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“That’s quite a speech,” Cameron said.

Ryla

Cameron studied her. “Are you worried that I’m going to fire you over this?”

Ryla

Cameron rested her elbows on the desk. “I appreciate your honesty, Ryla

Ryla

“The point is,” Cameron continued, “when I took over this office, I vowed to do two things: first, clean up the corruption, and second, be the kind of U.S. attorney that I wish had been in charge when I was an AUSA. So yes—the fact that you’re dating Kyle Rhodes is a little weird. When word gets out, are there going to be people who find it unusual that I’ve got a prosecutor dating the Twitter Terrorist? Probably. But in comparison to everything that was going on around here when Silas was in charge, I think I can handle it. We’re a team in this office, Ryla

Ryla

“You really were nervous about this,” Cameron said with a chuckle.

“It’s just that if I were in your shoes right now, I’m sure I’d be wondering why a woman in my position would choose to pursue this relationship.”

Cameron smiled. “Oh, I understand that better than you think. These things work in mysterious ways. Three years ago, an FBI agent went on national television and declared that I had my head up my ass.” She checked her watch. “And strangely, in about twenty-eight hours, I’m going to marry the guy.”

Ryla

Cameron’s eyes sparkled happily. “We’ve been low-key about it. I just started telling people today—I figure the cat will be out of the bag on Monday anyway, when I show up for work wearing a wedding band. Neither Jack nor I wanted a lot of fanfare. Just a few friends and family, a small ceremony, and di

“That sounds lovely.”

The way Cameron’s face had lit up said she couldn’t agree more. “It’s the place where Jack and I reco

“Well, I won’t take up any more of your time, since you obviously have a lot going on.” Ryla

“What can I say? You caught me in a really good mood today. If it had been last Friday, I might’ve fired you.” Cameron laughed when she saw Ryla

After Ryla

She’d survived.

Now, she had only one mea culpa left—after that, everyone else could hear about her and Kyle in whatever ways these things inevitably came out. With that in mind, she headed down the hallway to Cade’s office. She stopped in his open doorway and knocked.

Sitting at his desk, working at his computer, Cade looked over and smiled. “Hey, you. You’re a bit early for Starbucks.”

“Got a second?” Ryla

“Sure. Come on in.”

Ryla

He didn’t seem too surprised by this lead-in. “I think I know what this is about. The rumors, right?”

Ryla

“That you and I are hooking up.” Cade held up his hand. “I swear, I had nothing to do with it.”

Ryla

He raised an eyebrow curiously. “Scandal? What have you done, Ms. Pierce?”

“Well, remember that thing you read in the Scene and Heard column, about the brunette bombshell that Kyle Rhodes is seeing?”

Cade looked at her for a long moment, waiting for her to say something else. Then it clicked. “Get out of here. You are the brunette bombshell?”

“I suppose ‘bombshell’ may have been a little overboard, but you don’t have to look that shocked by the description.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, I was going for a joke. Trying to ease over that awkwardness.” She saw his guarded expression. “Probably going to take a lot more easing.”

“When did this start?” he asked.

“A few weeks ago. After the Qui

“I called your boyfriend a terrorist.”

“Good thing he wasn’t my boyfriend at the time. Then this would’ve been really awkward.”

Cade sat back in his chair, still with the cautious look. “A couple months ago, I told you some things about Kyle’s case. About the fact that Silas asked me to go for the maximum sentence in order to make an example out of him.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “Did you tell Rhodes about that?”

“Of course not. That was something you told me in confidence. I’m still the same person you go to Starbucks every day with, Cade. Just…with an ex-con boyfriend you once called a cyber-menace to society.”

He wasn’t quite smiling yet, but he wasn’t staring at her as though she’d sprouted a second head anymore, either.

“You know that everyone’s going to be talking about this, right?” Cade asked.

“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” Ryla

Cade studied her for a moment, then sat forward in his chair. “Seriously, what is it about this guy? He’s just a rich computer geek with good hair.”

Ryla

“Christ, you are smitten.” He threw up his hands. “What is going on with everyone these days? Sam Wilkins is babbling about a meet-cute, Cameron’s sneaking off to get hitched, and now you’re all starry-eyed over the Twitter Terrorist. Has everyone been sneaking happy pills out of the evidence room when I’m not looking?”

“No, just some really good pot.”

Cade laughed out loud at that. “You are a fu

“So does that mean we’re still on for Starbucks later today?”

He studied her suspiciously. “You’re not going to want to talk about Kyle Rhodes the whole time, are you?”

“Actually, yes. And then we’ll go shoe shopping together and get mani-pedis.” She threw him a get-real look. “We’ll talk about the same stuff we always talk about.”