Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) by Melissa Schroeder Page A

him in the throat.
    “Boss?”
    He looked up and realized Adam was waiting for an answer. “Of course she is.”
    Adam looked out into the squad room, then shut the door to Del’s office. Dammit , he would never get any peace, even from his own team. If Adam closed the door, he felt they needed to share again.
    “Why do you say it like that?”
    He shrugged. “Emma always finishes what she starts. It’s an illness almost.”
    “Hmm.”
    He did not like the sound of that hum. When Adam had time to think, it usually ended badly for Del. “What?”
    “You seem to know her well.”
    “I told you. I dealt with her when her brother had that business before. You were the one in charge of her that night.”
    “Yeah, but she has never connected with me like she has with you.”
    Del thought it best to ignore Adam’s needling. “You’ve worked with her for the last few months. You’ve seen her obsession. She latches onto something and doesn’t let go. It’s why she makes so much money testing games. They know she will go in and test every angle there is and then some. When they get the report back from her, they know how to make it more difficult, or easy, depending on what they want to do with it. It is just the way her brain works.”
    “Man, that’s a lot of words about a woman you claim not to have the hots for.”
    “Listen, I know that you like to talk about feelings, but I don’t have the time. We have the mayor and the governor breathing down our necks, and that damned Jin Phillips is stalking me. She wants a fucking interview. I don’t have the time or energy to even think about a love life.”
    “Ah, so you do think about her that way.”
    Fuck. He needed some sleep. How did Emma operate on no sleep? He had been trained in the Army to go without sleep, but right now, even after drinking a ton of coffee, he couldn’t seem to concentrate. He was too old for this kind of sleep deprivation. Of course, just thinking that pissed him off. Seriously, he wasn’t even forty yet. He’d just hit mid-thirties this year, but he was already thinking like he was middle aged.
    This case had been driving him mental—as Emma would say.
    He didn’t address Adam’s assertions, but he did say, “We should probably check on her.”
    “Did you call her brother?”
    He nodded. “He said he talked to her yesterday morning when I called him last night. He assured me they were all keeping tabs on her.”
    All of them understood her interest could often turn to obsession. He was sure a shrink would say it had to do with her losing her family at the age of fifteen. Add in that she survived the natural disaster that had destroyed her family, Emma was a prime candidate for having issues. The fact that she had this one quirk was easy enough to deal with. Tag teaming with her family seemed to help.
    “But you haven’t talked to her?” Adam asked.
    He shook his head. It was the end of the workday, and while he had called her several times, she had not answered.
    “You might want to check on her. You know how she can get,” Adam said.
    “What?”
    “Just like you said. I have seen her like that. Remember that first case we were on with her, the dog fighting ring?”
    Emma had been devastated that people were abusing dogs that way. They had caught the case thanks to a fight between two of the operators, which had left one of them dead. The investigation had uncovered a multitude of activities, including prostitution and drug selling. Emma had obsessed about the dogs so much so that she hadn’t slept for a week.
    “I’m sure her brother will keep an eye on her.”
    But he knew better. Sean did overprotect her to a point. At the time of their blow up, he had noticed that her older brother was giving her more space. It had made Del even more nervous about her well being. The woman needed a keeper.
    “Go on and check.”
    Del looked up from his email. “Why don’t you come with me?”
    “I have a love life, and to prove