Read Online Cut to the Chase by Elle Keating - Free Book Online

smiling at Henry.
    He had to leave…now. He had been seconds away from kissing Mia, claiming her in her very own foyer. Henry’s barking had been the wake-up call he needed. He couldn’t get involved with someone while that madman was out there, terrorizing his sister. He was on an emotional roller coaster, on which his sexual desire for Mia would mount to an unhealthy extreme and then descend abruptly when reality set in.
    Paul stood, leaving Henry wanting more. “I’m sorry for how I treated you at Chase’s. I have no excuse other than it is difficult for me to discuss what happened to my sister. You asked me if I see a therapist. I haven’t yet, but plan to with Erin. I agreed to go with her for a family session, just haven’t gotten around to it.”
    Those deep blue eyes softened and her body seemed to relax as she leaned against the kitchen island. “I shouldn’t have asked if you were seeing a therapist. It’s really none of my business. You just have the uncanny ability to…frustrate me.”
    Her choice of words was interesting and making him…aroused. Time to leave before he showed her just how sexually frustrated he was. He could still feel her hand in his, her body pressed against him while they stood in her foyer. She hadn’t said no, but she didn’t say yes either. In hindsight, she had been like a deer in headlights. As if she had never found herself in a similar situation, one in which a man had made it crystal clear that he wanted her.
    Impossible. Mia was beautiful, everything that a man craved. There was no way she could have made it to her mid-twenties without being…he didn’t want to finish his own thought. Picturing Mia being intimate with another man infuriated him.
    Paul didn’t look at her for fear that he would be unable to control himself. He took the coward’s way out and diverted his attention to Henry. He gave the dog a couple strokes and a good scratch on the belly. “Well, I hope we can start over. I promise to not be such an ass next time.”
    “And I will do my best not to take things personally and allow you to frustrate me. Clean slate?” she asked, bending down and giving Henry a couple scratches.
    Now at eye level, hovering over Henry, Paul reached out his hand. “Clean slate,” he said. She shook his hand, sealing the deal. Paul noticed that she didn’t look at him. Interesting.
    Time to get the hell out of Dodge. Before he ruined what he had just repaired. Paul rose to his feet and started for the front door. “So what is the next step in the investigation? You’ve talked to all of us. Now what?” he asked, purposefully steering the conversation in another direction.
    “Well, I will review my notes from our sessions and analyze all correspondence to help develop a timeline, motive, and criminal profile. Speaking with the three of you this weekend was just the first step. There will be more conversations, more questions that need answers. I just don’t know what those questions are yet. I will need to do my homework to see what information I may be missing. And that can take some time.”
    “Can I help you in some way?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “Not at this stage. The next several days will consist of me up to my elbows in notes and evidence and comparing them with similar cases.” He felt his face fall and he quickly tried to mask his disappointment.
    “But I will need you. I mean…I know I will have questions and details that need to be provided,” she said, blushing. “Also, I told Erin and Chase that I would like to meet with the three of you after I had some time to look at everything.”
    Flustered and embarrassed, she was absolutely stunning.
    Leave…now. Just reach out, turn the doorknob to her front door and walk away.
    “I look forward to hearing from you, then. Do you have my cell number, Mia?” he asked.
    “Um…no. I don’t think we exchanged numbers.” Again, she appeared nervous, biting that pouty lip of hers.
    He withdrew