Free Edge of Danger (Edge Security Series Book 3) by Trish Loye Page A

dropped his hands back to his lap and watched her with that steady gaze. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be concerned with what was appropriate, Firecracker.”
    “I’m not usually, but I’m also not looking to give people a reason to talk about me.” She shook her head. “It’s more than that. I can’t have a flirtation at work and be taken seriously. Maybe you can, but as a woman, my co-workers’ respect lives and dies on my reputation. It’s something I learned in the military. And it’s true as a police officer too.”
    He sighed. “I understand. It’s a double standard that no one wants to acknowledge.”
    She tilted her head. “You’re okay to just leave this alone?”
    A smile played on his lips. “I didn’t say I was okay with it. Just that I understood.”
    “Will you stop?”
    He sat back in his chair. “Alright, I will try to tone down my looking ,” he said. Then a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. “But I demand something in return.”
    She crossed her arms, trying not to smile back. “Seriously? Are you trying to blackmail a police officer?”
    “Yes,” he said unrepentantly. “Your brother Jake mentioned a great pizza place that I had to go to,” he said. “I think you should come with me tonight.”
    Hadn’t she just covered this? She opened her mouth to protest when he raised a hand to stop her. “As a friend,” he said.
    “Why?”
    “Because I don’t like to eat alone?”
    She eyed his tall, muscular physique and gorgeous face. “Somehow I can’t picture you eating alone.”
    He didn’t smile. “I eat alone more often than not.”
    “Really?”
    He shrugged. “My job requires a lot of traveling. I don’t have a lot of time to meet people outside of work.”
    She studied him. He was telling the truth, not just trying to play on her sympathies. She could handle one dinner. “Fine, but just dinner. And we can discuss work,” she said. “Which pizza place?”
    “You drive a hard bargain, Firecracker. The place is Vezzo’s on 54 th and Lex.”
    It was a bit of a walk from her apartment, but she could make it easily enough on the subway. “I know it. I’ll meet you there.”
    She frowned as she left the room and headed back to her desk in the main area, feeling like she’d lost the battle somehow. She sighed. It didn’t matter. It was only a dinner. Once they’d captured Al Shabah—and she refused to think of any other alternative—he would head back to wherever he came from, and she’d likely never see him again.
    She could have dinner with him. He may be gorgeous, with his dark skin and angled cheekbones, but he was her brother’s friend and if that wasn’t enough, a co-worker. A definite no-no. So even though he was the first man in a long time to make her heart beat faster, she was going to keep it professional.
    No drooling.
    She sat at her desk and went through her messages. There was one from a beat cop in her neighborhood that she’d known in the academy. She called him up.
    “What’s up, Joe?”
    “Al, good to hear from you. I just wanted to let you know, there was a jumper on the subway last night near your street, and I’m sitting with the body now waiting for the M.E. to clear the scene.”
    “So why’d you want me?”
    He paused. “The homicide detective on the scene says the guy jumped, but my gut says something’s off. But more than that, I think he was a vet. He was wearing a BDU jacket with a corporal’s rank. He deserves better than to be written off so quick.”
    Joe had been in Afghanistan for a tour, so she knew he was being loyal to a brother-in-arms and didn’t want the vet dismissed as so many of them were. Finding Al Shabah was her priority, but taking an hour out of her day to help out a fellow officer and a potential vet was an easy choice for her.
    “They’ve detoured the train on this line, but it won’t be long before the M.E. clears the body,” he said.
    “I understand,” she said. “I’ll be right