by Paige Tyler
“I guess it will take another date—or two—for you to find that out.”
That dangerous smile of his flashed across his face again before he turned and walked out.
She followed after him, catching a glimpse of his powerful form just before the door closed behind him. She looked out the peephole, hoping he’d glance back. He didn’t.
Sighing, she flipped the lock, then leaned back against the door. Her whole body was tingling like she’d had an allover body massage, and the pulse between her legs told her she was more aroused than she’d ever been in her life. All from a kiss.
From where he was seated on the couch, Leo lifted his head and looked at her.
“Leo, I think your human is in deep trouble,” she said.
Chapter 6
“They make a good couple, don’t they?” Remy said from beside Alex. “I’ve always thought that Brooks would fit best with a rough-and-tumble type of woman, and a veteran narcotics cop like Vaughn definitely fills the bill. I can see her holding him at gunpoint, demanding he get naked.”
On the other side of the narcotics briefing room, Brooks turned and flashed them a grin, clearly hearing what Remy had just said. That, of course, had been Remy’s intention all along.
Alex and Remy, along with Max and Brooks, had been called over to the narcotics division office for a task force briefing. Brooks had made a beeline for Vaughn the moment they walked in, and if the big smile on her face was any indication, the woman must have decided she had a thing for big, muscular men who tackled cars for fun.
“You think she’s The One for him?” Alex asked, trying to picture the huge dark-skinned alpha werewolf with the attractive but rough-around-the-edges narcotics officer.
Remy shrugged. “Maybe, but if not, there’s nothing wrong with her being The-One-for-Right-Now. Enough about Brooks and who he might end up with. How’d the date with Lacey go last night? Everything you hoped and expected?”
Alex had to work really hard to keep the goofy-ass grin off his face. As far as he was concerned, last night’s date had gone perfect…awesome…amazing…pick the adjective. He was trying not to get too carried away by refusing to allow himself to think that she might be…well, someone special. But he could honestly say that he’d never met anyone like Lacey Barton. She was about as perfect as he could imagine a woman being.
He’d been so buzzed after their date that the idea of sleeping had seemed ludicrous. Instead, he’d simply lain in bed and replayed every minute of the evening. He was tempted to explain away his sleeplessness with his crazy work schedule, but he knew that wasn’t true. It was Lacey. She had his head spinning. And it wasn’t just the kissing at the end of the date, though that had been pretty frigging amazing. No, it was the way he felt when he was with her, like he was alive for the first time. It was scary how fantastic the feeling was.
“I’m guessing by the way your heart rate just skyrocketed that last night went very well,” Remy surmised.
Alex grinned. “Yeah, it did. We had a really great time.”
His friend regarded him thoughtfully. “Then why am I sensing a but coming?”
“No buts,” Alex said. “It’s just that I think I’m going to have to take it slow with her. She seems hesitant about jumping into anything. I’m just guessing, but I think some stuff in her past has soured her on relationships.”
“You don’t think it’s anything that would keep the two of you from getting together, do you?”
Alex shrugged. “I definitely hope not.”
Remy shook his head. “I always thought the hard part of finding The One was finding her. I never considered that you might luck onto your one-in-a-billion soul mate and discover she’s not interested in a relationship because some other guy was an asshole to her.”
There wasn’t much Alex could add to that. Not only was Remy right, but at that moment, Sergeant Rodriguez walked in. Giving everyone a nod, the wiry, dark-haired cop signaled to a fellow narcotics officer to turn off the lights, then picked up the remote on the podium and turned on the ceiling-mounted projector. A moment later, a photo of a man appeared on the screen.
Alex did a double take—along with everyone else in the room. The guy had skin so pale, it was almost ghostly, along with white-blond hair and eyes so blue, Alex was sure they had to be contacts. But the thing that was most unsettling about the man were his pupils. Surrounded by the lightness in the rest of the man’s features, those small points of pitch black were freaky to look at. They made him seem like a demon from a sci-fi movie.
As if all that didn’t make him look disturbing enough, scars from old claw marks tugged up one side of the man’s upper lip, adding a touch of menace to his expression. If the four claw marks hadn’t been so close together, Alex would have thought the man had tangled with a werewolf.
“When the assistant district attorney told the dealers we picked up the other night that she intended to connect them to the deaths related to fireball, one of them cracked and identified the person who’d provided them their drug stash,” Rodriguez said. “He didn’t know the man’s name, but once he described the guy, we didn’t have too much problem tracking him down, as you can imagine.”
No kidding.
Rodriguez gestured to the screen. “This is Michael Pendergraff. He’s prior military, was a cop in Washington DC for a while, then a private investigator. For the past five years, he’s worked security for this man.” Another picture took the place of the albino, this one of an older man with gray hair and weathered skin. “Alfred Bensen, as in Bensen Automotive. He started out about thirty years ago with a single junkyard down in Houston, but since then, his business has grown considerably. He now owns nearly twenty junkyards, multiple car dealerships, and even runs a few manufacturing companies that make small parts for new cars.”
“And we think this is the guy making fireball?” Vaughn asked. “Or are we thinking it’s just Pendergraff?”
Rodriguez shrugged. “The truth is, we don’t know. There’s nothing in Pendergraff’s background to indicate that he possesses the chemical expertise to make the drug himself. And while there do seem to be a few curious growth spurts in Bensen’s business endeavors in the last few years, there’s nothing to pin him to the drug.”
“Other than our dealer saying he got his stash from Bensen’s private bodyguard,” Alex pointed out.
“Pretty much,” Rodriguez said. “While we might be able to get a search warrant for Pendergraff’s residence, we really doubt he’s cooking up these new heroin blends in his kitchen. Everyone at the DEA assures us that this crap is coming out of a high-tech lab facility.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Remy asked.
Rodriguez moved to the next slide. This one had names, addresses, and times. Everyone in the room groaned, including Alex.
“That’s right, people.” Rodriguez pinned them all with a look. “Around-the-clock surveillance at six of Bensen’s junkyards that the DPD Criminal Intel Unit thinks are the ones most likely to be involved in the drug-making and distribution activities. DEA has agreed to step in and help us cover the overtime, so no bitching. The sooner we get some actionable evidence proving Bensen is involved in either the making or distribution of fireball, the sooner we can get back to normal life.”
Even with the promise of overtime pay, there was still a lot of complaining…and not just from the narcotics folks. After weeks of hiding on rooftops and behind Dumpsters looking for drug dealers, none of Alex’s SWAT teammates were thrilled at the idea of spending a few more weeks sitting in surveillance vans staring at junkyards. They preferred operations that involved more action.
As Alex looked over the schedule projected up on the screen, he was thrilled to see that most of his evenings were free, including Wednesday. That’s when Cooper and Everly were having their engagement party, and he’d been thinking about asking Lacey to go with him—assuming she’d ac
tually want to go out with him again.
* * *
“It’s beautiful,” Lacey said, admiring the diamond engagement ring on Everly’s hand. “You must be so excited about the wedding.”
The ring really was gorgeous, and Landry Cooper, the SWAT officer who’d put it on her finger, was definitely a hunk. Lacey didn’t doubt that Everly was giddy at the prospect of marrying the man. Lacey was also pretty sure the woman was insane. How else would you describe a woman who was getting married to a man she’d only known for two months?
Not that Lacey had a lot of room to judge, considering how fast she’d jumped at the chance to go out with Alex again when he asked if she’d like to go to an engagement party for one of his coworkers. But jumping at a chance for a second date with a guy—no matter how undignified that jump might be—was completely different from leaping into marriage with a man you barely knew.
Lacey and Alex had been hanging out in the big party tent set up at the SWAT compound for the last two hours, talking to the newly engaged couple and with Alex’s other friends and coworkers. While Lacey already felt a growing kinship with several of the women at the party, she especially hit it off with Everly, even if she found it hard to believe that any rational woman would throw herself into marriage so quickly.
“All I can tell you is that when it’s right, it’s right,” Everly told her when Lacey had subtly asked why they were moving so quickly with the wedding. “Once you find the person you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with, doing anything other than being with them feels like you’re wasting time.”
Lacey just nodded as Everly and Cooper continued to make the rounds. That sounded a lot like something she’d expect her naive twenty-year-old sister to say. Coming from a woman Everly’s age was a little crazy.
“You ready for another burger?” Gage asked, stopping by their table with an enormous tray of food from the grill. Tall with dark hair and brown eyes, the SWAT commander was older than Alex and almost as handsome. “Maybe some ribs?”
Lacey smiled. “No, thanks. I’m stuffed.”
Gage pointed at one of the smaller burgers on the tray—at least compared to the others. “You sure? How about this one?” His mouth quirked. “It’s tiny, like Alex’s brain.”
She laughed, unable to help herself. She was tempted—the guys made amazing burgers—but she really was full. It was cool that the senior people on the SWAT team—Gage, Xander, and Mike—were running the grills and serving the food. Alex hadn’t been kidding when he said the SWAT team was like one big family, right down to the ribbing and insults. It was also pretty awesome that their definition of the word family included significant others and friends. The group of people filling the party tent tonight was broad and diverse, and they all made her feel welcome.
“I’m so glad you asked me to come to the party,” Lacey said softly to Alex after his boss had moved to the next table. “I’m having fun.”
While she’d agreed to go out again with Alex, there’d been a part of her a little worried about showing up at an engagement party for a couple she’d never even met. What if they didn’t feel like including a complete stranger in their special evening? But Alex had promised Everly and Cooper weren’t like that, and she’d be more than welcome at the party. Then he’d gone one step further to make sure she’d be relaxed at the party, telling her she should bring Leo so her dog could hang out with Tuffie and run around the big, wide-open compound.
That had turned out to be a wonderful idea, except now Tuffie was leading Leo around from table to table, apparently teaching him how to beg for scraps. She could totally see him giving her that sad puppy face every time she and Kelsey ordered pizza from now on.
“I’m glad you agreed to come,” Alex whispered in her ear.
As his warm breath brushed across the sensitive skin of her neck, her heart began to beat faster, and she bit her lip. It took everything she had to keep from leaning into his body. The desire to feel his lips on her neck was so intense, it was scary. What the heck was wrong with her? Since when did she go all X-rated over a man’s warm breath on her neck?
Fortunately, Alex pulled back before she embarrassed herself. His face betrayed nothing as he turned to listen to something another SWAT cop named Remy was saying on the other side of the table, like he didn’t notice the effect he had on her. But then a little smile flitted briefly across his lips, indicating he had a perfectly good idea what he was doing to her. Once again, she reminded herself that she needed to be careful around this guy. He was dangerous—to her self-control if nothing else.
“Are you coming to the wedding?”
Lacey glanced up to see Jayna Winston regarding her with interest. Like Everly, the blond woman was close to her age, and Lacey had immediately felt comfortable around her. Also like Everly, Jayna was a bit crazy. She was currently living with Becker—another of Alex’s hunky coworkers—and five of their friends in a single loft apartment. It sounded more like a frat house to Lacey. Jayna was definitely a lot bolder than she could ever be, that was for sure.
Beside Lacey, Alex was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Jayna’s innocent-sounding question suddenly took on a lot more weight. How was Lacey supposed to answer a question like that? She and Alex had only known each other barely more than a week, and this was only their second date. She didn’t even know if they’d still be dating by the time Everly and Cooper got married.
She had to say something, though.
“I’m not sure,” she said to Jayna. “I mean, I just met Everly and Cooper tonight. I’m sure the wedding invitations have already been sent out, and I wouldn’t want to cause a problem with seating charts, catering, and stuff.”
She was silently congratulating herself on such a diplomatic answer until Remy laughed.
“Alex, I think Lacey is trying to hedge her bets in case you turn out to be a dud and she dumps you before Cooper and Everly get married.”
Lacey’s jaw dropped, but Alex just laughed.
“I told you she was smart,” he said.
Jayna made a face. “Don’t pay attention to those two. They’re constantly nipping at each other. You don’t have to decide about the wedding right away. It’s going to be a really low-key affair, so there will be plenty of space for last-minute friends. If you haven’t grown tired of Alex by then, you’re more than welcome to come. In fact, you’re still invited even if you’ve smartened up and figured out that he’s a soup sandwich.”
“Soup sandwich? Now who’s nipping?” Remy drawled.
Lacey couldn’t help but laugh. Alex’s friends were amazing. She felt more at home with them than she did with people she’d known for years. Of course, she’d never go to Cooper and Everly’s wedding if things didn’t work out with Alex, but it was nice to feel welcome.
They spent the remainder of the night moving from table to table, meeting the rest of Alex’s coworkers as well as the other people at the party. She tried hard to remember each of his teammate’s names, but after a while, she gave up. There were way too many of them. She sure as heck noticed they were all dangerously good looking, not to mention muscular. While Alex was definitely the most handsome, his teammates were certainly nothing to sneeze at. It made her wonder what it was about SWAT that attracted so many hot guys. They were all so charming too. She couldn’t remember ever having such a good time simply talking.
As the evening wore on—and Alex’s glances became hungrier—Lacey found herself thinking more about the kisses at her place after their date on Sunday night. If she were lucky, Kelsey would be out with her friends when Alex took her home, and they could pick up where they’d left off after their first date.
When the party wound down a little after ten, she and Alex helped clean up in spite of Gage and his wife’s complaints. The hardest part of the night turned out to be collecting Leo so they could head home. Her dog flat-out didn’t want to leave Tuf
fie.
“I promise you and Tuffie can have lots of play dates,” Alex said as he crouched down in front of Leo and affectionately ran his hand over the dog’s head. “All you have to do is convince your mom to keep seeing me, and I’ll hook you up.”
Lacey folded her arms with a laugh. “Now you’re trying to blackmail my dog into supporting your dastardly schemes?”
Alex flashed her a grin. “A desperate man does what he has to,” he said, repeating the same line he’d dropped on her at the end of their date the other night.
She didn’t believe it any more now than she had then.
* * *
Kelsey wasn’t out like Lacey had hoped. Instead, she was sitting on the floor in the living room with three of her girlfriends, buried in books and study notes. Crud, why did her sister have to be so responsible and focused on her schoolwork all the time? Leo immediately trotted over to see what they were up to but quickly walked off in disappointment when it became obvious that there was no food to be had.
Kelsey looked up with a smile. “Hey, you two! How was the party?”
“Great,” Lacey said, but her sister already had her nose back in a book.
Apparently, her three friends weren’t as committed to their studying. They were all staring at Alex like he was a naked rock star. Their mouths were even hanging open.
Lacey would have said something about at least trying to make it look like they weren’t staring but didn’t want to embarrass them. Instead, she took Alex’s hand and led him into the kitchen. They might not have the apartment to themselves, but she didn’t want the date to end just yet. If nothing else, they could hang out in the kitchen for a bit. It was either that or invite him into her bedroom—and she wasn’t ready to send that kind of message.
She checked to make sure there was water in Leo’s bowl, then glanced at Alex. “You want something to drink?”
She reached for the handle of the refrigerator just as Kelsey and her friends let out loud laughs followed by a round of girlish chatter. One look at Alex’s face confirmed that he was thinking the same thing she was. This wasn’t a very good environment if they wanted some quality time together.