She clenched her fist and waited for the worst, expecting to be handcuffed at any moment. When the doors to the SUV swung open, she saw Heath step out of the passenger side in a blue uniform. The man who emerged from the driver’s side was dressed in dark blue jeans and a tailored but sporty tan suit jacket and a white shirt with a blue tie. His badge was hooked over his black leather belt and his holster gun was slung around his hip.
Zoe took and a sharp breath when her eyes wandered over the man’s incredible physique and up to his handsome face. It was Rollo, her mate. His sandy blond hair framed his angular, masculine face and his blue eyes shone in the morning sunlight. His eyes flashed when they saw her, and she gulped at his reaction. She took a step back into the woodshop, pretending like she was in desperate need of a sip of mocha latte.
“Hi, Rollo,” Angus said, in a friendly tone. “What brings you out to the woodshop?”
“Zoe,” Heath said enthusiastically, walking up to her where she stood beside a steel side table against the wall.
“Hi, Heath,” she croaked. Zoe cleared her throat and smiled at her friend. “You look great in that uniform.”
Zoe glanced over at Rollo who’d stopped in his tracks. Angus was waiting expectantly for Rollo to speak, but Rollo’s eyes were trained on Zoe. She could feel the heat of his dominant energy rolling in waves across the room. She felt like a deer in headlights, pinned to the floor by his animal magnetism.
Why was he here? Did he know?
“Angus,” Rollo said, as if suddenly remembering where he was. “I came down here to ask you a few questions about woodworking.”
“Shoot,” Angus replied.
“Take a look at this Louis the Fifteenth chest of drawers,” Rollo said, showing Angus some eight by ten glossy photographs. “I’m investigating a case involving one of these chests. It has a secret compartment. Are you familiar with this style of furniture at all?”
“I am familiar with the style and construction. As a matter of fact, Zoe and I were just talking about this exact subject,” Angus said, giving her away.
Zoe gritted her teeth, but pretended it was just a toothy smile as she looked up at Angus and Rollo. She could feel perspiration trickle down her arm under her coveralls, and she fidgeted where she stood. She drew on all of the skills she’d learned over the last seven years on the road and told herself to play it cool.
“We decided to make a chest with a secret compartment for our first project together,” Zoe said.
“That’s one crazy coincidence,” Heath said, his hands on his hips as he looked around the woodshop.
“That is quite a coincidence,” Rollo said, his eyes burning into Zoe.
“What did you want to know?” Angus asked.
“I need to know more information about how the secret compartment is constructed and how one might break into it.”
“I can tell you what I know,” Angus said.
Angus, who usually wasn’t a big talker, began to rattle off the details of the construction of a Louis the Fifteenth chest with a secret compartment. Heath listened intently and Rollo continued staring at Zoe.
Zoe felt tension hang like a heavy mist in the air. Her jaguar has been roaring and clawing ever since she’d picked up Rollo’s scent. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her the entire time he’d been in the workshop. She couldn’t get the look on his face out of her mind. It was somewhere between astonished and aroused. Not just aroused, full of lust. It was almost as if she could hear his grizzly growling inside her own mind.
They were both shifters. It was different when both mates had animals within. Shifter mates could sense each other in deeper ways than any human ever could. She could almost sense his heart beating and his blood flowing through his veins. She could smell his arousal, and it only heightened her own.
“That’s very interesting, Angus,” Rollo finally said as Angus expounded on the marvels of the wood joints used in the 18th-century. “I think I have everything I need.”
“Any time,” Angus said, slapping Rollo on the back with his big hand.
Rollo was anything but small, but even for a shifter Angus was big. The impact forced Rollo forward, and he came that much closer to Zoe. He straightened his tie and cleared his throat as he looked at her.
“So you have an interest in Louis the Fifteenth secret compartment chests?” Rollo asked her.
“A minor interest,” Zoe said, shrugging.
“You said they were your favorite,” Angus said. Zoe’s jaguar growled.
“Could we have a word in private?” Rollo said to Zoe. “Heath, wait here. Zoe, follow me.”
“What?” she said, following him out of the woodshop and around the side of the building. There was a strip of lawn that led toward a wooded area. Rollo continued walking, and she followed him until they were at the edge of the forest.
“What do you want?” she said again.
“You know why I wanted to speak with you in private,” he said.
She didn’t know. Was it because he knew she’d taken the jewels? Was her cover blown? Or was it because he still wanted to date? Neither of those options were any less daunting.
“Did you come down here on purpose?” she said, deciding to play the defensive card.