“Just before noon we were called out to an abandoned building. Someone had reported a fire. Christine raced inside and ran up the stairs. Protocol was for us to go together. One on point and one as backup. I told her as much, but she was still angry at me for accusing her. She said she needed space. She went up alone.”
His voice caught in his throat and for a moment Lana feared he wouldn’t be able to continue.
But he did. Gritting his teeth, he said, “It was a trap. Retaliation by a drug gang for a bust that had happened a few days before. They wanted to kill a few cops to send a message. Didn’t matter who we were. I had to fight four of them off before I could get to the stairs. But by then it was too late. They’d been waiting for her.”
“Oh God.” Her arms tightened around him. “Oh, James. I’m so sorry.”
James drew in a ragged breath. “I blamed myself. I knew better than to get involved with my partner. We couldn’t be objective, professional. If she hadn’t been angry she would’ve waited for me, let me take point. I would’ve been the one to die. That bullet was meant for me.”
A chill shot through Lana’s body. Suddenly, the grass that had seemed so soft prickled her skin and the cool air became cold. “She made her choice.”
“Easy to hear. Hard to accept.” He kissed her forehead. “I knew I couldn’t go through that again, losing someone I cared about. I thought it would kill me. And I cared about you…”
“So you left,” she whispered, “sooner rather than later.”
He rested his chin on her head. “I was offered the assignment and I jumped at the chance. There was an undercover operative already in place, although the DEU didn’t tell me who he was, and he’d come up with a story to get me in that night. I watched you sleep for hours and tried to decide if I should wake you. In the end I took the coward’s way out. Probably the first time in my life. I didn’t think I would be able to go if I had to look into your eyes and say goodbye. And I was worried you would change my mind. You can be very persuasive.”
Lana gave a low laugh. “I could say the same about you.”
He pulled back and cupped her face between his hands. “I told myself it was better that way and I was saving you from getting hurt later on. But really it was about me protecting myself. I’m sorry, for all that’s worth now.” His lips brushed over hers and then he kissed her soft and sweet.
“You grovel well,” she murmured, trying to lighten the mood. She needed time to process what he’d said, instead of reacting immediately as she usually did. “I want to hear more groveling.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Groveling is done. I believe you told me you could be persuaded to do all manner of kinky things in the dark, and since this may be our last night together, we’d better get started.”
Last night together? Lana didn’t think so. If she was willing to risk her heart, he damn well better be prepared to risk his. He had run out on her once already, but time had passed and he’d changed. They both had. Hopefully his old-fashioned attitudes had changed too.
Turning to face him, she wound her arms around his neck. She would make this a night he wouldn’t…couldn’t forget. A night that would leave him wanting more.
“So…about those kinky things…” she whispered.
Chapter Sixteen
Bubbles “Angel” Bodine was a rough woman. Five foot nothing, with a tough, wiry frame, overprocessed, bleached-blonde hair, perma-tanned skin and piercing blue eyes, she sucked up all the air in Lana’s office and replaced it with nicotine fumes. She dressed biker. She looked biker. And when she leaned forward to rasp out her demands with an irritated growl, Lana wondered why Angel had bothered to have Ima Biker Bitch tattooed across her highly visible and very generous cleavage.
“Where’re my pictures?” Angel pulled the client chair closer to Lana’s desk.
Lana swallowed. “I got pictures of Rex with Portia, but unfortunately I dropped the camera and I haven’t been able to retrieve them yet.”
“Portia? That little two-faced slag has been after him since day one. You know how she got to be Hades’s mama? One day she called all the brothers down and lined them up…”
“Actually, I don’t need to know.” Lana threw up her hands in a defensive gesture as if she could physically ward off Angel’s words. “And it doesn’t matter. She’s been banished from Hades for throwing tacks onto the racetrack during a race.”
Angel snorted a laugh. “I taught her that trick, but I also taught her not to get caught. She’s stupid, as well as a fucking whore.”