Page 35 of Merrick

She had a briefing, reports to write and they were certainly going to inquire about the progress if any. Brad knew she had left the function with Merrick. He did not know she had gone a step further and slept with the suspect, spent the entire night – a night she was never going to forget.

How could she? He had warned her that he would not allow her to deny them. Stretching her legs out, she stared at her unadorned nails. What the hell did he see in her? He was Merrick Pendergast, fabulously wealthy, extremely attractive and she had seen him naked.

She knew his body, had explored it, he had made her feel completely wanted. What did he see in her? She was not sophisticated, far from it. She was not from his level of society. What the hell did he want with her?

But there was something between them and she was damn well not going to explore that troubling aspect. She couldn’t. But she had overestimated her position and was paying for it.

She was second guessing herself. She should have gone in as herself – a cop and questioned him. But others had done thatand had been blocked by his retinue of lawyers, hadn’t they? That was the reason for her offering to go undercover.

But what good was it going to do if she blew the investigation? More children would die and all she had to show for it was a roll in the hay and probably the loss of her shield. What the hell was she going to do now?

Where did she go after this? Should she quit while she was ahead or continue this farce? She was never one to give up, but now her damn feelings were involved. She felt something for him. For the first time in her life, she had all these emotions racing through her body. And wasn’t it a kicker?

She had spent time sailing through life, smug in the satisfaction that she was immune to emotional entanglements. The precinct had her pegged as being hard and tough as rocks.

“Sullivan has a heart of stone.’ They would joke. And she had thought herself above certain things. Now the joke was on her.

She could still feel him inside her, his mouth on her nipples, his long lean body, the supple strength of him, his lips on hers. Lifting a hand, she touched her mouth and felt the shimmer running through her body. He had left his mark on her, mentally and physically.

There was a bruise on her left breast he had put there. She had left her marks on him as well. Her blunt nails had scorched his back and shoulders, and her teeth marks were on his chest, when she had spiraled out of control so many times.

Her phone rang again and jolted her out of her reverie. Dragging it out, she read the LED and answered.

“We have two more.” Brad told her grimly.

“I’m on my way.”

*****

Her murder board was updated, and she had gone through the briefing.

Her commander had made himself clear. They need results and they need them now. “The mayor and chief of police are putting the pressure on. The press is giving us hell. We need results and fast.”

Kicking back, she placed her feet on the desk and cradled the cup of coffee as she studied the board. Two more had been added. Teens – two nineteen-year-old boys at a different club. Another fancy place where the music was hopping and too packed for anyone to know who was passing out the illegals.

Or no one was willing to come forward. It was frustrating as hell and it all points to Medtech. That was the familiar link, and it was breaking her heart. She could not eliminate the company. She had tried – turned it, twisted it sideways and it still pointed to them.

She looked up as her partner came in and closed the door behind him.

Moving over to the small table, he poured coffee and came to sit on the edge of her desk, facing the board. “Where were you last night?”

The casual question almost had her spilling her coffee.

“What do you mean?”

He turned to look at her, feeling the familiar awareness of her that seem to be something constant.

She was wearing an emerald, green sweater over jeans and her familiar well-worn boots and her hair was brushed back from her face and secured at the nape of her neck. As usual, she was not wearing a stitch of makeup and was sexy and aloof.

“I mean that when I could not get you, I drove to your place. Your car was not there, and you did not answer your doorbell.”

She struggled to remain casual, even though guilt was churning away inside her gut. “I must have been out.”

“Out where?”

Her tapered brows lifted and had him backing down. “Sorry.” He muttered. “None of my business. Unless you were out with Pendergast.”

“Why would I be out with him?”

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