Christmas Male(24)
“I figured you’d want to get everything settled so we can concentrate on the case.” He saw annoyance and then agreement flash into her eyes.
He wanted it settled, too. Being attracted to a woman, making love to a woman, should be simple. It always had been before, but D.C.’s instinct had warned him from the first that whatever happened with Fiona would be complicated. And that was all right. Hadn’t he always preferred life when it promised a little adventure?
“All right.” She moved forward a few steps. “I’ve given it careful thought, and I’ve decided I don’t want to fight this attraction any longer.”
D.C. felt his heart give a little kick, and he was glad that he’d set down the mug.
She whirled, paced a few steps, then turned to face him. “It’s the logical choice.”
“You won’t get an argument from me, Fiona.” When he took a step toward her, she held up a hand.
“Let me finish. We’re adults, we want each other and we’re going to be working together for a while. We’re both smart and good at what we do, so we should be able to keep things compartmentalized.”
“Things?”
She waved a hand impatiently. “You and me having sex and finding out who stole the Rubinov from the National Gallery.”
He studied her. “Why is it so important to keep the two things separate?”
She stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Because the diamond’s legend thing could muddy things up. I don’t want either of us to get hurt.”
D.C. thought of what Chance had told him about her, of how young she’d been when she’d lost her parents and then her adoptive family.
She met his eyes steadily. “I’m willing to go forward with this as long as we set up some parameters.”
“Such as?”
“I prefer to keep things tidy and predictable. So I’d like us to agree that we’ll enjoy each other temporarily.”
“Temporarily meaning?”
“For the length of time we’re working together. And then we’ll go our separate ways. No harm. No hassles. No foul.”
He moved toward her then. It gave him some satisfaction to see her stiffen slightly. But she didn’t back up. “I’m not much good at tidy and predictable. Will that be a deal breaker?”
She frowned. “I don’t want either one of us to get hurt.”
“I won’t hurt you, Fiona.” He touched just the ends of her hair. “I can agree with that part.”
“You won’t hurt me on purpose,” she said.
Anger surged at the realization that someone had hurt her. Intentionally. He wanted to ask who. And he wanted badly to pay them back. Another part of him wanted even more to scoop her up, carry her into the bedroom and make her forget the hurt.
But that wasn’t what she needed. So instead, he leaned down and gently touched his mouth to hers. Then he stepped back, grabbed her coat off a nearby chair and held it for her.
“Now that we’ve settled everything, let’s go to the hospital.”
“We haven’t settled anything yet.”
“Sure we have—unless you want to modify our to-do list. Ever since I walked in, I’ve been wondering how long it might take me to get you out of that neat little suit. If we stay here any longer, we’re going to find out.”
Without a word, she snatched her coat and led the way out the door.
SEVEN-THIRTY WAS A BUSY TIME on a hospital floor. Staff wheeled carts filled with breakfast trays down the corridors. New patients were being admitted and escorted to rooms. Using a combination of D.C.’s charm and Fiona’s badge, they quickly made it past the floor nurse. Since the doctor hadn’t made his rounds yet, the nurse wasn’t able to update them on Amanda’s condition.
According to the uniformed officer sitting at Private Hemmings’s door, they were her first visitors. It was a small, private room, and Amanda Hemmings, her eyes closed, her head swathed in bandages, looked very young and defenseless lying in the bed.
There were blue shadows beneath Amanda’s eyes, a tube in her nose and an IV feeding into a vein on one of her hands. Ignoring a tug of sympathy, Fiona noted that her breakfast sat untouched on a nearby table.
On the ride over, D.C. had filled her in on more details that his brother had discovered about Amanda’s background. Not that there were very many. She was twenty years old. She’d lost both of her parents, her dad when she was ten and her mom two years later. When her uncle, Billy’s father, had refused to take her in, she’d slipped into the foster care system. She’d joined the army right out of high school. Fiona couldn’t help but note how similar their stories were. Amanda Hemmings had chosen the military as her safety net while Fiona had joined the police academy.