I needed to get the hell out of her bed. I needed to get my head on straight and focus on Lorenzo and finding Elise. I needed to stop living in some sort of fantasyland torn from the pages of those romance novels Letty sold in her bookstore.

Too much time with Letty and Brooklyn had fucked with my head. Watching Rhode and Reese find their women, not to mention River Kent swooping in to claim Letty after a decade of being a modern-day version of pen pals, had screwed with my sense of reality.

I was working a case. Sloane Ellis was part of that case and now that I knew her role, I had to put her out of my head and keep my distance. And I needed to do that quickly before it was too late. Before I fell any deeper and couldn’t. Before I lost myself completely. After I accomplished that I was cutting off Letty and blocking out her crazy tales of romance.

I hadn’t completely formed my plan to extradite my head out of my ass when I felt Sloane grow tense. This became a problem when her hand traveled up my chest and curled around the side of my neck. It became a serious issue when her head tipped back and she pressed a kiss under my jaw.

The issue became more severe when she snuggled closer and whispered, “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me, baby?”

Fuck.

I had to stop tacking on the “baby”.

“For giving me a safe place to let that go. I hadn’t realized how scared and alone I felt until I met you. You probably think I’m some dumb, weak woman who’s so naïve I’ll believe anything and maybe I am. Maybe I’m wrong about you but I don’t think I am. Maybe I’m stupid and finding excuses to justify my actions but I’ve watched you and I knew something wasn’t right. Then I came up with some stupid plan to seduce you and you knew what I was doing and didn’t take advantage of me even though I was throwing myself at you like a two-bit hooker. So, thank you for that, too.”

Jesus. No pretense. No prelude, just straight-out honesty.

It took a moment for me to shake off the shock, it took another moment to battle the new burn she’d ignited. But when I got a lock on that I didn’t hesitate to roll Sloane to her back. Our new position was far more intimate—far more dangerous. I planted my elbow on the bed, shifted most of my weight to the side, and used my free hand to capture her face when she tried to look away.

“You’re not wrong about me. And since you gave me that, I’ll give you this—what you saw at the club was as much as I was willing to give to the investigation. I did not lie when I told you I don’t share. To each their own. I don’t judge what goes on in that club. At least not what I witnessed. It’s just not for me. Not any of it, Sloane. That includes watching. I have a job to do, and I’m committed to carrying that out, however, that will not include me participating. Now you.” I paused to make sure I had her complete attention. “Straight up, you working there meant you were part of my investigation. It took me one night watching you to know you didn’t want to be there. There’s a lot of shady shit I have to do in my line of work; one of the things is not and never will be fucking over a good woman. That includes taking something she’s offering under duress. I’m not that man. I saw your play, and you’ve gotta know the truth; I wanted to take you up on your offer. Not because of the investigation, not for information, because I wanted to fuck you. And you have to understand wanting that had not one thing to do with what I saw at the club. You get what I’m saying?”