Man Of Action. Janie Crouch

that. Intellectually, she knew all that Steve spoke was the truth. But it was so hard.

      “You’ve got to stop thinking I’m about to fire you every time I call you to my office. I’m not, trust me. I can’t afford to lose such a valuable member of the Omega team.”

      Steve radiated sincerity. Of course, he always had. And she did believe she was part of the team. A noneducated, ex-stripper part of the team, but part of the team.

      Okay, she could handle this. She could handle going back to Buckeye.

      “Of course, we won’t be sending you alone. You and Brandon Han will be working together.”

      Andrea smiled through gritted teeth, glad that Steve wasn’t as skilled at reading people as she was. Brandon Han, as in Dr. Brandon Han, with something like two PhDs and an IQ higher than Einstein. They called him “the machine.” He was considered the best and most brilliant profiler at Omega.

      Not to mention he was hotter than sin. Tall, black hair, with a prominent Asian heritage.

      “Do you know Brandon?”

      Besides when she’d fantasized about him? “Um, I’ve never worked any cases with him, but I’ve met him a couple of times, briefly.”

      She wasn’t sure he would even remember meeting her.

      “Great. He’ll be here any minute. Then we can go over details and get you guys going today.”

      * * *

      BRANDON HAN WAS running a little late for his meeting with Steve but knew his boss would understand. Brandon had just come from visiting the widow and kids of his ex-partner.

      Brandon didn’t get by to see them as much as he liked, but he knew there were other Omega people checking in on them, also. David Vickars had been a well-liked and respected member of the team. He’d had the backs of many agents over the years, and the Omega family didn’t forget their own.

      David had died a year ago from a foe even Omega couldn’t fight: cancer. He’d worked active duty until a month before he died from an inoperable tumor, then spent his last weeks with his wife and kids.

      Brandon and David had been partners for seven years and had been friends for long before that. Brandon hadn’t been interested in working with a partner since David died.

      But he knew the minute he walked into Steve Drackett’s office and saw beautiful, blonde Andrea Gordon sitting in a chair, body language screaming nervousness, that he was about to get partnered again.

      Damn it.

      Brandon had become quite adept at working alone. He liked the quiet. He liked being able to work at his own pace, which—no conceit intended—was often quite a bit faster than everyone else’s.

      “Hey, Steve,” he greeted his boss. He nodded at Andrea, but she’d looked away. Par for the course for her. She’d looked away every time he’d ever been in the same room with her.

      Drackett stood from behind his desk and shook Brandon’s hand. “Let’s go over to the conference table to talk about a case.”

      Steve was moving them to neutral ground, not wanting to pull rank from behind his desk if he didn’t have to. He wanted Brandon to agree to whatever was about to be asked without having to force him. If Brandon wasn’t mistaken, his boss’s friendliness had to do with Andrea. A protectiveness maybe.

      “Sure,” Brandon agreed amicably. He might as well let this play out.

      Andrea stood and joined them. Brandon held out a chair for her, waiting to see if she was one of those women who got offended by the gesture. That would tell him a lot about her.

      But she just looked surprised for a moment before taking the chair he held out. He helped slide it in as she sat.

      Okay, not afraid of her own femininity and didn’t feel that every situation needed to be a struggle of power.

      “You’ve met Andrea Gordon?” Steve asked, glancing at them.

      “Yes, a couple of times. Good to see you again.”

      “Yes, you too,” she murmured, voice soft. Sweet, even.

      “We’ve got a serial killer working in the Phoenix area. Three dead so far.” Steve handed them both a file.

      “Confirmed serial?” Brandon asked, glancing through the file.

      “Pretty much as confirmed as these things can get. All three were women in their early twenties. All were found covered in some sort of white cloth and holding a lotus flower.”

      “Purity,” Andrea muttered.

      “What?” Steve asked.

      Andrea shrugged. “Lotus flowers are the symbol of purity in some cultures.”

      “She’s right,” Brandon said. “And so is the white cloth. Almost like a cleansing ritual.”

      “Okay, that’s something to go on. I’ll need you two to leave tonight. The local police department is expecting you.”

      “Steve, since David...” Died. Brandon found it difficult to say the word even now a year later, so he just didn’t. “Since David, I’ve been working alone. That’s been going pretty well for me. I think I’m more productive that way.”

      Brandon turned to Andrea. “I mean that as no offense to you whatsoever.”

      Some emotion passed across her face but was gone before he—even with all his training—could read it. Frustrating.

      “I understand,” she said, nodding.

      “Brandon, the last murder took place inside the town limits of Buckeye, on the outskirts of Phoenix. That’s where Andrea is from. With ritual killings like this, we both know it’s usually someone from the area.”

      Brandon grimaced. He couldn’t deny that. Having someone familiar with the area—especially someone with a stellar skill set like Andrea’s—would be invaluable.

      But still, Brandon didn’t want to work with her. Didn’t want to be in forced proximity with her for an extended length of time. He glanced over at her but she wasn’t looking at him, again. She was studying the pictures in the file, as if she couldn’t care less about the conversation going on around her.

      Brandon’s eyes narrowed. No, he did not want to partner with this woman for a case. He’d discovered over the past year that he liked working alone, but it was more than that.

      He didn’t trust Andrea. The woman had secrets. Secrets tended to blow up in everyone’s faces at the most inopportune moments.

      David had kept his illness a secret from everyone for as long as he could. Brandon didn’t want to be around secrets anymore.

      He especially didn’t want to be around a stunningly beautiful woman with secrets. The kind of woman who made him want to toss out his never-mix-business-with-pleasure rule. The kind that made him want to find out all her secrets.

      He didn’t trust her and she was distracting. She damn well had distracted him every time he’d seen her the past few months. Including today. Her perfect legs in her perfect suit with her perfect hair and makeup. It all distracted him.

      He was not a man who liked to be distracted.

      Brandon could kill a man a dozen ways with his bare hands, but it wasn’t his strength or speed he relied on to get ahead of criminals. He relied on his intellect, his education, his experience to stop the worst of the worst bad guys.

      Having Andrea Gordon’s distracting presence around him during a serial-killer case was just not going to work.

      He leaned back in his chair and feigned a casualness he didn’t have. “I just think it’s better for me to work alone on this case.”

      Because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to work at all otherwise.