Dangerous Surrender(21)

As soon as he hung up, she practically pounced on him. “Well?”

“They dug a bullet out of the back of the elevator. Hurley said the lead detective is pissed the crime scene guys missed it the first go around, but I guess the elevator has a weird texture?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s all chrome and nickel with weird rises in the texture. It’s always made me think of medieval armor. Did they find anything else?”

“Blood on the bullet. They’re testing it now and putting a rush on it. Since it goes against Neal’s story, combined with the traces of blood splatter they found with luminol, you’re going to be cleared soon. Hurley wants us to come down to the station to make a statement about what happened yesterday, then the Oceanside PD wants you to come in. They’re going to give you time to return to the city voluntarily and they’re bringing Neal in for more questioning. They can hold him long enough to do the blood test. As long as the evidence corroborates with your story—and I know it will—you’ll be cleared of everything.”

She perched on the edge of the bed as she digested his words. She was innocent so she wasn’t worried about being cleared, but there would be so much to do now, including planning Hugh’s funeral. That thought brought up a fresh wave of sadness so she stood. “Do you think I have time for coffee before we head to the station?” Part of her wanted to finish what she and Roman had just started, but the realistic part of her brain knew it was probably for the best they didn’t do anything else.

Roman nodded and glanced at the clock. “Yeah. My brother should be home soon too. I texted him and asked him to bring you some clothes so I apologize in advance if they’re…not your style.”

She lifted her eyebrows at that, but didn’t question him. “Thank you. Again. I know you’re doing all this for Vadim, but still—”

“Stop thanking me. This stopped being about Vadim a while ago.” His voice was raspy and an octave lower than normal as he watched her.

Oh. Okay, maybe she really did want to finish what they’d just started. “Um…” She didn’t know what to say, but thankfully he saved her.

“I’m going to grab a quick shower,” he said, shifting as if he was uncomfortable. It took about a second for her to realize why and her face flamed once again. “The coffee maker is the one-cup kind and easy to use.”

“I saw it last night and it’s the same kind I have.” She seriously needed a dose of caffeine. Once she left his room, she let out a big breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The man lit her nerves on fire and had the ability to distract her even from the worst situation. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. For all she knew what she was feeling was because of everything that had happened, but something told her she’d be feeling this way about Roman no matter what. The timing sucked too because she had way too much to deal with right now without worrying about her reaction to him. She’d be leaving town in a couple hours anyway.

* * *

Roman strode down the stairs, pausing when he heard his brother’s voice and Taylor’s following laughter. He was surprised his brother was home so soon. The shower he’d taken had done nothing to douse the hunger raging through him. He hadn’t expected her to knock on his door so early this morning.

Hadn’t expected to kiss her.

And he hadn’t expected the primal reaction he was still coming to grips with. He’d wanted to take her right on his bed, a place he never brought women. His few and far between fucks were always at the woman’s place or in a hotel when he was out of town. That was one thing he and his twin had in common, they never brought women back to their place.

But he’d liked the thought of Taylor in his bed, underneath him, moaning out his name as he brought her pleasure. Way too much. Fuck. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

When he entered the kitchen he found Taylor leaning against one of the granite countertops, a coffee cup in hand. She was dressed in clothes his brother had presumably brought for her. Tight jeans that were a little too long and a plain black V-neck T-shirt that stretched across her breasts. He found his gaze lingering on those full breasts and once again, his dick decided to wake up. Damn it, he’d just jerked off in the shower to thoughts of Taylor—something he should probably feel bad about, but didn’t—he should be fine, but one look at her and he was getting hard again.

Roman focused on his brother because it was better than staring at Taylor like some horny teenager.

“Where’s Charlie?” Logan asked.