Unleashed by Jami Alden

myself lucky you turned down my business.”
    He raised his big hands it mock surrender. “You got me. I thought this would be a better discussion in person.” He leaned back against her breakfast bar and folded his arms across his chest and took a long look around the room. “Nice stove,” he said finally. “You finally learn to cook?”
    “Nope.”
    His smile stayed in place but his eyes took on a hard glint. “But you need all the trappings to impress the neighbors, right?”
    She didn’t bother to explain that James was the one who’d insisted they redo the kitchen two years ago, having decided the old design looked dated. If Danny wanted to think she’d let herself become a piece of useless arm candy who cared for nothing but appearances, let him. “I’ve learned to accept nothing but the best,” she said with a brittle smile as she ran her fingers along her flawless string of pearls. “Do you mind getting on with it? I have a meeting in the city in less than an hour, and I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss my cooking skills or lack thereof.”
    “James’s first wife died, right?”
    The question veered out of nowhere. “Yes, before I met him. Of cancer,” she said pointedly, in case he planned to imply James had offed his first wife.
    “Do you know how her estate was distributed when she died?”
    “Everything went into a trust for Kate—James and Susan’s daughter. Why do you care about any of this?”
    “Why don’t you tell me what you found out about James and my mother?” he shot back.
    Caroline sucked her tongue against her teeth and shot him an exasperated look. “Danny, I wish I could play your little cat and mouse headgames all day, but I have a very important meeting with my attorney.” Blood heated in her veins, urging her on. It had been so long since she’d felt anything other than dull dread or the cold bite of panic, the spark of anger felt good. “So unless you want to stop with the bullshit and tell me why you drove forty-five minutes across the bay to see me, I’m going to have to get going.” Her tell off skills were rusty, she’d spent so long reining in her smart mouth, dulling the sharp side of her tongue. But it felt good to let her rude arrows fly, especially against a target as impervious as Danny.
    “I’ll go with you.”
    “To see my attorney? I don’t think so.”
    “If I’m going to help you out, don’t you think I should know everything there is to know about your case?”
    That brought her up short. “So you’re going to help me?” For the first time in a long time a kernel of hope took root. Not just that she’d be found not guilty of murder—having Rachael on her team virtually guaranteed that—but that finally someone was going to help her find the truth. So what if he was an unfeeling ex who would undoubtedly make her pay through the nose for his services? Call her foolish, call her crazy, call her ten kinds of stupid, but deep down Caroline believed in Danny Taggart. If anyone could help her find the truth, it was him.
    A little voice warned her that this kind of crazy faith in him had burned her before. But now she was older, wiser, and fully capable of keeping it all business.
    “Why don’t you let me sit in on your meeting and we’ll take it from there? Deal?” He held out his hand for her to shake. Even his hands had gotten bigger and tougher looking in the twelve years since she’d seen him.
    She held out her own, let his callused palm swallow it whole, and tried to ignore the flash of heat that singed the skin off her fingers. Her breasts chafed against the silk cups of her bra and her heartbeat throbbed between her thighs.
    Hoping her olive complexion hid her blush, she yanked her hand from his. Professional. Businesslike. Right. She could totally do this.
     
    Her perfume was driving him crazy. It smelled like green grass and fresh soap, and, mingled with the too familiar scent of her skin, it all combined to make him so