He shoots a look at Elroy who nods.
Shit.I think I just got Gym Rat fired.
Agent Park circles his hand around my upper arm and guides me away from the tent. He has no right to touch me but I’m too busy focusing on the heat spreading from his hand to call him on it. There is nothing particularly sensual about the way he’s holding me, but every one of my nerves jump to life. Normally, I shy away from casual touch. I’ve experienced too much pain to be okay with strangers putting their hands on me unless I’m in control of the situation but something about Agent Park is different. I think this might be the worst possible moment for my libido to kick in. I should want to get away from him but instead his firm, steady grip has me feeling safe.
My heart sinks a little when he lets go.
“You called her Camilla.”
I nod. The dread I get whenever I have to tell a loved one the last thing they want to hear curls like a snake in my stomach.“Camilla Banks. My partner and I were called to a disturbance this afternoon. We found her sister Elsie mid-breakdown because her twin was missing.”
“And you tracked her here?”
My tongue darts out over my bottom lip.
Agent Parks’ gaze drops to my mouth.
It would be stupid to lie to a profiler. “No. I heard about the murder in the station, and I had a hunch.” My hunch wasn’t that Camilla was the victim, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Agent Park hums. “Either you have very good instincts or you’re not telling me everything. Which is it?”
I don’t know what prompts me to say what I do next, clearly today is the day for doing stupid things but something about Agent Park’s strait-laced demeanor makes me want to play with fire. “Can’t it be both?”
Dark eyes pierce into me. I hold his stare, both of us caught in a tangible net of tension. It’s not till a new voice speaks that I snap out of it.
“Oh shit, she really is a red-head.”
I whip around.
“Eli,” Agent Park warns.
I press my lips together to try and hide my amusement. Eli looks like he just stepped off a ranch, cowboy hat and all, but instead of a plaid shirt he’s got a crisp white suit shirt tucked into a pair of black skinny jeans. The whole look is like cowboy meets GQ.
“Howdy,” I say, before I can stop myself.
Eli stares at me for a long moment, then the corner of his lip pulls up and he chuckles.
The sound reverberates down my spine and my core tightens. Who the hell put an aphrodisiac in the air tonight? Apparently, FBI profiler is my type.
“It would seem our murder victim is Detective Danver’s missing persons case,” Agent Park says.
Eli whistles and closes the distance between us. “That is one very pretty coincidence.” He hooks a finger around one of my curls and I bat his arm away.
Agent Park pushes him back with a hand on the chest. “If you want to be here, on the scene, you need to pull yourself together.”
Eli’s eyes shutter and he tips his hat towards me before stepping back.
I turn back to Agent Park and steel my spine. “I want to be involved in the case.”
He’s going to say ‘no’, I can sense it, but before he gets a chance Eli pipes up.
“It might not be a bad idea. She was right about the cuts.”
Agent Park glares at Eli but Eli just tilts his head, his eyes squinting like he’s trying to figure me out. “What made you think they were done by a different person?”
It comes as no surprise I was right, but I can’t exactly tell Eli how I knew what I did. I shrug.
Agent Park grunts. “Let me guess, another hunch?”
