Bennett stalked toward her. Her head tipped back as she looked up at him.
“The hell he will.” Then he bent over her. His hand curled around her chin, as his face came intimately close to her. “This isn’t happening to you.”
Her breath seemed to burn her lungs. “What aren’t you telling me?”
His green eyes glittered.
“Bennett…”
“He attacked two people within a twenty-four hour period, Ivy. What does that tell you?”
“He’s dangerous.” Serious understatement. “I thought…with the woman…maybe it was a crime of passion.” A love that had ended in horror. “And the councilman, in the dark, in that tunnel, maybe—”
“This guy is very good at killing. Too good. No one reported seeing a man leave either scene with blood on his clothes.” He released her chin, but didn’t move back. “That means the guy knows how to use his weapon. He understands exactly how to sink a knife into his victim’s skin so that the blood spatter doesn’t so much as touch him.”
She swallowed. “You…you think he’s done this before.”
“Hell, yes, I do. Because a killer doesn’t show this much confidence on a new attack. A new hunter wouldn’t come to you, he wouldn’t make threats, and he wouldn’t target you that way.” He shook his head. “It’s all wrong. If that woman had been his first kill, he would panic, thinking the police were involved. He wouldn’t seek you out and tell you what he had planned next. That’s a cocky move. Deliberate.” He hesitated, then said, “Taunting.”
She stood and he moved back, just a bit. His gaze was so intense. She couldn’t look away. “You’re telling me—what? That you think this guy is some kind of-of serial killer or something?”
“I don’t know what kind of killer he is, not yet. All I know is that he’s dangerous, and every single sign is pointing to him being focused on you.”
The last twenty-four hours of her life hadn’t been such winners. “I wanted to find him at that ball. I wanted to stop him.”
“We are going to stop him,” Bennett said. “Count on it.”
They were so close. Adrenaline still spiked her blood. She’d been afraid. She’d been furious. And now…
“This isn’t a case where you’re just trying to uncover some rich businessman’s secret affairs, Ivy. This isn’t about finding out who stole an antique watch or tracking down a runaway teenager through your PI office…”
Her chin notched up. “If you’re saying—”
“I’m saying, yes, I know you handle plenty of PI cases, but this is different. This is life and death, and I am not going to stand by while you get hurt.”
No standing by. She got that. Her hands rose and pressed to his chest. She felt him stiffen beneath her touch.
“Ivy…”
“I don’t want you to stand by.” She didn’t intend to just play the role of the victim, either. “We’re going to be partners.”
“The hell we are!”
“We are going to be partners,” she said again. “Because if he is hunting me, then I want you at my side.”
His gaze searched hers. “You always think you can control everyone around you.”
No, she didn’t think that.
“Men jump to do your bidding, and you just take that shit for granted.”
“I don’t remember you ever jumping.” Quite the opposite. She remembered him leaving.
“Things aren’t going to keep working that way. I’m not going to risk you.”
I’m not yours to risk. She didn’t say those words, not yet. But they still seemed to hang in the air between them. He didn’t understand her. Maybe he never had. Did he think she was just playing at the PI business? No, things were different now. Everything was different.
The fact that she was intimately involved in this murder just made her all the more determined to act—and to prove herself.
Chasing cheating husbands, my ass.
“Thanks for seeing me home, Detective,” she pulled away from him and marched back to the foyer. “I’m quite safe now. So you’ve done your due diligence.”
His steps were slower as he followed her. “I can stay, if you want.”
She looked back at him. “You think he’s going to come for me again, this soon?”
“I didn’t think he’d drive his knife into the councilman’s chest, but he did.”
Her shoulders straightened. “I’ll be fine.” She kept a gun under her bed. And that night, she’d be making sure it was loaded.
A furrow appeared between Bennett’s brows.
“Goodbye, Bennett,” she told him firmly.
He didn’t move. “I want to stay.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s…hell, it’s important, Ivy. I need to know you’re safe.” His hands were clenched at his sides. “Until I get a better handle on this case, until I can figure out what the fuck is going on…I need this. I need to be close to you.”
He had no idea how much his words hurt. Because those were words she’d wished to hear long ago. Not the whole “what the fuck is going on” part but…