Murder in the City: Blue Lights (13 page)

“I’m serious, Lainey. I will do whatever it takes to keep you and your sister safe.”

She pulled back slightly. He let his hands slip down to her shoulders, unwilling to break the physical connection totally.

“Even if it means breaking the law?”

He shrugged. “Let’s call it flexing the law. Bending, not breaking.”

“I could go to jail, Mark.”

It was the first time she’d used his first name. The power of that simple word coming from her rippled through him. Brice, she’d always said, impersonal, with the taste of professional colleagues.

He stroked her shoulders, then ran his hands back up to take her face between his hands.

Her eyes widened but she didn’t pull away. Instead, almost imperceptibly, she leaned in.

An observer wouldn’t have noticed it. But he felt it to the core of his being.

She’d leaned in, asking for more.

And by God, he would give it to her. Breaking all protocol of cop and victim, he moved in, feeling her breath on his face.

Beneath his hands, he felt her heart rate quicken and her skin heat.

Or was that his own heart rate increasing, his own skin heating?

They felt like one, everything in them aligning to each other.

As he moved in, she tilted her head to perfectly meet his.

Her lips opened slightly, everything about her inviting him, wanting him. He craved physical contact with her. Had to have it.

He took her mouth, feeling the softness of the first contact quickly turning to a hot passion.

Molten want flowed from her, like a volcano exploding beneath his hands. She moved into the kiss, needing, wanting. Almost as much as him, it seemed.

But that was impossible. Because no one had ever wanted anyone as much as he wanted her.

Beneath his touch, she responded, tilting toward the precipice where they would drop into a chasm of no return.

But he couldn’t stop himself. He molded his hand over her breast, cupping it, feeling her nipple respond.

God, he wanted her in bed, beneath him.

Her labored breathing told him she wanted it, too.

Then, she pulled back, looking at him through sex dazed eyes. “We can’t,” she said in a breathy voice.

He leaned back, trying to catch his breath. Searching for the ability to stop himself, stop the train that was out of control.

She pulled away, and he let his hands drop as she struggled to stand.

She made it to her feet, and walked a few steps away, straightening her clothes. She stood in the middle of the room for a long moment before turning to meet his eyes. Her face was flushed, her hair disheveled, almost as if they’d just made love and the visual image it evoked in his brain almost did him in.

“Julie’s in the next room,” she said quietly.

She was a preteen girl, with all the curiosity about sex that that implied. There’d be no quiet sex in the next room the way they might have been able to with a baby or a smaller child.

He got why she couldn’t do this.

If his libido hadn’t been so out of control, he might have realized that earlier, himself.

But now that he’d remembered Julie, he tried to steer his sex infused brain into a different area of thought.

“Sure, sure,” he struggled for the right words. Then, he remembered the monster that had taken Julie and two other little girls.

He didn’t need the distraction of sex to detract from their mission of following the guy’s trail.

“I’d like to sleep on your couch,” he said.

Lainey shook her head no, but very slowly as if she wanted him around.

“Just for protection,” he said. “I don’t want you guys alone here until we get this guy.”

Lainey looked away. She was thinking about her promise to the voice on the other end of Julie’s phone.

He instinctively knew she’d promised to hand Moseman over to the vigilante, to meet his idea of justice. Her unwillingness to talk about it only confirmed it.

“We’ll figure it out, Lainey.”

She turned to him. “We have to. I can’t put Julie at risk.”

He nodded, then stood up, taking her by the shoulders.

Warily, she looked up him, her body leaning slightly away, defensive and closed off.

“I promise you,” he said, inches from her face. “I promise you. I won’t let you or your sister down.”

She nodded.

Later, as he laid on the couch with Lainey a short walk down the hall, his drive to take her into his arms warred with the fear he had of losing someone he loved again.

He’d been a shell of a man when Jennifer had left with Maddie.

Could he go through that again? Could he risk an involvement with Lainey and her little sister that might end in heartache for himself again?

Something told him it was too late, because he’d already become involved.

* * *

The next morning, Lainey stood in front of her mirror putting on a bit of makeup. Foundation was her friend with all of the sleepless nights.

She leaned forward to peer at the circles beneath her eyes. Behind her in the mirror, Julie’s face popped into view.

“So, he spent the night.” Excitement colored Julie’s features. “You guys hooking up?”

“Julie!” She looked at the little preteen in horror. “That is an ugly expression.”

Julie rolled her eyes. “Hooking up, making love, dating, what’s the difference?”

“Well, for one thing, hooking up? That sounds like something that interstellar space ships do, not two human beings that have feelings for each other.” Lainey shuddered. “Sounds so cold.”

“Feelings!” Julie just looked even more interested. “You have feelings for him?” She stepped closer. “What type of feelings? He is a hottie.”

Julie so wanted more family. She’d missed having a dad for the last four years, and seemed to crave a male parental figure in her life. But, Lainey didn’t want to give her false hope that anything like that might develop between Lainey and Brice.

They’d worked closely together on the Sean Moseman investigation and then been thrown together when Julie was kidnapped. But, beyond that…

“Everybody decent back there?” Brice’s voice sounded from the living room.

“Yep, we’re dressed,” Lainey replied, quickly brushing on some blush.

“Brought you coffee,” Brice said from the far end of the hallway.

Julie laughed. “Dude, you can come in, we’re dressed.” The lightness on Julie’s face was amazing, as if none of the previous day’s ordeal had happened. She was back to normal.

Normal felt good. Lainey had actually gotten some sleep, because she’d known Brice was in the living room, watching out for them. It had felt comforting to have him sleeping on her sofa.

Brice stuck his head in the doorway, coffee cup in hand.

Lainey took it and smiled back at him.

A day’s growth of beard covered his face. The man looked good in the morning.

Chapter Fifteen

“I took the liberty of making coffee,” he said, his voice gruff with an early morning graveled tone.

Julie studied him like she thought he was attractive too. She sat on Lainey’s bed, looking back and forth between them.

“Thanks,” Lainey said, taking a sip of coffee.

“Eggs anyone?” Brice said. “I noticed them in your fridge.”

“Scrambled,” Julie said instantly. “Lainey likes hers real dry.”

“Dry,” Lainey said.

Brice nodded. “Dry. Got it.”

He turned and walked back down the hallway. Instantly, Julie jumped up and followed him. The little girl was under his spell.

Lainey watched them go. It wasn’t a good idea to let Julie get attached to him.

This relationship didn’t have anywhere to go. A guy like Detective Mark Brice might be sweet to a little girl.

He was protecting her and would be friendly, as he was to almost everyone except the bad guys.

But, when all this was over, he’d be back to his normal life. Many women had called him when they’d been working together. Dinner plans seemed to be an every night occurrence for him. Also, it seemed common that they were with many different women.

After all of this was done, she and Brice would go back to a professional relationship.

Lainey and Julie would just be a case he’d worked on. She’d seen him act this same way, kind and compassionate, to all the victims he’d ever worked with.

Julie and Lainey were victims. Detective Mark Brice was being nice to the victims. That was all.

And last night’s kiss had never happened.

The feelings his kiss had inspired were just a byproduct of all the tension and fear she’d felt while Julie was missing, and the kiss was just a natural reaction to the release of that tension.

Reluctantly, Lainey joined Brice and Julie in the kitchen. Julie bounced around, from the silverware drawer to the table then back to get napkins and glasses.

“Orange juice, Lainey?” She sounded like this was just another morning and Brice was a family friend. Like they’d done this many times and would do it many more times.

But they wouldn’t, a little reminding voice told her. Don’t let her get too attached, because it will be that much harder when he moves on to another case, to protecting another victim.

“Yep, orange juice,” she answered, reaching for the daily vitamins. She shook out three, popped one in her mouth, extended her hand to Julie who took one, then Lainey extended the remaining vitamin to Brice. She didn’t know why she did that, hadn’t planned on it. It had just seemed natural.

Brice looked down at it like he’d never seen a vitamin before.

Then, he took it off her palm with two fingers. The brush of his fingers on her palm sent messages to all of her nerves to sit up and take notice.

Lainey reached for the glass of orange juice Julie handed her, gulped down a swallow to wash down the vitamin, then took another mouthful before she glanced back at Brice.

He still held the vitamin, his gaze fixed on her. She stopped mid swallow, caught by his expression.

What would it be like to wake up every morning to this man? To come in and fix breakfast and know he’d be back, again, in the evening to sleep with her?

Well, that wasn’t happening. He just wasn’t the everyday type of man.

Lainey turned slightly to catch Julie watching the interplay between her and Brice.

A little smile flirted around the edges of Julie’s mouth before she twirled to take a bag of bread out of the cabinet.

“Whole wheat toast, Detective Brice?”

She was becoming quite the little hostess.

“Please,” he said in an overly amiable voice, as if he, too, were playing a part.

Julie popped two pieces in the toaster, then pressed the lever.

“So,” she twisted to face Lainey and Brice. “Are you really going to hand that murderer over to the kidnapper?”

Lainey laughed at the abruptness. “Murderer? Kidnapper? Can’t decide who’s the worst of the two. One murdered, but that was a stranger he killed. One kidnapped my little sister. The crime isn’t as bad but it’s closer to home and thus worse in my eyes.”

She shrugged. “I said I’d turn the murderer over to the kidnapper.”

She met Brice’s eyes.

His gaze held hers for a moment longer than was comfortable. Then, he stirred the eggs. “Is a promise to a kidnapper really binding? Does that carry the same moral weight as say a promise to a preacher or family member?”

Lainey didn’t say anything. What she wanted to say couldn’t be said in front of her little sister.

She feared the man who’d held Julie captive, feared him more than anyone she’d encountered in her whole life.

He seemed to have the power to get to anyone that he wanted. No one was safe from him.

The fear he inspired made her want to do whatever he said it would take to keep her little sister safe from him. She couldn’t afford a twenty-four hour body guard like the banker could for his daughter.

“Is Julie going to school today?” Brice asked almost as though reading her thoughts.

“I don’t know.” She didn’t want to add that she was afraid to let the little girl out of her sight. After yesterday, she didn’t know when she would feel safe letting her go back to school again.

“I know somewhere she might like to spend a couple of days.” Brice arched an eyebrow as if he got exactly what Lainey was thinking.

“My mom and dad’s,” he said. “My dad’s an ex cop.”

Julie looked expectantly at him as if she liked the idea.

An ex-cop dad sounded pretty good.

“My younger brother lives with them right now. He’s a cop also, on the SWAT team.”

“Oh, can I go, Lainey? Can I? Can I?” Julie hopped from one foot to the other. “Pleaaase, Lainey. I can learn so much from them. You know I want to be a cop.”

“Really?” Brice looked down at her with renewed respect. “A cop? My dad received quite a few medals and commendations in his day.”