Steal Me by Lauren Layne Read Free Book Online Page A

quieter as he jerked his head in the direction of the interrogation room.
    “Don’t you already have a girlfriend to worry about?”
    “Ooh, I know the answer to this one,” Lopez said, raising his hand.
    “We all know this one,” Anth ground out. His brother was head over heels in love with Ava Sims. So why had he dashed over here the second a diner waitress called him?
    And come to think of it…
    “How did Maggie even have your phone number?” Anthony asked.
    Luc shrugged. “I gave it to her awhile back. She needed someone to go pick up a table she’d bought, and Vin and I helped her out.”
    Okay that …that didn’t even make sense.
    “ Vincent . You’re telling me that Vincent, the city’s—no, the state ’s—biggest grump, willingly helped some broad move furniture?”
    Luc’s eyes narrowed. “Not some broad. Maggie . Good God, man, we see her every Sunday, and Vin and I see her a hell of a lot more than that when we drop in once or twice a week.”
    “Mags always talks the chef into adding extra cheese to my sandwich,” Lopez said. “Gotta love her.”
    Both Morettis ignored him.
    Anthony stayed focused on his brother. “Is Vin interested in her or something?”
    Luc’s brows lifted.
    “Don’t,” Anth snapped. “I know that look. I invented that look.”
    Luc’s only response was to grin.
    “I hate brothers,” Anthony muttered, turning back to see that Maggie was still writing dutifully on the paper, her teeth nibbling at the corner of her lip as she thought.
    God, had she really thought she needed a lawyer?
    He knew he’d been a little intense at the diner yesterday when she’d recognized the sketch of Smiley—or thought she recognized—time would tell how accurate the sketch was…or how accurate Maggie’s memory was.
    But he thought he’d made it perfectly clear that she didn’t have anything to worry about…that she’d be doing them a favor.
    “I offered to send detectives to her house,” Anthony muttered.
    “Yeah, because that’s probably a dream of hers. To have a bunch of strangers come invade her personal space on her day off and talk about her ex-husband.”
    “Well, what would you have done, Luca?” Anth asked, his tone surly. “She has potentially vital information to my case. I can’t treat her differently just because—”
    “Because why?” Luc prompted.
    “Because she’s hot,” Lopez said, coming all the way into the room to join the Morettis at the window.
    Anthony’s hand fisted at Lopez’s casual comment. “Have some respect, Officer; she’s a witness.”
    Lopez and Luc exchanged a glance and Anthony realized he’d walked into a classic trap.
    “She’s not actually a witness,” Luc said casually.
    “Well, she’s an informant,” Anthony said, grasping at straws.
    “I apologize for admiring the informant ,” Lopez said. “I was out of line.”
    Anthony scowled at the other man, looking for just the smallest amount of cheek or insolence to reprimand, but Officer Lopez’s face was all respectful deference.
    Luc’s expression, on the other hand, was knowing, and Anthony decided to cut right through the bullshit and get it all out on the table.
    “Why do I get the feeling that you two second graders have gotten it into your head that I have an attachment to Ms. Walker?” Anth asked.
    “Why would we think that? You don’t have an attachment to anybody .”
    Luc’s words were said in a jesting, younger-brother tone, but they caused a pang of…something. But instead of giving into the forbidden emotion, Anthony clung to an easier one:
    Resentment .
    Resentment that Luc could be cavalier about romantic relationships when he’d met his perfect match in an ambitious career woman who understood a cop’s long hours.
    Plus, Luc was an officer, who, for reasons Anthony didn’t understand, seemed to be perfectly content staying at that rank for the time being. By the time Anthony was Luc’s age, he was already a sergeant, but Luc had always