Chapter 22

Jacinda rolled over and lifted her head, and looked at the sleepy man beside her. “What do you mean the captain wants to see me?” She frowned. “Why?”

Reid grinned as he ran a hand down her disheveled hair. “He called me last night and said to see if you would come in today sometime.”

She chewed her lip. “And you’re just telling me now?”

He shrugged and leaned over to kiss her bare shoulder. “I meant to tell you, then you came out of the bathroom in a towel.” He kissed the side of her neck. “A towel—how is that playing fair? I’m supposed to be looking after you while you recover.”

She pushed him onto his back. “It had been two days, I was recovered.” She sat up and glared down at him. “You need to get ready for work.” Turning, she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

He reached out, wrapping his arm around her waist, and pulled her back into the bed. “And where do you think you’re going?”

She laughed, trying to pry the arm off her waist. “To shower.”

He kissed the back of her neck and then let her go. “Well, that’s fine then, proceed.” He flipped the sheet off and grinned as he climbed out of the bed behind her. “You can wash my back, I’ll wash yours.”

She turned around and held the robe she’d been trying to find the sleeve on against her. “You’ll get my hair wet, it takes forever to dry, Reid.”

He stood there naked and shook his head. “I won’t get it wet.” He winked at her, pulled the robe from her hands, and tossed it to the floor. He scooped her up into his arms as she shrieked. “We’ll get it wet.”

***

She’d promised Reid she would only be an hour behind him. At the time, she’d meant it too. But Sandy had called her, so she went there first. She chewed her lip as she drove the last few blocks to the station. The whole situation Sandy had described had her a little more than concerned. She had that feeling again, the one that told her something wasn’t right.

Sandy asking her to dig up stuff on someone was just a little more than odd; she’d never done that before. Was it because it was a person, and until recently, she didn’t do people? Jac wanted to think that was it, but something told her the whole thing was unusual enough to have Sandy worried. Hopefully, Reid and Brent wouldn’t mind her cheating and using their databases to get this quickly for her.

Once inside the building, she quickly headed towards the basement office.

People smiled at her along the way, being used to her coming and going now, she supposed. Jac still didn’t feel comfortable enough to pause long enough to converse with anyone. Being around people was still something that was too new to her. Someday soon— maybe she could try.

Her nerves were so unsettled today that she still wasn’t sure why the captain wanted her here, which added to the talk with Sandy that had her jumpy. The heels she wore clicked on the floor, even though she was trying to walk softly. She wasn’t even sure why she’d felt the urge to wear a skirt today. She smirked. Okay, so she wanted to look good for Reid.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stood there for a second. She could not remember another time in her life she had dressed to look good for someone else. Grinning at that realization, she walked in the door.

Brent looked up from the papers he was studying. He whistled, making Reid immediately turn and snarl at him. Brent grinned. “Hey, no biting.”

Reid sat back, watching her walk across the room towards him. Those sexy stocking-clad legs demanded all his attention. He took his time looking over every inch of her, then up to her beautiful face. He smiled and received a smile, a blushing smile in return. “That was some long hour.”

She frowned. “You noticed?”

Brent laughed and received another glare. “I think he looked at the clock and the door every two minutes, at least.” He received a third glare. Smiling, he sat back.

Reid watched her chew her lip. “What’s wrong?”

She leaned against her hip against his desk and shrugged. “I had to go see Sandy, she has a new patient who has been forced by some judge to see her, so she wants me to dig around a bit for her. She’s never asked me to do that before.”

His brows furrowed. “By a judge?”

Jac nodded. “I’m a little sketchy on the details, and Sandy was not exactly calm in explaining the whole story to me. I’m unsure if it’s because she was ordered to do this or if she’s worried about the person. Can I run the name through here?”

Reid nodded. “Yeah, if the Doc is worried about it, you should check it out for her.”

She grinned. “Thanks.”

Brent cleared his throat. “Give me the name, and I’ll get started while you go talk to Cap.”

She pulled a notebook from her purse, flipped it open, she handed it to him. “Felicity Dante.” She grinned at him. “Thanks.” She looked at Reid. “You are coming with me?”

He smirked. “Yeah.” He stood up.

Brent winked at Jac. “Relax, Cap doesn’t bite.”

She moved into his arm when he stood in front of her. “I’m not worried; if he gets mean, Reid will shoot him.”

Brent laughed. “Scary part is he just might.”

Reid looked from one to the other. “Why do you two think I go around shooting people?” He looked down to see Jacinda laughing at him. Lowering his head, he kissed her hard and then patted her butt. “Let’s go.”

He almost had to drag her along with him. The captain had better just be wanting to say thank you to her. Reid wasn’t sure how he’d feel if it was more. He was certain that she would not be hunting down murderers – ever again! Anyone that so much as thought it would be answering to him.

Brent glanced up as they returned to the room half an hour later. “So, what’s up?”

Reid smirked. “The department offered Jacinda the opportunity to do research for us.” He gave her a serious look. “Just research.” Jac smirked at him and nodded.

Brent raised his eyebrows.

Reid nodded. “I’m going to say William Azaire’s influence is in there somewhere.”

Brent nodded slowly. “Cool.”

Jac sat on the edge of the desk and looked from one to the other. “It’s just kind of weird.” Then she grinned. “But I can now afford to find a better office.”

Reid laughed.

Brent held up some pages. “Got some stuff on that name you gave me, Jac.” He held out the papers. “There wasn’t much to dig up.” He frowned. “I don’t get why a judge is ordering her to see Sandy, nothing turned up on a priors search.”

She walked over and took the pages from him, and began reading them.

She knew both men watched her as she paced across the room, chewing her lip as she read through them. She looked up from one to the other. “That’s weird. I don’t know if Sandy should be dealing with this person.”

Reid raised his eyebrows at her. “What are you going to do?”

She kicked off her shoes where she stood in the middle of the room while scanning the pages again. Mumbling under her breath, she walked over and sat in the chair, pulling one leg up under her. Flipping the computer on, she dropped her purse beside the chair and took off her jacket, letting it drop onto the back of the chair. She didn’t notice when it hit the floor instead. “Find out more,” she said, more to herself than them.

Brent looked over at Reid and grinned.

Reid shook his head as he walked over and picked up the small-heeled shoes. Walking over, he bent down, put them on the floor beside the desk, and then picked up the jacket. Leaning over, he kissed the back of her neck. She only paused briefly to reach back and touch his cheek before she began typing again.

Brent handed him the morning report and picked up his cup. “I’ll get coffee while you see what kind of fun we get to have today.”

Reid studied the woman mumbling to herself quietly and grinned. Normally his mornings were ones that seemed dismal and mundane. Work wasn’t such a bad place since his little mystic had walked through the door.

The End.