The look in Trixie’s eyes—stunned, bewildered—hit Mac right in the gut. Jesus, why had he brought up Chase, when the dickhead was clearly a sore spot for Trixie? Just because his instincts kept telling him Chase was a bad guy with a shady hold over Trixie didn’t mean he had to shove his perceptions in her face.
Once you had actionable intelligence about a situation, the next decision was when and how to deploy it. Dropping a smart bomb while involved in navigating a tricky negotiation wasn’t the way.
“Sorry,” he said seriously, dropping all hint of flirtation, teasing, or whatever they’d been doing. “That was out of line.”
“It kind of was.” She shook off his hand and drew back so she was no longer knee to knee with him. “Points to you, though. You play dirty.”
He didn’t even know exact
