Page 19 of Back the Blue

“My supervisor should have responded to me by now,” he says tightly. “I need to check.”

“Okay,” I nod.

He kisses me again and moves from the bed. Not wanting to hover, I head to the bathroom to relieve myself and try to wrap my head around the crazy that’s happening right now. When I look at my face in the mirror, I’m surprised at what I see.

My hair is wild. My cheeks are flushed. And my eyes are bright and focused.

Jesus, I guess Ashley looks good on me.

Giggling softly, I wash and dry my hands before taking a deep, fortifying breath. Then I walk back into his apartment. He’s in the corner, hunched over his laptop as he reads something. I smile at the fact that he’s still naked. Of course, his body is nothing more than chiseled muscle, so it’s not like he should be ashamed of hanging out in the buff.

Me, on the other hand, well…with most other men I’ve been self-conscious about my body. I’m always carrying an extra few pounds that seem to turn men off. But Ashley? God, he looked at me like I was the most desirable woman on the planet. And he handled me with such ease, too. Whatever he thinks I’ve done to him, I’m certain he’s done the same to me.

Crazy?

Absolutely.

Especially given the circumstances of why we’re here together. But before any of that went down, I was attracted to him. Sure, I’m a sucker for a man in a uniform, but there was something about his take charge attitude that spoke to me. Even though I fought him at almost every turn, he didn’t back down. A possible recipe for disaster, yes, but if the make up sex is anything like the sex we’ve already had?

Sign me up.

I’m smiling as I get dressed. Because I want to be ready for whatever our next move is. But when I hear him curse, I move even quicker. Moments later, he walks over and starts dressing as well.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing at the moment,” he growls.

“Is that bad?”

“Not for us. Yet.”

He says no more. And I don’t like it. When we’re both fully clothed, he walks into his closet. I’m quick to follow him because I don’t like this silence. Nor do I like his body language. Something must be wrong. Especially when I watch him pull on a bulletproof vest and then pull out another that he offers to me.

“Put this on,” he says tightly.

I take it, but I need more information.

“Tell me why,” I demand.

His eyes lock with mine for a moment. He doesn’t want to tell me, but I’ll stand here all fucking night until he does. Something he obviously figures out when I cross my arms across my chest and arch an eyebrow at him.

“Jesus, Lorna,” he sighs.

Then he looks down. And I hate it.

“Just tell me,” I almost beg.

He takes a deep breath. And when he locks eyes with me again, I know I’m going to hate whatever he has to say.

“It’s Malcolm,” he says softly.

“What?” I gasp. “What about him?”

“That wasn’t him that called you earlier.”

“Then who was it?” I snap.

“It was Diamond,” he says. “When they breached Charlie Two and found it empty, they went after him. And they won’t release him unless we turn you over.”

---