She opened it and Chet Harper looked up in surprise, his cell phone pressed to his ear as he listened to hers ring.
“I figured you were out.” He lowered the phone, tucked it into the leather carrier at his waist.
His hands were broad, long fingered, and skilled at bringing pleasure. He was damned good at what he did, on and off the job. The lean waist, the broad shoulders, the handsome face, the entire package was loaded with sensuality. Even the way he said her name turned her on.
As long and hard as she had fought getting involved with him, she had lost the battle. After last week, she had no fight left in her to even stage a half-assed protest. She needed Chet Harper no matter that he so totally threatened her independence.
That sick bastard Reed had stolen something from Lori during the forty-eight or so hours he had held her. The part of her that felt strong and assured was now weak and uncertain. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get that confidence back.
“Why would I be out at this hour?” She stood in front of him, wearing short shorts and a skimpy tee, hands bracketing her hips. “Did you think maybe I had a date?”
He was slow to answer, primarily because he was busy inventorying how many of her assets were on display in her skimpy outfit. Good. She wanted him distracted. She wanted to remind him what he would be missing if he played games with her. This relationship, and she used the term in its loosest definition, would not survive distrust. Every aspect of their lives had to be on the table. Complete honesty.
And she needed him to know that he was as weak as she was… that she posed an equal threat to his autonomy.
Otherwise she feared she would become her mother. As much as she loved and respected her mother, her entire life had revolved around her husband. He had been the breadwinner, the decision maker, the strong, solid, sole head of the household. When he died, her mother had been at a total loss. It had taken her years to become a whole person.
Lori would not let that happen to her. She would be an equal in all aspects of any relationship.
“Well?” she pressed. “Is that what you thought?”
The shrug that lifted his shoulders was noncommittal, as if he feared giving the wrong answer.
Good.
“I thought maybe you had gone to your mother’s or maybe to a movie with your sister.”
He sounded so exhausted and sincere she should be ashamed of herself for making him suffer like this, but he’d kept a damned big secret from her. That was not acceptable. He’d been injured in the line of duty and he hadn’t mentioned it when they talked last night.
She turned and strode over to the sofa and plopped down on it. He waited just on the other side of the threshold for a moment before coming inside, closing and securing the door. He removed his jacket and hung it on the doorknob the way he always did.
“If you want a beer or something, check the fridge.”
Rather than going for a beer he joined her on the sofa. “How was your appointment this morning? I tried to call.”
He had called four times. She had ignored each one. “She thinks I need another week or so off duty.”
“What do you think?”
“I think if I don’t get back to work I might just explode. So I made a deal with her. She lets me come back to work on Monday and I see her once a week for two months.”
“Great.” He loosened his tie. “We have our hands full with the Simmons case. Lieutenant Prescott has been moved over to the GTF for now. That happened this afternoon. Chief Harris is on fire to solve the Simmons case, but she’s a little distracted with the Chandler case.” He dragged the tie from around his neck. “We’re still finding our footing with this new unit, but we’ll get there.” He turned his face to hers and sent her a smile. “It’ll be good to have you back.”
How sweet.
“Why don’t you let me get you a beer?” She laid her hand on his leg, right about where there was no doubt a bandage over his healing gunshot wound. The one he’d gotten last night and failed to mention.
He flinched.
“When were you going to tell me?”
The weariness in his eyes gave way to regret. “I knew you had that appointment today. I didn’t want you stressing about anything else.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Harper, but I’m a grown woman. I can handle bad news. Or maybe you think I’m too fragile. Is that it?”
He traced a path down her cheek with his fingertips. She shivered. “I couldn’t protect you from that bastard. He hurt you. I want you well again. Back on the team. This was just another worry you didn’t need.”
“Is that all you want?”
He shook his head. “I want all of you.”
She took his hand and held it to her cheek. “He hurt me here.” She lowered his hand, palm down, to her throat. “Here.” She dragged his hand downward, between her breasts to her rib cage. “And here.” Misery darkened his eyes. “But he couldn’t touch me here.” She flattened his palm against her chest, over her heart. “Because I knew you would come for me. There was no doubt in my mind or in my heart that you and Jess would find me somehow. I trust you that much.”
He cupped her cheek in his big, warm hand. “I would have traded places with you in a heartbeat.”
“I know.” She pushed his hands away. “But you kept what happened last night from me. You can’t do that again.”
He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Never again. You have my word.” He kissed her hair. “I swear.”
“How’s Jess handling losing the Chandler case? She didn’t say much about it when I saw her today.”
“There’s some inconsistencies,” Chet said. “She’s right about that, but Chief Black isn’t coming out with an acknowledgment of her analysis. Mostly, I think, to stand his ground.”
“The truth should be priority, not his pride.”
“You know Black. He’ll get around to the truth, even if it proves him wrong. He’s a good man. He just has his way and Jess has hers. The two don’t go together so well.”
“I guess she was pissed that Burnett made the call in Black’s favor.” Lori understood the transition was difficult for Jess. She had to find her place, and clashing with the long-standing regime was part of the process.
“A little bit, I think.”
Lori laughed. “A little bit like a dam bursting and a little bit of water slipping through.”
“I don’t think she’ll be inviting him in if he shows up at her door tonight.”
“Do you think she and Burnett will end up together? You know, really together?”
“That’s a tough call. They’re both damned hardheaded.”
“Set in their ways,” Lori agreed.
“Neither one wants to give an inch.”
“But I think they’ve loved each other since they were teenagers. Surely that makes a difference.”
“Maybe.”
She searched his face. “What about you and your ex-wife? Were you in love as teenagers?”
Chet grinned. “We met after college. No lifelong romance there.”
“You have a son together. Doesn’t that sometimes make you wish things could be the way they used to be between you?” Why on earth had she asked that question? They’d been skating around this relationship thing for months and not once had she let him see how much that aspect of his past troubled her.
She hadn’t meant to now.
“I wish I could say there was a time when we were really good together. That somehow things had gone wrong. But the truth is we were never good together. We always had different visions of our life together. I couldn’t live up to hers and she didn’t care if she lived up to mine. I guess we each thought that having a child would change things somehow. Mesh our differences. But it didn’t. Just made those differences more glaring.”
“I don’t think our visions for the future are so different,” she offered. “But we have vastly different ideas on how we get there.”
“We’ll find our way.” He kissed her nose. “As long as we don’t lose sight of where we’re going, it really doesn’t matter how we get there.”
How this man made her want him even when she wanted to be stronger, to hang solidly on to her independence. She stood and offered him her hand. He accepted and allowed her to lead him to the bed. Her studio had no walls separating the bedroom from the living room, so the journey was quick and easy.
He waited patiently as she took her time unbuttoning his shirt. She loved undressing him. Opening his shirt to glide her palms over all that ribbed muscle. Then pushing the crisp fabric over those wide, sculpted shoulders and down his muscled arms.
She loosened his belt and drew it from his trousers. With just a look she prompted him to take a seat on the end of the bed. Going on her knees, she removed his shoes and socks. He watched, excitement glittering more brightly in his eyes with every move she made. He liked that she took so much time with him.
Obeying her every subtle command, he stood while she dragged the trousers and briefs down his long, powerful legs. She kissed his left thigh near the bandage that protected his wound. The idea that it could have been so much worse tore at her heart.
For several seconds he visibly resisted his own desires so that she could admire his nude body. Lori loved how he fought so fiercely to please her that way. Then he took his turn. He loosened her snap and zipper and the short shorts dropped to the floor. She’d forgone underwear. This pleased him immensely. Then the tee was peeled off in one smooth move. His breath hitched as his palms glided over her bare breasts and down her rib cage. She moaned her pleasure, her body already burning for more of his touch.
By the time they fell onto the bed, they were tangled in each other’s arms and frantic to be joined.
Tonight he made love to her slowly. Maybe because of his injury or maybe just because he felt the need to savor each moment. She certainly did.
Afterward they lay together and Lori acknowledged something she had denied for months now.
She belonged in his arms this way. Needed it.
That was the scariest part of this relationship thing.
For now, that immense need was as much real estate as she was willing to give up where her heart was concerned.
He already owned way too much.
10:07 p.m.
DeShawn wasn’t buying this.
These fools had scared the good sense out of him last night. He glared at the four men seated around the table, their complete attention focused on Nina. Anger twisted around in his gut. He didn’t like the way they looked at her. He damned sure didn’t like the way they had busted into the motel room and dragged them out like hostages in a bad drug movie.
DeShawn glanced around the room. He’d had a bag over his head, so he wasn’t exactly sure where they were. An old run-down house with beat-up furnishings. He hadn’t heard any traffic noise outside when they arrived, so he was guessing they were somewhere out of the city. After they’d been dragged into the van last night the ride was a long one. At least it had felt long.
Nina laughed and he watched her. The ten o’clock news was on and something had obviously captured their attention. She said these guys were her friends. But he wasn’t so sure. More gangbangers. MS-13 for sure. Why did she call them friends if it was that life she was trying to get away from?
He could just imagine how scared his grandmother was. His grandfather, too. It made him sick to his stomach to think about it. But what could he do? If he tried to contact them, that could put them in danger. Besides, his cell phone had died two days ago.
He’d begged Nina to go to the police. But she kept saying the police couldn’t protect them. The man who wanted her dead would stop at nothing.
How was he supposed to help her? If the police couldn’t, how could he? He was just a fry cook at Captain D’s who was supposed to go to college next month.
Why were they still in Birmingham? If she wanted to escape, why weren’t they getting out of here? “What’re we doing?” he said out loud. DeShawn didn’t care what these fools thought.
After a pointed look from her, the four men, all Latinos, got up from the table and left the room. Nina settled her attention on DeShawn.
“Com’ere, baby, I got something I want you to see.” She gestured for him to come sit with her.
As he moved toward her, she dragged a chair closer so they could sit side by side at the table. She hugged him tight and kissed him hard on the mouth.
“You gotta see this.” She picked up the TV remote and hit the button to go back to the broadcast.
These guys might live in a dump but they had a serious electronic setup. This just got weirder and weirder. It wasn’t right. He knew it wasn’t. Deep in his belly he had a bad feeling.
Nina hit play and the Channel 6 reporter was giving an update on his case.
DeShawn’s stomach twisted into more knots. He felt like he needed to hurl. His grandparents and friends were seeing this. The reporter was talking about how unlikely it was that he was even still alive.
He looked away. “I don’t wanna see this.”
“Wait.” She tugged at his arm. “You’re gonna miss the important part.”
He didn’t want to but he looked anyway. Just because she asked. A photo of a blond woman flashed on the screen. The woman was chief somebody. DeShawn had never seen her before. Wait… maybe he’d seen her on the news when all those white girls went missing a week or two back.
“See that?” Nina enthused. “They got Deputy Chief Jess Harris looking for you.”
DeShawn shrugged. “So?” Right now the only thing he wanted to do was go home but he couldn’t tell her that. Nina would think he was a coward.
“She’s that FBI woman who found all those missing girls. She’s really important.” Nina tugged his face to hers and pressed her forehead against his. “She can help us. She can stop
him
.”
“How can she help us?” Just because the cop was important didn’t mean she would bother with their problems.
“You have to keep trusting me, Shawney. She can help us. Then we can have our lives back without running from him until the day we die.”
He hitched his head toward the door. “Did those guys tell you that?”
Fury flashed in her eyes. “No one had to tell me anything,” she snapped. “I know things. The only thing they’re going to do is help us.”