Page 142 of The Last Close Call

He leaned against the counter and watched her. “And I’m sorry this has been hard for you.”

“Hard for me?”

“Yes.”

“Will Anderson being locked up is way more important than whether something is hard for me,” she said. “I mean, that’s the whole thing, right? That’s why I can’t get away from this work. Whether it’s Ric or you or whoever, I always end up getting pulled back in.”

“You’re good at it,” he said. “People want your help.”

She stepped closer and looked at his bare chest. Finally, they were having the conversation that had been weighing on her for weeks.

“I’m tired of resisting,” she told him. “Maybe you called it from the start.”

He frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“Maybe I’m going to go back. I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I’m so confused. I can’t seem to decide what’s the right thing to do.”

He brushed her hair out of her eyes. “You’re tired. You’ve been sick and you haven’t slept.” He nodded at the clock on the microwave. “And it’s three in the morning. Not the best time for making decisions.”

She rested her head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. She heaved a sigh.

He sighed, too. “I knew you were lying when you said nothing was wrong.”

“Okay, fine. But I don’t have tells.”

“Yeah, you do.”

She closed her eyes. Maybe he was right. And if he was, then that meant he knew she was keeping other things from him, too. But intimacy had never been easy for her.

Someone’s falling hard.

She pulled back and looked up at him, at those deep brown eyes, at the strong lines of his face, and at the nasty bruise he’d just told her about. She’d become so attached to him in so short a time. What if she was alone here? What if she truly let her guard down and he backed off?

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head.

He lifted an eyebrow, clearly aware she was holding things in again. But she didn’t want to dump all of her insecurities on him.

He dropped his hands to her hips and pulled her against him. He was attracted to her. At least she knew that for sure.

“I’m taking a comp day tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve spent the last week on stakeout, and I need some time off. Will you spend it with me?”

She looked up at him. “When was the last time you took a comp day?”

“Hmm... never?”

“In that case, how can I say no?”

THIRTY-TWO

Bryan heard bolts clicking before Evie opened the door.

“You’re early,” she said, pulling the door back.

“Yeah, hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

“Not at all.”

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