“Of course.”
He grinned at her, and got himself that smile again. He could get used to that, he thought. And before he could recoil from the danger of that thought, she was on her feet. She grabbed her coat and, seemingly without embarrassment, his hand, tugging.
“Let’s go,” she said. “I don’t care where, as long as it’s food I didn’t cook on dishes I don’t have to wash.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, trying to ignore the heat that shot through him at even her casual touch.
This could be a long night, he thought. In more ways than one.
She shouldn’t have had that second glass of wine, Darien decided too late. She didn’t drink often, didn’t like the feeling of being out of control, but tonight she’d been having trouble winding down and thought it might help. She needed sleep, after too long with too little, but her mind wouldn’t slow down. She knew too many cops went down that road too far to get back, so she was in little danger of following, but still, she could understand how it happened when you felt like this.
Right now, she felt full of good food and a bit buzzed. And it was not a bad feeling. But then, neither was sitting across the table from Colin Waters. She’d liked his looks before she’d ever spoken to him, but now that she’d spent hours and days on end with him, she liked him as a person as well. She liked the way he handled himself, the way he’d let her deal with Palmer, the way he’d subtly warned the man when things got out of line. She liked that he gave her a chance to prove herself before he passed judgment, and that he didn’t belittle her instincts, even though they weren’t honed with as much experience as he had.
And most of all, she liked the way she felt when he looked at her with approval in those amber-gold eyes.
“Thank you,” she said suddenly.
“For what?” he asked, clearly surprised by the out-of-the-blue gratitude.
“For not making this harder than it had to be for me. I knew there was going to be a certain amount of resentment to deal with. I’m grateful to you for not being part of that.”
“Even if I had been,” he said, “I’d be over it by now. You do your job, you give it full effort, and you know when to back off and learn. That’s all I ask from a new partner.”
This reminded her of something she’d been wanting to know. “Your former partner retired?”
He nodded. “Sam had thirty years on. He taught me most of what I know.” He grinned. “Sometimes, he just let me learn the hard way. He called it tough love.”
“Sounds like quite a character.”
“He was one of the best. Before he left, I tried to thank him for all he’d done. He said the best thanks I could give him would be to pass it on. That way he’d feel he didn’t do those thirty years just for a paycheck.”
“I’ll have to look him up and thank him some day.”
“He’d appreciate that.”
A few minutes passed as the check came, Colin insisted on paying, saying she could pick up next time. The idea that there would be a next time, and conceivably a next and a next, both thrilled and frightened her. She could so easily get into trouble with this man, and trouble was just what she didn’t need now, on a new job that was already hazardous enough, in too many ways to count.
And then he looked up, caught her staring at him, no doubt with everything she was thinking showing plainly on her face.
“This way lies trouble,” he said softly. “For both of us.”
She didn’t, couldn’t, pretend to misunderstand. “I know.”
“Are we going anyway?”
“Do you want to?”
“I’m not sure.” He shook his head. “I hate being a cliché.”
She knew he meant the cliché of cop partners falling for each other. She’d had the same thought herself more than once since they’d started working together.
“So do I.”
Later, when they were outside walking to the car, Darien still wasn’t sure of anything except that this was asking for trouble. Yet when he entrapped her with his arms against the car, even though she could easily have escaped, she didn’t make a move.
“Maybe,” he said, his voice low and husky, “we should dip a toe in the water and see just how hot it is.”
“I suppose,” she said rather breathlessly, “we should find out what we’re resisting. Maybe it won’t be so hard after all.”
“Yeah, right,” he muttered, and lowered his mouth to hers.
Darien knew in the first three seconds that fighting this was going to be next to, if not beyond, impossible. His mouth was rich with the taste of wine and the chocolate they’d had for dessert, and with something indefinable that was pure Colin. Her nerves came to life with startling speed, as if they’d been waiting for this moment, this man. Anything she’d known before paled next to this.
She heard him make a sound, deep in his throat. He seemed to hesitate, and she thought he was going to pull back. Her response was immediate, without thought; she flicked her tongue over his lips in an effort to keep him there.
It worked. The sound he was making became a groan, and his arms came around her, pulling her hard to him. He probed her mouth with his tongue, taking the hint she’d offered. Fire leapt through her, and all thought of danger, all the reasons they shouldn’t do this, were seared to ash.
By the time he finally did pull back, Darien was shaking. And it didn’t comfort her much to realize he was breathing fast and hard as he stared down at her, his eyes as hot as the flames that had scorched her.
“That answers that,” he said roughly.
“It certainly does,” she whispered.
They were both in trouble now. For a long, tense moment they simply looked at each other, and somehow Darien knew he was thinking the same thing she was: what had they unleashed?
When his cell phone rang, he didn’t even react until the second ring. Then, with an effort that was obvious, he pulled it out and pushed the talk button.
“Waters.” He listened for what seemed like a long time. Then, finally, he said, “No, I’m not surprised. We’d already reached that conclusion. But now we have proof. Thanks.”
He informed the caller that they would start anew tomorrow, and then hung up.
“That was the sergeant from the facility where Reicher’s being held,” he said. “ Benton called him. Sutter’s determined our killer had to be left-handed.”
Her brows shot up. “And Reicher is right-handed.”
He nodded. “So we’ve got the satisfaction of knowing we were right. And the job of starting all over to find our killer.”
“Joy,” she muttered.
“And,” he added softly, “the extra job of figuring out what to do about this personal fire we’ve started.”
“That, too.”
Chapter 7
“W hen in doubt, start with the family,” Darien said. “Isn’t that what they always say?”
Colin nodded. “That’s what the statistics say.”
“Well, all I can say is the matriarch should be the last one we talk to, or we’ll be dead in the water before we start.”
“I had that same feeling,” he said, stifling a yawn that reminded him too clearly of a restless night spent remembering that heated kiss they’d shared. “I’m thinking we hit the son again first, since he’s the one dodging us.”
…they may have fought about the money he was going to inherit, but Stephen had nothing to do with this!
Lyle’s vehement defense of his nephew had been echoing in his head, and he wondered if perhaps the man had reason to think the young man needed it.
A single phone call not only set the course of their day, but gave them a piece of information that made them both react with interest; Stephen Gardner had dropped out of school.
This trip to the Gardner estate was considerably different than the last one. For one, they were now looking for a suspect in the family circle. Secondly, they had the memory of that kiss between them.