Free Revenge by Debra Webb

stood and squared her shoulders. ‘Anything else?’ She smoothed a hand over her skirt to avoid eye contact. ‘I have a murder case to get back to.’
    Apparently he had been wrong about which part of this briefing he dreaded the most. This next part had his gut clenching. Or, hell, maybe it was just saying it all out loud to her. ‘We need to go over your Audi again, Jess. Check for prints and anything else he may have left behind. And your apartment.’
    Rather than argue as he’d expected, she wiped her face clean of emotion and said, ‘I’m a person of interest. I understand that. I’ll talk to my landlord and set it up. Anything else?’
    ‘You understand how important this is and that it’s not about you having done anything wrong. No one’s calling you a person of interest, Jess.’ Not as long as he was chief of police. He searched her face, her eyes, needing to be absolutely certain she was okay with how this was going down. He hated like hell that any part of this made her feel guilty or threatened.
    ‘Of course they are. We all know what constitutes a person of interest. I’m connected to this, Dan. Good or bad, I’m connected. And just because the guy didn’t like me and may have tried to kill me and then disappeared doesn’t mean I did anything wrong. I’m sure no one thinks that.’ She laughed, the sound hardly amusing. ‘My landlord barely knows me but he surely won’t think I’m guilty of any wrongdoing. I’m certain he’s just wishing he hadn’t picked such a troublesome tenant.’
    He couldn’t take it any longer. Dan bolted around his desk. As if he’d intended to grab her and throw her over his desk for an encore of last night’s out-of-control lovemaking, she backed up a step, bumped into the chair. Damn it. He stood there, helpless, wishing he could hold her for just a moment, but she didn’t want that. She wanted to play by the rules.
    Rules he knew better than to break – for all the good that knowledge had done him last night. Or now .
    ‘You absolutely did not do anything wrong, Jess,’ he said, going for soft but sounding rough. ‘Your landlord will understand. I’ll clear it with him if you’d like.’ He wouldn’t mind an opportunity to talk to the guy again. He still had reservations about that setup.
    ‘Not necessary.’ Jess dug in her bag for her pad and pencil. ‘Give me a time frame so I can run it by Mr Louis.’
    ‘The sooner the better.’ Dan forced his body to relax. Harold was actually pushing for today to get into Jess’s apartment, but Dan wasn’t springing that on her. It was past one now. The man would just have to cool his heels until tomorrow.
    Jess made herself a note, then jammed everything back where she’d gotten it inside that bottomless pit of a leather bag she hauled around. ‘I’ll take care of it. Anything else?’
    She’d asked that three times already, angling for some indication that the meeting was over so she could get back to work. She was the strongest woman he had ever known.
    Despite just how shitty this day had been so far, he felt a smile coming on. She hadn’t dried her hair after her shower. Back in college, she had always complained if he tried distracting her before her hair was dry after a shower. Just like back then, that mass of blond locks looked all wavy and sexy. She’d made a halfhearted effort at a ponytail but wisps had worked their way loose. And the glasses. She didn’t wear them all the time, but when she did, he couldn’t help thinking of that old classic eighties video ‘Hot for Teacher.’
    ‘This is exactly what got us into trouble last night,’ she warned.
    He snapped out of the lust coma and slid his hands into his pockets. ‘You’re right. We broke your number one rule.’ No point pretending he didn’t know what she meant. She was the only woman who had ever made him want to break the rules.
    ‘ Our rule, Burnett.’ She cocked an eyebrow. ‘We should show a bit more restraint next