“Damn.” I said, wide eyed. A shiver zipped through me at his deep and commanding tone, and I worked hard to push down the wave of attraction that came over me. “Got it.”
“Good.” His stern expression transformed into a smile. “Now let me have some of those fries.”
“Get your own damn fries.” I smacked his hand and he faked an injured frown.
“You can have a bite of my steak,” he teased. “It’s juicy and rare.” He wiggled his brows, and I laughed.
“Fine. Hand Bessie over.”
Jamie barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Bessie?”
I nodded. “I’m trying to give up meat, and it helps to give it a name.”
He laughed again. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”
“I do. Now hand her over.” He slid his plate across the table, and I did the same with my chili fries. We ate our fill of all the plates on the table, laughing and joking while we did it.
“Oh jeez, how am I gonna make it out of here now?”
“You can crash at my place if you want.”
I scoffed. “And give Jana more false hope? No way.” The woman was determined to match us despite his lack of interest, and I didn’t want to give myself any false hope. “When are you moving out anyway?”
“This weekend. You still want to help?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there, as long as pizza is still on the table?”
I had nothing better to do and I was curious to see what it was like to move into a shiny new place that no one else had ever lived in before.
“Do I need to pick you up?”
“Nope.” My mind wandered to what his new condo might look like. “Does the new place have parking?”
“Yep.”
“Cool. Keep your phone on in case I get lost.”
“I can pick you—”
“Jamie! No. You have a big double murder case to work on and I’m not interfering with that. I can drive over.”
“Maddie, don’t be—”
“Right?”
His broad shoulders fell, and he nodded. “Fine. Right. Okay?”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
After a short argument, I paid the bill and left, thinking about Jameson on the way home, and how odd it was that we became friends after the failed attempt at a one night stand. It’s not often that a girl gets rejected by a smoking hot guy and sticks around to get friend zoned, but I did and I was glad about it.
He was still hot, and once in a while my attraction to him rose to the surface, reminding me of what a missed opportunity the wedding had been for me. For us. But this was better because friendships were forever and relationships were a dime a dozen.
The woman who eventually ended up with Jamie on her arm would be one lucky bitch.
Chapter Twelve
Jameson
“I assume you know why we’re here?”
Beck’s clear blue eyes examined me closely. I didn’t know what she was looking for, but she took her time and waited patiently for me to answer. I let her look her fill while I took in Savannah’s new headquarters, a shiny new office building in the heart of Glitz.
I nodded. “Rumor around town used to be that Mueller and Ronan Rhymer did some business together.”
“Exactly. Do you have any personal business with her I should know about?”
“You mean other than the fact that she’s fucking my brother?”
I wasn’t so green that I didn’t know she knew, and I wasn’t naïve enough to think she hadn’t put a tail on me just to be sure I wasn’t feeding intel to my brother, who would tell Savannah.
“Yeah. Other than that.”
“Nope.”
“Good. Let’s go.” We stood on the street for all to see, including Savannah, I was sure.
“After you.” Inside the reception area, the woman with too much attitude and not enough skirt led us to a bank of elevators where two security teams escorted us up to her office. “Swanky.”
“It’s amazing what dirty money can buy.” There was more to Beck’s hate than the typical good guys versus bad guys stuff. It went deeper than that, but I wasn’t in a position to question her, so all I could do was keep my eyes and ears open.
Wide fucking open. Because I didn’t trust Beck one iota.
Inside the office, Savannah didn’t bother standing. She glanced up from the computer on her imposing desk and waved us in. “Have a seat if you like.”
Beck laughed and leaned over the desk to taunt Savannah. “You look much better than the last time I saw you. No trace of that junkie whore anywhere to be seen.”
Savannah threw her head back and laughed, but there was little amusement in it. Her eyes focused like lasers on Beck.
“That’s what’s so great about Vegas, isn’t it? Fortunes change on a dime, from junkie whore to CEO in just a few months. Now, Agent Beck, what is it you came here for other than to harass me?”