Wasn’t that the very definition of a lawyer? Yet even with the realities of living a cerebral life, constantly strategizing and building counterarguments, Sera sensed there was something more beneath the surface.
“Well, I guess I never realized our collective personality in the DA’s office is a bit like a rabid wolf pack.” With an odd sort of sinking in her stomach, she added, “Or how much I seemingly enjoyed running with the pack.”
“I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. A little healthy competition isn’t always a bad thing.”
“Maybe so.”
And there it was. Once again, Gavin had a way of seeing straight through to the root of her questions, nailing whatever it was she was gnawing over in her mind.
“You know, that might be an interesting angle to apply to the task force work,” she said.
“Competition?”
“Oh, we’ve got plenty of that. But I mean more the dynamics of interdepartmental groups through the lens of team personalities.”
Although they’d maintained a solid veneer of professionalism in public, Sera didn’t miss the distinct heating of Gavin’s dark gaze as he stared at her across the table. “Inter-departmental dynamics, you say?”
“Not those sorts of dynamics.” Heat flooded her veins in response to his innuendo, the magnetic draw of this man something she was helpless to fully deny. A fact that felt more than clear when her voice quavered at the edges all while the space of the table felt like it was shrinking somehow, so that nothing existed in the room except her and Gavin.
It was a heady sensation, one she’d never had to juggle in a professional setting before. Heck, she admitted to herself, not really in any setting.
“Why, Sera Forte, whatever do you mean?” His gaze had grown even more heated, and she could swear she felt that gaze on her body like a caress.
She felt the heat, but underneath it, she also felt the subtle play of humor. And wasn’t that something? Although she wouldn’t have called past relationships staid, now that she’d met Gavin, she had to admit there was a deeper dimension there. One she’d never have expected.
There was fun.
Which made her next comment as easy as breathing.
“You know exactly what I mean, Gavin Hayes. The naked kind.”
The naked kind.
The implications of that hit him with a tsunami of sexual longing that, if he wasn’t sitting, likely would have had his knees buckling.
Gavin knew this way lay madness, but he was helpless to turn away from the simmering physical need that wasn’t far from the surface where Sera was concerned.
It had been that way from the first.
Those initial moments in the bar, when she’d come up and asked to share his high-top table with her friends on New Year’s. He’d quickly obliged, and his own group had opened the space in the crowded bar to welcome the newcomers. Their group had fallen into conversation, one of his friends recognizing one of Sera’s friends as a mutual acquaintance, and talk had come easily from there.
The two of them had found a rapport instantly, one that was as much steeped in attraction as it was in the sheer enjoyment of each other. They’d only briefly talked of their jobs, instead focusing on everything from favorite museums in the city to deep discussion on their latest binge watch on a streaming service. Whatever the topic, they’d flowed in and out of it with ease.
It had also been the first time in a long time that his social conversations didn’t hinge on work or on his family. He loved his job, but a group of cops tended to talk almost obsessively about work.
And time spent with his family was...fraught.
Yet with Sera, he’d experienced neither.
And because of it, for the first time he could ever remember, he’d felt like Gavin Hayes.
Not Gavin Hayes the cop.
Or Gavin Hayes the survivor.
It was that reality about himself that had him stepping back from the sexy talk.
Time to get back on track.
Putting on a faux, world-weary voice—and adding a wink for good measure—he said, “Much as I’d like to interrogate that line of thinking, Ms. Forte, I’m afraid we have work to do.”
“So we do.”
They caught each other up on the work they’d done independently against their project. While they would come together to create the final project, they’d also decided it would be helpful to map out how each of their team’s interacted with each other, pinpointing all the places where a case could be handed off from one owner to another.
“That right there.” Sera pointed to one of the handoff steps Gavin mapped on the room’s whiteboard as they’d talked through the various angles each had sketched out. “The chain of evidence. There’s risk there.”
“Risk how?”
“Your team captures it and goes through several areas of documentation within the police department. All those details are handed off to the DA’s office, and we have matched handling rules on our side. But how clear is the handoff itself?”
“There’s standard operating procedure. To your point, it’s all noted and documented.”
“But is it a gap? We’re focused on city-based jurisdictions, but what about when the Feds are involved? Or what if something has to be further reviewed between two jurisdictions?”
Gavin considered what she was saying. Although evidence was taken very seriously, people were human. And those moments where evidence shifted between parties were the places where there was the most risk for a mistake.
“We could use the new case I’m working on. The captain endorsed us considering it for the task force, and I’d honestly welcome a set of eyes that aren’t, first and foremost, cop.”
