Page 49 of Protector Unmatched

One side of his mouth lifted in a lopsided grin. “You’re the better judge of that, seeing that you’re holding the evidence in your hand.”

“I am, aren’t I?” It felt good to tease him. He didn’t seem to mind. There were so many sides to Pearce, and she couldn’t wait to explore them all. “Then maybe we should make good use of it.”

“Right here?”

“Right here.”

His eyes sparkled with lust and passion, and he reached for her blouse, ready to pull it over her head, but his cell phone rang. He hesitated for a moment, and she thought he would ignore it. But then he took a step back and reached for it.

He looked at the display. “Sorry, I’ve gotta take this.” He hit answer. “Yes?”

His tone was cool and collected now, not even hinting at his arousal.

“Where?” he asked. “Be right there… No, don’t interfere, unless it’s a matter of life and death. Give me eight minutes.” He disconnected the call and shoved the phone back into his jacket pocket.

When he met her gaze, Daphne already sensed that something was wrong. “What?”

“Your brother. He’s in trouble. I’ll take care of it.” He already turned to the door, ready to leave—without her.

“I’m coming with you.” She snatched her jacket and her keys.

“Out of the question. It’s too dangerous.”

“He’s my brother. I need to know what’s going on. You can’t just shut me out.”

“Apparently not,” he ground out. “Fine, come. But you’ll be staying in the car.”

She found it wiser not to contradict him right now. Whether she would follow his orders was another question.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they rushed out of her apartment and down the stairs.

“Your brother’s place.”

Moments later, they jumped into Pearce’s car and drove off. Pearce didn’t bother entering Tim’s address into his car’s navigation system, yet he seemed to have no trouble finding the fastest route to the small duplex where Tim lived on the first floor.

Daphne pulled her jacket tighter around her torso, suddenly shivering a little. Too many questions bounced around in her head. Who had Pearce talked to? How did he know that Tim was in trouble?

“How do you know Tim’s address?”

Pearce cast her a quick sideways look. “You told me.”

“I didn’t.” She was sure of that.

“On the map, remember? When we checked his cell phone records to see where he’d been. You pointed out his place on the map.”

Slowly, she nodded. She remembered that, but she also knew that she’d not mentioned the exact street address, and the dot on the map had encompassed an entire block. However, she didn’t point this out. Maybe she was just still too wound up from the events earlier in the day and was being suspicious about everything, even when there was nothing to be suspicious about.

Pearce’s estimate of how long it would take them to reach Tim’s place was correct. They pulled up in front of the duplex, and Pearce killed the engine, then turned to her.

“Stay in the car. I’ll come and get you when everything is clear.” He didn’t wait for her to communicate her compliance, just jumped out of the car and hurried toward the entrance.