“You need to forget you saw that, bro.”
“So, you’re not a thing?” He glanced over her shoulder, toward their father. “Because if you are, you should know Dad came home last night, late, ranting about Detective Stone and how he nearly got himself killed. Dad’s on twenty-four hour leave for his shooting investigation and he’s hot. He doesn’t look like it, but—”
“No, Rembrandt and I aren’t a thing.” Although, really, she didn’t know what they were. The man showed up at crimes scenes, and in her lab, and then at her house to kiss her…what was that?
“We just work together.”
Asher smiled, his mouth a thin line. “Mmmhmm. That’s why you’re blushing.”
“I’m not—”
Sams picked then to ski by and shower them with water. Her burger went into the lake. “Hey!” She sprang to her feet.
Asher laughed, also drenched. Sams sank into the water as he came to a halt. “What, sis, you get a little wet?”
“Just come over here and we’ll see who is a little wet.”
“I’m way wet, so…” He splashed her.
Perfect. Water dribbled down her neck, her T-shirt nearly see through—
Okay, so maybe she cared a little that Rem might show up.
She got up and stalked away.
“Hey!” Sams yelled. “Where are you going?”
“To buy some ice cream!” She glanced at her father, still at the grill as she marched past him. “Someday I’m going to be head of my CSI department, and you’ll have to stop calling me Evie Bear.”
His mouth opened, but she stalked past him, around the house toward the front entrance.
Jerks. Just because she was the only girl—
“Eve? Whoa!”
She looked up just in time for Rembrandt to dodge her.
“Rembrandt!” She staggered back a step.
“Hey.” He was wearing a pair of jeans, a Journey t-shirt, his hair a little wild, unshaven and… he looked good. Wore a little smile, too, something of a smirk as he stepped back and surveyed her. “You go in the drink with your clothes on?”
“No. Sams sprayed me.” She wanted to cross her arms over her shirt, but shoot, she just didn’t care. She was fully clothed, wearing more than her bikini. Still, she looked bedraggled, her unruly hair in corkscrews, her clothes glued to her body.
“Want me to go drown him for you?” Rembrandt moved the bag he was carrying to his other hand, then reached up and moved a chunk of her hair out of her eyes.
Just the way he asked it, such a laughable suggestion, but one that so sided with her, she just grinned. Nodded. “Please.”
“Okay. You get the getaway car ready. The keys are in the Camaro.”
She laughed. “Oh, Rembrandt.”
He grinned, something warm and sweet in his eyes and his Adam’s apple dipped in his throat, as if he might not be quite as confident as he let on. “Anything for you, Eve. Even jail time.”
She glanced at the bag and noticed it dripping. “What’s in there?”
“Ice cream. I figured I should…bring something.”
“Oh, you’re a life-saver. I totally forgot.” She made a face. “I was at the office all morning.”