“Did you not read the reports we sent?” he growls at me. Like he really just growled at me, and it has my back straightening.
“Excuse me?” I ask, with a bite in my tone.
“Oh shit,” Heath whispers out.
I watch as Nora’s face falls from her partner's gruffness. “Shane, what are you doing?” she asks in a whisper.
He ignores his partner, still looking at me. “You have the files in front of you, so why didn’t you already read them? Or do you think you're too pretty to read, and we should do all the work for you?” he asks between gritted teeth.
I silently seethe inside but refuse to give this man the satisfaction of knowing he has gotten to me. I close the file calmly and gather them all up.
“We did read the files on the way down,” Heath quickly jumps in. “Well, I read them, and she listened, as she was driving,” he adds.
“It doesn’t matter if we read the files or not,” I start, “Reading something put on paper does not give the whole story. We want to hear directly from you what you saw, but since you seem to be too busy to give details, Agent Robertson and I will do our own assessment, and I’ll be sure to let your Commander as well as the FBI Field Office here know just how helpful you were,” I say, seething mad, but keeping my composure and words soft.
I look at the Detective, who makes my heartbeat fast, but my blood boil, and add, “If you didn’t want our help, you shouldn’t have called. Our time and resources would have been better used at home looking for our missing colleague.”
The man may look gorgeous as hell, but he is like every other man I have ever met in his position who thinks women are only in this job because of their looks. I can’t help the disgust that crosses my face at the thought.
I walk out of the conference room, and I hear Heath mutter something, but I can’t make out what it was before he is walking beside me, and we are headed to the front doors.
“Are you okay?” he asks in a whisper so as not to alert anyone to what has just happened.
“I’m fine,” I say, calmly walking across the parking lot to our car.
“If you say so,” he says, then asks, “Where are we going first?”
“Let’s go check into the hotel, then we can go over to the train station and take a look around for ourselves,” I tell him.
“What do you think that was all about back there?” he asks, getting into the passenger seat.
“I don’t know. I can’t believe he growled at me for asking a simple question,” I say.
“Right. I mean, the man is sexy as hell, and normally I would love for a man to growl at me, but that…” he says, and I interrupt.
“Do not bring up sex right now, Heath.”
“Whoooo, Hunny, I was just going to say even that growl was uncalled for and a bit scary,” Heath finishes, and I sigh.
“I know,” I tell him.
“I will say, I did think you were finally going to lose your composure with him when I heard you snap at him. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use a tone other than soft with anyone,” Heath says.
“Something about his question and growl set me off. I can’t explain it,” I tell him quietly.
“I liked it, but then you pulled yourself together again. Sometimes you need to stand up to some of these assholes and let them know they can’t walk all over you,” he says, and I can’t help but laugh.
“I guess I do like to keep the peace more. I didn’t think that was the time or place, though I would like to know what the hell about my question set him off,” I reply, putting the car in drive and making our way to the hotel nearby.
“I think his partner would like to know as well. She seemed very shocked by his manner, so I would say this can’t be normal for him,” Heath says.
“I would say it was because I’m a woman, but so is his partner. You don’t think he verbally abuses her for being a woman in their profession, do you?” I ask, not helping where my thoughts are leading me.
“No, I don’t think he does,” he replies honestly.
“So, it’s just me, great,” I say sarcastically.
“Maybe it’s our position with the FBI?” he says, thinking on it, and he could be right.
We get to the hotel, check-in, and take our bags to our rooms.
“I’m going to call Chris and check in with him if you will check in with Eric. See if they found any leads on Kim, please,” Heath says, and I nod before walking into my room.
I quickly dial Eric’s number, and he answers immediately.
“Mya, how was the trip?”
“Good, Heath and I made it here. We’ve spoken with Commander Doyle and his Detectives and will be going to the train station to assess the area before we watch the camera footage. Any news on Kim?”
“No, nothing yet, but we are still going through case files. The small pile we had to look further into didn’t take us long to rule them out. When I have some news, you both will know immediately.”
“Thanks, Boss, we would appreciate that, and we will keep you apprised of the situation here as well,” I tell him.
“Good. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do,” I respond before hanging up.
As I unpack my bag and hang my clothes, my mind goes to the Detective. The way my body reacted to him when he first walked in the room, I have never felt that kind of reaction to anyone, but then he growled at me and talked about my looks. Insinuating I only have my job because of them, and that sent my walls up immediately.
