She sighed. “That was ham-handed of me. What I meant is that you are part of our circle, the family we’ve made, because of you. Not because we owe you. Even though we do. I would never reveal your secrets.” She thought of him encouraging Michael in that dreary room at CPD. Think of it as a mugging. “Any of your secrets,” she added. “I promise.” She let her words hang between them for a few seconds, then pointed to his laptop. “So what have you found?”

He continued to stare at her for a few heartbeats more, then, closing his eyes, he cleared his throat. And shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Heat flooded her face as his reason for the movement registered. She glanced down, unable to stop herself. And then closed her own eyes.

Holy hell. He was . . . very proportional. Everywhere. Sexual arousal washed over her in a mighty wave and she clenched her thighs together.

There’d been no one in so long. No one since Adrian. Her hand moved, her fingers outstretched and aching to touch him, but she yanked back, closing her fingers into a fist.

Stop it. This isn’t going to happen. Nothing is going to happen.

A loud scraping sound had her opening her eyes—in time to see him shoving his chair away from the table. He stalked to the freezer, opened the door, and stuck his head inside. Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep inside her and she let it out, conscious that it was the second time in minutes that she’d sounded so happy.

He leaned back, glaring at her around the freezer door. “I’m glad you think this is funny.”

“Not funny,” she said quickly, anxious not to offend him again. “Not funny at all.”

He simply raised his dark brows in clear disbelief.

“Okay,” she amended. “It’s funny. The freezer, I mean. You gotta admit it.”

His lips twitched. “Okay, I admit it.” He closed the freezer and retook his seat with a heavy sigh, his small smile gone. “What are we doing here, Dani?”

Nothing. But that wasn’t true. Denying that there was something between them was disrespectful. Whatever the something was, it wasn’t going to go anywhere, but she didn’t say that.

Because she didn’t want it to be true.

She drew a breath and let it out. “For now, we’re helping two little boys who may be in danger from a big bald guy who killed their stepfather.”

He nodded. “Right.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, then focused on his laptop screen. “Like I said, I started searching through Brewer’s financials this afternoon.”

“Follow the money,” Dani said. “I’ve heard Deacon and Adam say it often enough. Where did it lead you?”