“You ever used a gun?” heasked.
“Does an air rifle in Girl Scoutscount?”
“Nope.” He didn’t pause, just kept that smooth rolling motion going. The paint slid onto her walls like rich satin sheets onto a whitemattress.
“Everybody who goes undercover in books and movies carries a gun,” she argued. She pictured hers now, a ladylike revolver that would fit nicely into her purse, preferably something with a pearlhandle.
“No. Everybody does not. If they find a gun on you you’re toast.” He glanced back over his shoulder at her. “Don’t pout. You have much deadlierweapons.”
“Like what? My fingernails are soft, I could never stab someone with the office scissors and my karate skills arenonexistent.”
He plopped the roller back into the tray and turned to her, pointing to her head. “Your intelligence is your greatestasset.”
“Oh, that’s exciting. We’re going to have crossword puzzle contests to see who wins?” She put on a TV announcer voice and said, “Ooh, sorry. You missed 14 across, the eight-letter word for bad guy, beginning with the letterC.That makes the FBI this week’s winner in the drugwars!”
Amusement danced in his eyes. “I meant mental agility, thinking fast on your feet.” The amusement faded and his eyes took on a smoky hue that made her swallow. “If that fails you can always use your strongestweapon.”
“And thatis?”
“Sex.” The way the man said the simple, three-letter word made it sound like acaress.
“Sex?”Yesplease.
The sultry claret paint seemed to be raising the temperature of the room, or was all that heat coming from the way his gaze teased her senses? “You might have to seduce the bad guys to getinformation.”
“Seducing bad guys. Is that covered in the FBI employeemanual?”
He laughed. “There is nothing official about your involvement in this. As I explained, you’ve volunteered to pass on anything interesting you see in the course of a normal business day.” His face sobered. “And while I don’t condone your sexual escapades, it’s pretty obvious you’re the swinging type. If you do happen to get hot and sweaty between the sheets with a suspect, and they happen to mention anything that might be helpful to our investigation, then pass iton.”
“Youmean?”
“What you do on your own time is your business. Just don’t forget to use acondom.”
