“He’s not the focus of my investigation. I’m after Barinov. But I have reason to believe your brother is using Kincaid’s to launder money from the Bratva’s underground gambling operations.”
“Oh God. That is what he’s doing.” Morgan slumped forward. She cradled her face in her open hands and shook her head back and forth. She stayed that way for almost a minute.
Ty gave her the space. Heaven knew, this couldn’t be easy. And he had the feeling that she wasn’t in the mood for comforting. Not from him at any rate.
Which was just as well. After that kick at the door, he had the feeling the only thing he’d earn from his particular kind of comforting was a slap across the face.
Eventually, Morgan lifted her shoulders and peeled back her hands. She looked like she was holding it together…but just barely.
“So what happens now?” she asked. “Are you going to interrogate me, or something?”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but usually it’s to find out what I know.”
“You don’t know anything of value.”
Morgan’s brows pulled together. Two cute little crinkles appeared between her eyes. “How can you be so certain?”
“Last night, you were trying to break into your brother’s office to find out more about his financial involvement with the Bratva, weren’t you?”
Her cheeks flushed at the mention of her failure. “So?”
“So, you wouldn’t need to fumble around with paper clips if you already had proof. And I know from your argument that he hasn’t shared any information with you.”
“You heard all that?”
He stepped closer and rested his back on the counter across from her. “I would have heard more, but I thought it would be better to break you two up before Gregg hurled that lamp at your head.”
Morgan gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Gregg wouldn’t hurt me.”
Ty cocked a brow. “Are you certain of that?”
“My brother can be a major pain in the ass sometimes, but he’s never been violent.”
“Just like he’s never hung out with mobsters before,” Ty said. Morgan’s mouth screwed up as she cast him a glare. “I’m just saying Barinov has a way of manipulating people to get what he wants.”
“Something you know nothing about, Agent—” Morgan arched her eyebrows as she glanced down at his ID. “Brannigan?”
“Daniel is my middle name.”
She tossed his badge to her side, and crossed her arms. The move pressed the swells of her breasts up above the neckline of her dress. “Well, as long as it wasn’t a total lie.”
“I was undercover. There’s a difference.”
“Well, at least now I know why you didn’t want to come up for a drink tonight,” she said with a dark laugh.
Ty fixed his eyes on hers. “I never said I didn’t want to.”
Morgan’s lips parted. She uncrossed her arms but her hands danced at her sides for a second as if she didn’t know where to put them. After a moment she settled at propping them behind her.
“So what happens now?” she asked.
“You’ve had a difficult night. You should probably get some sleep.”
“I’m fine,” she said, brushing him off.
“Now who’s the liar. You have to be exhausted. You didn’t sleep at all last night.”
She went totally still. “How do you know that?”
Shit.
“I staked out your place last night.”
“You were watching me?” Her eyes were wide.
“I was watching the perimeter of your building. I wanted to make sure that Barinov didn’t make good on his threat.”
“Did you bug the place too?”
“No.” He shook his head. He pushed off the counter and closed the distance between them in a single step. “But I’m not going to lie. I would have done it in a heartbeat if I thought it would have helped to keep you safe.”
“Why?” Her voice was low and breathy. “I thought I didn’t know anything of value.”
Did she really not know? Was it possible that she didn’t see the affect she had on him? Or did she just want to hear it from his lips?
He inched forward, moving his hips right up against her kneecaps.
“But you’re valuable to me,” he said. “And the more time I spend with you, Morgan, the more valuable you become.”
He rested his hands on the tops of her thighs and slowly pushed them up to the curve of her waist. She drew in a long breath.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise,” he said, pulling her close. “But you’re going to have to trust me. Okay?”
“O-okay.”
Ty lowered her down to the floor, and looked down into her big caramel-brown eyes. “Right now, the best thing is for you to get a little sleep while I come up with a plan for what to do next.”
Morgan bit into her lower lip. “Okay.”
Ty slowly pulled his hands back and forced himself to take a step away. “You can take the bedroom.”
“Okay,” she said with a slow nod. She didn’t move.
Ty balled his hands into fists at his side and willed himself not to move forward. Not to wrap his arms around her, lift her back on top of that counter and kiss her so hard she didn’t care what his real name was.
Ty swallowed hard. “It’s for the best.”
“Yeah,” Morgan said. She finally turned and started walking out of the kitchen.