With Every Breath by Maya Banks Page A

entire time I’ve worked for you.”
    Slowly he smiled and the worry and fear dispersed like fog being melted away by the sun’s rays. “Consider yourself on vacation as of five minutes ago. And Eliza? If I so much as see your ass within a mile of the office or poking your nose in one of our cases for at least six weeks, I’ll suspend you and double your vacation time to three months and I’ll have Isaac sit on you and, trust me, after you nearly getting yourself killed twice? No one would have to twist his arm to get him to take that job. He’d take great delight in being allowed to boss you around.”
    Then he grinned slyly. “If that’s not enough incentive for you, I’d be more than happy, as part of their training of course, to have one or more of the new recruits keep you under lock and key.”
    She made a face and rolled her eyes. “You’re all a bunch of Neanderthals. You just hide it under that smooth, polished preppy look you’ve got going on.”
    He frowned and then outright scowled at her.
    She threw up her hands in surrender. “Hey, vacation was my idea, remember? I have no intention of doing anything remotely work related.” Okay, it wasn’t a lie. What she had to do in no way involved DSS or anyone involved with DSS.
    â€œI plan to find a nice beach house somewhere private where they have nice cabana boys who will bring me fruity, girly cocktails with little umbrellas in them, work on my tan and hopefully the scars will fade and by the time I come back to work, you’ll all be so sick of me and my attitude, you’ll promptly wish I had taken three months instead of half that,” she teased.
    His scowl darkened further at the mention of her scars and she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
    â€œDane,” she said, a hint of impatience but gentle understanding in her voice. “I’ll be fine okay? I’m not so stubborn that I can’t or won’t admit I need a break. It’s been . . . hard.”
    She nearly choked on the words, on the admission that she was struggling and needed time to put herself back together. God, she hated this, putting doubt in Dane’s mind that she was no longer capable of pulling her own weight in a job she loved. But then it wasn’t as if she had a job to come back to, so what did it really matter? Dane’s expression immediately softened and his hand went to her shoulder and squeezed.
    â€œI have no doubt you’ll be fine, Lizzie. I won’t have it any other way. Now get out of my office, go get packed, if you aren’t already. But do me a favor please? Would you check in every once in a while just for my peace of mind? I . . . worry about you. You have my word that no one will call you and I’m not asking you to check in with the others. This is purely off the record. Friend to friend. Just let me know how you’re doing and that you’re okay.”
    She smiled, a genuine smile and one she hadn’t been able to pull off no matter how hard she tried since her life had irrevocably changed course.
    If she hadn’t been so relieved to have gotten past Dane without him being astute enough to know something was definitely going on, other than her sudden desire for an impulsive vacation, she would have remembered that nothing ever got by Dane. And she was an idiot for thinking so.
    Not five minutes after she left and Dane lifted one of the slats of the blinds covering his office windows to ensure her vehicle was gone, he then went back to his desk and sat down, punching in a phone number that only served to further blacken his mood.
    Never in a million favors would he ask the favor he was about to request from the man he was about to ask it of. He’d never considered any situation where he’d humble himself enough to ask for help from a man who set his teeth on edge. But for Eliza, he had no pride. For Eliza, her safety and