Page 3 of Shadow Burn

“Priss.”

“Doesn’t suit her.”

“It absolutely does. She lives up to it daily.”

He scratched the cat under the chin with one knuckle. Priss closed her eyes. Katherine watched five years of feline standards collapse on her kitchen floor. Never had the cat warmed up to any man she’d brought home in D.C.

“Can we talk about why I called?” she asked.

Jasper patted Priss again. “Of course.”

Katherine sat across from him as he opened his leather bag. Inside was a slim laptop, a stylus, and a small notepad with a black pen clipped to the spine. He took out the notepad and set the pen beside it.

When she stared at it, he asked, “Can I make notes?”

“You’re going to take notes by hand?”

His intense gaze bore into her. “I’ll transfer them to my digital files if I decide to take your case.”

She worried her bottom lip, an old habit she’d broken years ago. If I decide to take your case…

“Before we start,” he said, “I want to be clear about a few things.”

Priss’s purring was loud enough to make Katherine want to roll her eyes. “Okay.”

“I haven’t agreed to take this assignment.”

She fought the urge to bite her lip again. “I’m fully aware of that. That’s why you’re here—to get a handle on my situation and what I need help with.”

“I’m going to listen, ask questions, and then I’ll decide whether I can and will work with you. If I can’t, I’ll tell you that, but I won’t recommend anyone else.”

“Why not?”

“If your situation is what Vivi suggested, I don’t want to put another contractor in your path.”

She hid her flinch. No one liked the CIA and all its secrets. “Fair, but let me emphasize that I’m not an agent. Just an archivist. This isn’t a dangerous assignment.”

He fiddled with the pen. “And I’m not a security operative. I’m trained for it, but I sit at a desk and find things. If you’re looking for protection or need it going forward, you’ll have to hire someone else.”

“I don’t need protection.” Katherine forced a soft chuckle. “I’m in need of a researcher with a particular skillset. I have the documentary side covered. I need someone who can build the digital picture in parallel.”

“Parallel to what?”

“To what I’m doing.”

“Which is?”

She held his gaze. The look he gave her wasn’t aggressive or uninterested, but she didn’t know what to do with that. Most men she’d worked with at the Agency leaned toward one of those poles.

“I’m going to need some assurances before I tell you that,” she said.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning if you decline the consultation, what I’ve told you doesn’t leave this room.”

“It wouldn’t leave the room anyway.”

“Your word on that.”