested and thinking clearly. Hence her planned ambush on the steps today.
She watched as he dodged a turning car and rounded the back of a double-parked taxi. Good reflexes. For a scrawny kid, he’d sure…filled out. So much for thinking clearly, she thought with a laugh. But the man did make her hormones jump, there was no denying that. Of course, she was pretty sure that wasn’t one-sided. Not that she’d ever condoned using sex as a means to get the job done. Well, not directly anyway. Sex and sexuality were two distinctly different things. She never used the former, but she was acutely aware how to effectively use the latter.
Women had few enough weapons in the high-stakes world of career-building. She was a firm believer in using every one she had to its fullest potential.
The mayor had said “whatever it takes,” she mused, still watching him approach…and found the hard line she drew between sexuality and sex blurring just a teensy bit.
“Good morning.”
He looked more resigned than surprised to see her. “Morning,” he said. “I’m withholding judgment on the good part.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Judgment withheld permanently.”
She couldn’t help noticing that his voice was as rough this morning as it had been last night. Was it always that way? She shook that thought loose immediately. She’d really have to make a serious effort not to get so distracted here. This was business, not pleasure. Damn shame, that.
“Come on, I’m not so bad, am I?” she asked, unable to resist teasing him. Just a little.
He looked at her briefcase, then back up at her. There was the tiniest glint of teasing in his own incredible blue eyes. “Depends on what you have in there.”
She laughed now. “I assure you, I outgrew playing silly pranks a long time ago.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve always been one to believe things when I have concrete proof. Never go on hearsay. Gets you into trouble every time.”
“Not a bad motto, Detective.” Work, Erin, no more flirting. But that tiny glint was just too damn tempting. And this wasn’t really flirting. More like baiting. Twenty years later and she still couldn’t resist yanking his chain a little.
She grinned and held her arms wide. “Wanna frisk me?”
His eyes registered surprise, but only for a brief second, noticeable only because she’d been looking for it. So he wasn’t easy to knock off balance, she admitted. Not at age ten…and most certainly not now. Probably why it had always been so irresistible to try.
“I don’t frisk. I get search warrants,” he responded evenly. But again, there was that trace, that tiny little trace of appreciation in his expression that egged her on.
She dropped her arms to her side. “Killjoy.”
“I guess you’ll just have to hunt for other game today, Ms. Mahoney.” He nodded, then went to move past her. She reached out and held his arm, stopping him. He looked down at her from the step above.
Bad tactical error, she acknowledged immediately. She made a mental note of it, but had no idea where it got filed because he chose that moment to smile at her. A real smile.
“I’m not going to discuss the case, Erin. Not now. Not later. Not until after I’ve finished my investigation.”
She released his arm, but stepped up so they were on even ground. It didn’t give her much of an edge, she realized. Barely a sliver, in fact. His smile was gone, but only from his mouth. It was still there, all smug and male, in his eyes.
“You on your way in to see the mayor?” she asked, a touch of smugness in her own voice.
“I am.” The twinkle died. “Why?”
A hollow victory, she discovered. She liked the twinkle better, as it turned out. Eye on the prize, Erin, not his— “I’ll escort you in, then,” she said quickly.
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
She slid her arm though his and propelled him up the stairs before he knew what she was up to. Keep the opposition off balance she reminded herself, before they could do the same to you. “Well, I might as well walk you up, since I’ll be joining you.” She gave him a megawatt smile, then slid her arm free and pushed open the lobby door. “After you?”
He looked at her, then simply nodded and walked through. “Thank you.” Being the gentleman, he opened the inner door for her. “After you.” His seemingly benign smile, on closer inspection as she passed by, was actually a shade on the insolent side.
Rather than feel deflated, she felt…energized. She was also incredibly turned on, but that was a very unprofessional reaction, so she tried hard to ignore it. Crybaby O’Keefe? Making her hot?
Okay, she told herself as they headed to the mayor’s office. Playtime was most definitely over. She switched mental gears and worked on coming up with a quick game plan on how to handle the meeting. A meeting she hadn’t been invited to. But she was sure the mayor wasn’t going to throw her out. She merely had to engineer the thing from the start to go the way she wanted it to. She had no compunction in working the mayor to suit her own needs, even though he was her client. After all, as long as the outcome was what he’d hired her to accomplish, that was what was most important, right?
She caught a glimpse of Brady’s face as the receptionist led them back to Henley’s office. He looked as if he was going to war. And perhaps he wasn’t far off.
Going through the mayor to get Brady to do what she wanted—needed—him to do was really the only way. And it would tick him off. Big time. But maybe that was for the best, too. All this hormonal stuff sparking between them could only be a bad thing.
Really bad. Because it felt too damn good.
She used the moment Brady turned to close the door behind them to make her first defensive strike. His loss for always being a gentleman she told herself as she charged into battle.
BRADY CLOSED the door and turned to find Erin striding confidently across the expanse of carpet to intercept Henley before he could take charge
