by Izzy Gomez
Oooooookay, then.
Fortunately, he had a perfect topic to kill the intimate mood they’d created. While he wanted to pretend they were two normal people on a normal date, he couldn’t. As much as that thought surprised him, he wanted tonight to go on. Wanted to keep her smiling and laughing, even if he didn't get a single kiss.
Eventually the haunted look would come back to her eyes. And he recognized it all too well. It had stared back at him from the mirror for years. And lately, since that kid died and he left the task force, he'd seen that look again.
Changing divisions was his first step to getting rid of it for himself. Toward banishing both Phil's and Michael Denney’s ghosts. Now he was going to do everything in his power to help her chase it away. And, if he was lucky, she'd be the last step toward ridding himself of it.
Something brushed his hand. He watched as Amanda’s fingers curled over his fist. She stroked him with her thumb. Warmth shot up his arm, settling in his chest, pressing back against the heaviness that settled in him with thoughts of Phil and Michael.
He wanted to lift her hand to his face, press his lips to her palm, then hold it against his cheek. Not to fill any sexual desire, but to fill his need for human connection. But he was afraid it would be too much too fast and he'd scare her off. The intensity of his desire for her terrified the shit out of him. “Thank you,” she said so softly he barely heard her.
He shifted his hand and laced their fingers together. "For what?"
His arms ached to pull her against him. To hold her and ease both their burdens.
"For making me leave my desk. For making me eat." Those delicious lips curled.
His mouth watered. He had it bad for this woman.
"For making me think about something else for a little while. I needed it."
He forced himself to return her smile so he didn't look like he wanted to attack her. "We aim to please."
"You do." The huskiness of her tone said she was referring to more than his offer of dinner.
It was a miracle he didn't shove the table out of the way in an attempt to pull her into his arms. But it wouldn't look good if two detectives were arrested for public indecency. And if he touched her, that very well could happen.
From the street a car horn sounded, jerking them back to reality.
Reluctantly, Greg took his hand back. “We should get going.” Digging in his pocket for his wallet, he scanned the check, then tossed some bills onto the plastic tray.
Amanda frowned at the money. She picked up one of the twenties and held it out for him, digging in her purse with her other hand.
He pushed her hand away. “I got it.” Knowing she would argue, he stood and started for the door.
“Wait.”
He heard her behind him but didn’t stop. Until he felt her hand on his arm. Warm and soft against the bare skin of his forearm. She was damn lucky they stood in the middle of a crowded restaurant or he would have grabbed her and backed her against the nearest solid surface. Would have lost himself in the pleasures of her mouth, where he could forget all the painful memories.
“You pay next time,” he managed to say past the hunger gripping his throat. Except next time he fully intended for them to be on a real date. And like hell was he going to let her pay on a date.
“Fine.” She tugged his arm back toward the patio. “But I thought maybe we could go walk by the river.”
She wanted to spend more time together, talking about nothing? Hell yes. He took her hand and led her as fast as he dared to the trail winding along the bank of the White River. He couldn’t have picked a better place to romance her if he’d tried. Instead, she’d jumped two steps ahead.
Maybe he didn’t have to move so slowly. So carefully. Maybe she felt this strange, powerful attraction too.
“I was hoping you'd tell me if you and Al have any other leads,” she said as they strolled down the path. “I wanted to know before I talk to my dad again. He’ll have questions.”
Maybe she wanted to get his hopes up, only to dash them down again.
“Your stepmom. Right.” He was an idiot. That’s why she wanted to keep talking. That’s why she’d gone to dinner with him in the first place.
Still, he’d seen the flash of awareness in her eyes when she’d taken his hand before. And as they started walking, she didn’t pull away when he again laced their fingers. Didn’t make any comment about how she didn’t walk hand-in-hand with Voegler or O’Donnell.
A positive sign.
"The lab is running tests on the blood samples we got from the attic. See if they're all your stepmom's." He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. It felt natural to touch her as they walked. In the twilight, her eyes shone. The tension lines around her mouth relaxed, even now, discussing the case. Something eased in his chest.
"Wouldn't it be great if some of it is his?" she said, echoing his thoughts. Odds were, they wouldn't get that lucky. But they could hope.
He shouldn't tell her this next part, but he couldn't stop himself from saying, "The next logical person to look at is your brother."
"Hank?" Her jaw tensed, then relaxed again.
"He was staying with your parents, so he had easy access to the attic." He didn't want to talk about her stepmom or her brother or murder or anything else unpleasant. He wanted to hold her hand and enjoy the view. And kiss her.
He really wanted to kiss her.
She closed her eyes for a moment. Opened them to meet his gaze. There was that haunted look again. "Can't say I'd be totally shocked if it was him. He's...not a good person. I hate to say that about my brother, but it doesn't make it less true."
Memories combined with her expression to make him ache. "Let's not talk about this anymore."
With a smile that didn't quite light her eyes, she squeezed his hand. "I agree."
A strand of hair blew into her face, golden in the fading light. As he’d wanted to do many times before, he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. Let his fingers linger on her skin as he withdrew his hand.
She looked up at him. Lips parted. Confusion and desire in her eyes.
The need to kiss her pounded through him. They stopped walking. He turned her to face him. Only a whisper of space separated their bodies.
He took a step closer and her breasts brushed his chest. He felt every uneven breath she took. He wanted to look down, to see how her body looked against his, but he couldn’t move his gaze from her face. From her bright eyes and soft lips.
He lifted his hand to again smooth back her hair. Caressed her cheek. The feel of her skin sent heat through him, his whole body throbbing with need for her.
“Greg.” She said his name on a breath. The most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.
Slowly, holding her gaze the whole time, he lowered his head. Slid his hand to the back of her neck to tilt her toward him.
Chapter 11
The moment Greg's lips brushed Amanda's, electricity jolted him. He struggled not to yank her against him and devour. To be gentle. To enjoy the sweet taste of her mouth against his. To explore rather than demand.
To savor.
As much as he wanted more, wanted everything, he forced himself to draw back. He knew she had to leave. If he kissed her the way he wanted, he might not let her.
Her eyes glassy, she looked up at him. “I...”
Unable to resist, he brushed his lips just below the bruise on her cheek, careful not to hurt her. “You need to go.”
She slid her hand up his chest and under the collar of his shirt. Her skin burned against his. “Not quite yet.”
He pulled her tightly against him, letting her feel what their brief kiss did to him. “Yeah, you do.” He bit back a groan at the feel of her pressed against his erection. He forced himself to take a slow, deep breath. Except he ended up inhaling her fresh, feminine scent.
She laughed as she kissed his cheek. “Wow.” She stepped away and turned back in the direction they’d come from. Not releasing h
is hand, she pulled him with her.
“You’re laughing.” The throbbing in his groin didn’t feel like a laughing matter.
“Yeah.” She smiled back at him.
He battled the urge to lean down and kiss her again. And again. And more after that.
“I had this image of how I could...help you out, if I were a different kind of girl.” Her gaze flicked down to the evidence of his hunger, then back to his face.
Immediately a picture popped into his head of her on her knees in front of him as he leaned back on the railing.
Dear God, that was beautiful.
His cock got impossibly harder. “Not helping.”
She only laughed again as she started up the street.
As they walked back to their cars, he was glad for the near darkness. He didn’t need everyone in the neighborhood knowing how much he wanted her. They were silent as he thought about anything he could to get the blood flowing away from his groin.
When they reached her car, she took her hand back to dig in her purse. Did he kiss her? A hug was too awkward. But he couldn't not touch her again before she left. Just one more taste.
When her hand touched his chest, he met her gaze.
“I better go.” Her eyes held regret and hunger.
“Yeah.” He couldn’t stop himself from threading his fingers into her hair. He’d always wondered if it felt as soft as it looked. Now he knew. It felt softer. He could spend hours playing with her hair. “Good luck.”
She made a noise between a laugh and a snort. “I’m sure it’ll be one of the top five best nights of my life.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple. If he kissed her lips, he might not let her leave. “I’ll see you Monday, then.”
“Monday.” Her voice was breathy again. In an instant, his cock was hard again.
He started to step away but she grabbed his wrist.
“Thank you.”
“No sweat. Like I said, you can pay next time.”
She shook her head. “Not for dinner. Well, yes, for dinner, but not because you paid.” She slid her hand into his, squeezed. “For keeping me in the loop. For saving me from eating alone.” She stopped, but he could tell she wanted to say more. “For distracting me.”
“I’m still a distraction, huh?” He gave her his best flirtatious smile.
She smiled back, equally flirtatious. “Something like that.”
He released her hand and backed away. “Then I guess I’ll keep taking it as a compliment.”
"So why the zoo?”
Amanda took her eyes off the horizon to look at her best friend, Gabby Fischer. They were running in Eagle Creek Park, as they did every Sunday morning.
For the past twenty minutes, they'd fallen into a comfortable silence. The warm sun, the light breeze off Eagle Creek Reservoir and the physical exertion had begun calming Amanda's racing mind. Thanks to Gabby's question, her thoughts were again chaotic. Spinning off to dark places she didn't want to go.
"We come running here all the time." Maybe if she pretended she didn't understand Gabby's question, she'd drop it.
Gabby blew a raspberry at Amanda. If she could see Gabby's eyes behind her sunglasses, they'd be glaring.
They fell back into silence, passing a pair of mothers with strollers and a group of loud young men.
"You gonna answer my question?"
"I'm trying not to." Why couldn't Gabby stick to the mundane things they usually talked about, like the latest celebrity gossip or the idiots she dated? But life right now was anything but mundane.
"I'm not entirely sure why the zoo,” Amanda finally said. Gabby would keep asking until she got an answer. She'd known the Schreiber family since she and Amanda were thirteen. She deserved answers. And, when it came down to it, she was one of the few people Amanda could confide in. But she wasn't ready to confide in anyone yet. "It was her favorite place to drag us as kids."
Memories flashed through Amanda's head. The happy Schreiber family out for a Sunday afternoon at the zoo. Dad lifting Emily up to see the gorillas. Karen watching Hank on the carousel. Off to the side, Amanda and Todd sitting on a bench. Watching but not included. Karen always insisted they give up plans with friends to participate in family time, then ignored them. And did her damnedest to make sure Dad did too.
Good times
"They're not letting you work on the case, are they?"
"Nope. Conflict of interest."
"So who did it?" Gabby chuckled. "Was she having some torrid affair gone wrong? Was it her jilted lover?" Gabby read too many mysteries and watched too many Law and Order reruns.
How much did Amanda tell Gabby? As a family member, what was hers to tell and what was information she only knew because she was a cop? "She was having an affair, but he has a solid alibi."
"I was kidding, but I’m not surprised she was screwing around.” Gabby's eyebrows rose above her sunglasses. “If it wasn’t him, who was it? Definitely not your dad."
Frustration and irritation spun inside Amanda. Dammit, running was supposed to calm her down. "No, they cleared him." She shoved a loose strand of hair out of her face. What could she tell Gabby that would satisfy her without giving away too much? "I don't know who their main suspect is."
It wasn't a complete lie. Greg and Al were looking at Hank. But that didn't mean he was their only, or even their main suspect.
This time, Gabby removed her sunglasses so Amanda could see her glare. "Right. You don't know. Bullshit."
"I know who they're looking at next. But telling you crosses into no comment territory." This run was quickly going from crappy to shitty. They'd only reached the halfway point.
Gabby paused to stretch, bending in half and hugging her legs. Amanda could do yoga five times a day and still never be that flexible. Instead she jogged in place to keep her momentum.
"I hate to give you the company line”—OK, that was a flat out lie—“but I can't say more about an ongoing investigation."
Gabby lifted her head, still bent in half. She looked like a Barbie doll twisted into odd positions by a vicious little girl. "You are so full of shit today, it's amazing."
Simultaneous urges to scream and cry tugged at Amanda. Instead she knocked her hip against Gabby's thigh, disturbing her balance.
Gabby scrambled to keep from falling. "Bitch."
Amanda shrugged and started running again. Back to their cars. If she went straight home, she'd have time to shower before the Colts game started.
Gabby easily caught up. "Fine. I'll let it go. For now. But we will revisit this." She shook her finger at Amanda.
"Get your finger out of my face." Amanda pushed Gabby's hand away.
"Bitch." Gabby grinned and Amanda found herself smiling back. A few of the knots in her shoulders eased. Only a million more to go.
“Can we please change the subject?” Amanda needed to get back to relaxing.
“Sure.”
Thankfully, they lapsed back into another comfortable silence. Amanda breathed deeply, inhaling the crisp breeze.
“So.”
Of course Gabby had to talk. “Any prospective suitors on the horizon?”
She was hitting all the conversational high points.
"Nope." Greg wasn’t exactly a prospective suitor. They'd gone on one sort-of date. And made out a little.
Gabby turned to run backward, her forehead scrunched. Amanda knew she’d narrowed her eyes to stare. "Who is he? Who are you dating that you haven't told me about?"
"I said no. That's a negative. As in not dating."
"You can’t lie to me." Gabby pointed, her finger once again in Amanda's face.
Amanda shoved it away. Gabby's pointing wasn't one of her more endearing traits.
Gabby turned back around, ending her acrobatics. “I've known you for twenty years. So who's the guy?"
Amanda opened her mouth, although she hadn't formulated a properly evasive response.
From Gabby's hip, Sting started singing. "Every mo
ve you make. Every bond you break. Every step you take."
Gabby stiffened and shoved her hand into her pocket.
"I'll be watch--"
The phone went silent.
"Every Breath You Take" was the ringtone Gabby assigned to the extra-crazy guys she dated who wouldn't leave her alone.
"I thought you weren't seeing anyone."
Gabby's cheeks, pink from exertion, turned magenta. "I'm not."
"Now who's lying?" Who wouldn't Gabby tell her about?
"Who's your stalker?"
"No one. Annoying coworker. Keeps trying to get me to switch shifts with her." Gabby picked up her pace.
Amanda followed suit. Hoping to catch Gabby off guard, she lunged forward and tried to get her hand into Gabby's pocket.
"Hey!" Gabby shoved Amanda's arm away.
Amanda laughed as Gabby held her phone over her head. Amanda grabbed for it, but Gabby was taller with freakishly long arms.
Amanda stepped back and held up her hands in surrender. "OK, fine. Be that way."
Gabby's eyebrows creased. "Why don't I believe you?"
Amanda shrugged. Gabby lowered her arm to return her phone to her pocket.
Amanda pounced, but Gabby yanked the phone away before Amanda could get it.
"Oh yeah?" Gabby shoved Amanda away, then dramatically pulled out the neck of her t-shirt and shoved the phone into her sports bra. It left a rectangular lump under the purple fabric.
"Yeah." Like Amanda was going to let boobs stop her. She reached into Gabby's shirt. At first she hadn't much cared who was on the phone, but Gabby was making way too much of it.
"Hey!" Gabby grabbed Amanda's arm and tried to wrench it away, so Amanda went in with her other hand.
Somewhere in their struggles, they'd moved off the path and onto the grass. Their feet tangled and they fell to the ground. Amanda landed on her left hip hard enough to send a jolt of pain down her leg. But the jolt also moved the phone, just enough for her to snag it between two fingers.
Before she got a handful of anything else, she pulled it out. Gabby grabbed for it, but Amanda pinned her on her back and sat on her. Gabby might be taller, but Amanda was stronger.