To Protect & Serve (22 page)

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit fuzzy this morning.”

Beth shook her head. “Go back in the house and throw some clothes in a bag. You’re coming out to the lake with me.”

“The lake?”

“You heard me.” Beth tapped her wristwatch. “They’re expecting you at the hospital. You’ve got ten minutes. We’ll leave town right after they’re done with you.”

Keri couldn’t think of a reason not to go. When she’d talked with Pat a couple of days earlier, she’d even suggested some time off to get away from Alex Troy, just to think about things. And the personal invitation meant a lot coming from her sergeant. Flattered, Keri said, “Thanks. I don’t know what to say.”

As she hurried away to collect some clothes, she heard Beth mumble something. It sounded like, “Don’t thank me just yet.”

*

Keri sat in the waiting room and mentally plowed through the last twelve hours. Someone had to have drugged her because one beer had never affected her that way. She remembered drinking the beer and then piercing brown eyes boring into hers while strong hands encircled her waist. Maybe it had been Alex. The touch had seemed gentle. It felt like Alex’s touch—but how could she know?

A flash of memory poked at her, a firm arm around her waist supporting and guiding. Her frustration grew as she was unable to discern real events from fuzzy images. The pulse at her temples pounded fiercely the more she tried to recall. A light tap on the shoulder startled her, and she looked up at a nurse.

“Officer Morgan?” The young woman motioned her to follow.

When they reached one of the examination rooms at the rear of the facility, Keri sat on the bed and followed instructions. The nurse tucked Keri’s arm under hers, applied the blood pressure cuff, and slid a thermometer under her tongue. Her gentle touch brought another image to mind. Keri’s hand was resting on Alex’s, their fingers entwined. Fiery heat spread through her body. The feeling was so intense, then and now, she knew it was real.

“I don’t know what just happened, but your pulse and temperature just spiked. Are you feeling okay?” The nurse removed the thermometer and inadvertently touched Keri’s lip.

The sensation spiraled directly to her core and she remembered “
Kiss me…
” Alex’s surprised face and tempting lips were very close to hers. She
had
actually asked Alex Troy to kiss her last night. And she was just as certain Alex had declined. Keri would definitely remember if they’d kissed.

“I’m all right,” she finally responded to the nurse. But she wasn’t at all sure if that was true.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute to draw your blood for the test.” The young woman left her alone with her disjointed thoughts and confused feelings.

Keri sifted through the evening’s events again and felt Alex’s warm hands stroking her arms, her firm grip closing around her waist, and her lips a breath away from kissing hers. Shifting uncomfortably on the examining table, she clamped her thighs around the painful ache, then slipped her hand between her legs and closed her eyes. She imagined Alex cupping her sex, feeling the evidence of arousal that soaked the crotch of her jeans, sliding her fingers along the sides of Keri’s pulsing clit and stroking slowly up and down.

Pressure built like a hungry beast in Keri’s center. She had never wanted anyone so much. Placing her other hand over the one that tormented her, Keri squeezed and imagined Alex’s lips, full and wet like the flesh that throbbed between her legs. All she needed was one kiss from Alex and she’d come. She needed that kiss desperately.

A light knock at the exam room door jolted her back from near orgasm. She rubbed her hands briskly over her jeans-clad legs and tried to regain her composure. “Come in,” she croaked.

As the nurse prepared to take a blood sample, Keri took deep, calming breaths. She had almost brought herself to orgasm in the hospital while fantasizing about her lieutenant. When had her feelings completed their gradual change from distrust and caution to attraction and longing? Reluctantly, Keri relived that confrontational interview with Alex once more. Her feelings were intense, but not the same as before. The outrage and righteous indignation had faded. This time, she could isolate Alex’s words and nonverbal responses from her own defensive reactions. Alex had phrased her questions very carefully. In retrospect, none of them sounded accusatory, simply pointed and probing like any good investigator’s.

Alex had been hand-picked by the chief to conduct the investigation and had simply been doing her job. It was a high-profile case with serious allegations against Keri and her partner. And Keri hadn’t made it easy for Alex to determine the facts. Her answers had been evasive and emotional. Even a rookie knew what that suggested—deceit.

But she hadn’t been dishonest, had she? Keri replayed the scenario in her head: arriving at the scene of a fight call, running to the rear of the apartment, and finding her partner, Brian Saunders, lifting a handcuffed suspect to his feet. She had seen the injuries to the suspect’s face and head and had assumed the other combatant was responsible. Brian told her a white male in his twenties had fled the scene as he arrived. Keri believed he had followed proper arrest procedures, but she hadn’t been at the scene to witness what happened, and the other suspect was never found. The injured man claimed no one else was there.

Watching the nurse move around the room, Keri wondered if she’d missed something that night. All she really knew was what Brian told her. And she trusted him. What if he’d misled her? She’d staked her reputation on his word and not her own observations. There was a possibility that her loyalty had been misplaced. Maybe there were facts she didn’t have. Common sense and work experience suggested Alex must have known all the details by the end of the investigation, if not during their interview. Of course she would never discuss the case, but Keri began to think she’d misjudged her. Her own behavior had been immature and unprofessional.

The thought made her cringe. No wonder Alex seemed uneasy around her. She probably owed the woman a huge apology. Alex didn’t create the problem with the use-of-force investigation, and Keri had to stop blaming her for it. The more time she spent around the lieutenant, the less she seemed like the ladder-climbing opportunist Keri had imagined. One thing was for sure, there was much more to Alex than a hard-nosed cop. Keri hadn’t imagined the compassion and deep feelings on Alex’s face when they talked about Josh and Stacey. The more she saw of that sensitive, caring woman, the more she wanted to see. And that wasn’t all Keri wanted. The few times they’d touched, their bodies seemed to fit so perfectly she couldn’t imagine holding another person. So far she’d managed not to show her growing attraction for Alex. She wondered if she could keep that up much longer.

The nurse turned from her workstation and snapped latex gloves onto her hands. “If you’re ready, we’ll get this done.” She corded a length of rubber tubing around Keri’s bicep and stuck a needle into her bulging vein.

As the tube filled with her blood the reality of why she was in this place returned to Keri. She’d been drugged. She didn’t need a test to prove it. The effects on her body and memory were definitely not the result of the single beer she’d consumed. It could’ve been much worse. She could’ve ended up like Josh and Stacey—young, promising, and dead.

Keri thought about the things she’d regret if her life had ended last night. The list was long and the weight of it settled in her chest. She wouldn’t be able to nurse her mother through the terrible disease that ravaged her mind and body. The rift with her father would go unresolved and the scars would never heal. She wouldn’t find justice for Josh or become a real narcotics detective. The blot on her career from the use-of-force investigation would remain forever. Alex Troy would always believe she was a dishonest and unreliable officer. And, with an agonizing stab of sadness, Keri realized she would never make love with Alex. She wanted that, and more, with all her heart. The connection between them was hard to explain, but she felt it in every fiber of her being. She wanted a chance to explore that connection. Keri wasn’t sure when it happened or how, only that everything had changed and the possibilities called to her as powerfully as the primal urge to mate.

*

Alex navigated her old Mercedes coupe along the mountain roads leading to Beth and Tammy’s place on Poplar Lake in Virginia. The two-hour drive gave her plenty of time to think about Keri and what she should do about her feelings. Maybe she’d talk to Tammy this weekend, if she didn’t lose her nerve.

As she drove, her sunroof allowed the distinctive smells of freshly plowed earth and strewn fertilizer to permeate the car. Cows and horses dotted the pristine countryside grazing on short grass and hay bales. She’d forgotten what being in the real country looked and smelled like. Nearing Beth and Tammy’s house, Alex thought the drive had passed too quickly.

A border of Leyland cypress lined the driveway into Beth’s cedar log cabin, producing the illusion of a hidden gateway. The two-story house sported a wraparound porch and rested at the bottom of the drive. It was silhouetted against the sparkling waters of Poplar Lake and appeared to be floating.

Tammy stood on the porch motioning her toward the open side of the two-car detached garage. Alex pulled inside, grabbed her overnight bag, closed the garage door, and walked toward her friend’s partner. A small butterfly-bush garden adorned the side yard along the walkway. Tammy’s ferns hung from the porch corners, variegated fingers beckoning Alex to enter, as inviting as their owner.

“It’s great to see you, Alex.” Her name always sounded so sensual coming from this willowy strawberry-blonde. Tammy gave her a full-body hug and they walked into the house arm in arm. The smell of baking bread permeated the homey interior.

“It’s really good to be here,” Alex said.

Tammy replaced her overnight bag with a frosty drink. Lifting her own glass, she toasted, “Here’s to weekends.”

Alex took a big sip. It’d been months since she’d had one of Tammy’s special concoctions—vodka tonic with a hint of peach schnapps. The effects were immediate. “Strong, as usual.” She smiled gratefully. “But much appreciated.”

“Beth told me you were injured in a wreck. How are you?”

“I’m fine, just a few bumps and scrapes.”

“Sit and keep me company while I finish this salad. Catch me up on police department gossip.” Tammy gestured to the counter that separated kitchen and dining areas.

“Can I help with anything?” Alex asked.

“There’s nothing to do. The bread is baking, salad is making, and Beth should be along anytime now. She’ll put the steaks and chicken on the grill later. Besides, you’re a guest.”

“I thought she’d be here by now. Sorry, I didn’t realize a trip to the hospital would tie her up this long, but then it is the weekend.”

“Relax, Alex, and try to forget about work for a while.”

Alex surveyed the interior of the house and sipped her drink. She was invariably impressed with Tammy’s unique ability to make the natural log walls come alive. Patchwork quilts adorned the vertical surfaces and loft railing adding to the feeling of warmth and comfort. Dazzling displays of refracted light were masterfully directed through stained glass fixtures and window ornaments.

Their home exuded such an ambience of serenity that Alex felt embraced by love each time she entered. The confines of work and the burdensome task of self-protection slipped away as Alex allowed herself to relax.

Tammy put an immediate end to her respite. “So, Beth tells me you’re interested in someone.”

“Don’t ever repeat that to anyone, please.” Alex tried to be angry, but she knew Beth was coming from a place of caring.

Tammy continued calmly chopping vegetables. She gave Alex one of her most reassuring glances. “You need a life beyond the vicarious pleasures of your friends. We’ve been worried. We want you to be happy because we love you.”

“If that’s not my cue for some free counseling, I’ve never heard one.” Alex propped an elbow on the counter and rested her chin against her hand. “Tammy, I don’t know what to do. I admit I’m attracted to someone, but there are too many obstacles. For a start, I work with her.”

Tammy changed to her therapist voice. “Then she must be struggling with some of the same issues if she’s attracted to you, too.”

“Sometimes I think she is, and God knows she gives me some interesting looks. But I’m not sure I could offer her the life she wants, if she even knows what that is.” Alex watched Tammy’s knife slice the vegetables with the precision of a master chef.

“What do you like about her?”

The stormy conflict Alex often felt dissolved into a calm that made her smile. “I think it’s a combination of her vitality and tenderness. She’s so eager to experience life and she does it with such sincerity and reverence. I guess I’m drawn to that. Sometimes I feel so…jaded, being around her makes me remember…”

Myself.
Alex fell silent, startled by the thought and thankful she had kept it to herself. Tammy raised her eyebrows. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“Yes.” Where to begin? “This will sound strange, but it’s like she’s a pain eradicator.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.”

“She senses when I’m hurting and tries to make it better. I swear I can feel it being drawn out of me, but it doesn’t seem to weigh her down.” Alex paused, uncomfortable to be speaking so candidly about feelings she still didn’t fully understand herself. “I don’t even think she knows she’s doing it. Sounds stupid, huh?”