by Reed, Annie
He’d told me before that his ex couldn’t handle the stress of being a cop’s wife, and it had driven them apart. From what I’d seen so far, they seemed to have an amicable enough divorce as divorces go.
Kyle glanced at the bay, like he didn’t want to look at me. “Got a taste of my own medicine, as my dad would have said.”
He’d asked me to back off my investigation and I hadn’t. I couldn’t have backed off, not if I wanted to live with myself. I hoped now that my decision hadn’t driven a wedge between us.
This was the same kind of conversation I’d had with Jonathan’s mother. I just never expected to have it with Kyle.
He put his life on the line all the time. Maybe not as much as patrol officers who never knew what kind of trouble they were walking into whenever they got a call about a domestic disturbance or a man with a gun. But Reno had its own share of random violence these days. Cops and private investigators weren’t the only ones who risked their lives every time they stepped outside.
“You can’t keep me safe,” I said. “Nobody can. I could get hit by a drunk driver tomorrow, or go to the bank on the wrong day and get killed during a robbery. Even if all I do for the rest of my life is chase after guys who file phony insurance claims, there’s no guarantee I won’t rub a con man the wrong way someday and make him think he can take his frustrations out on me.”
He gave me a smile that was more than a little on the rueful side. “Seems I’ve heard something along those lines.”
I didn’t doubt it. I grinned back. “Oh you have, have you?”
“Yes.” He kissed me on the lips, a light, tender kiss. “So, I am endeavoring to enjoy this moment with you, and the next, and the one after that, and forget that you have a job that can be as dangerous as mine.”
So far I hadn’t found myself worrying about the dangerous aspects of his job. Was it different because we weren’t living together? Hadn’t really committed to each other as a couple? Would that change when we did?
I stopped myself. Wasn’t I just thinking not five minutes ago that I didn’t have any reason to think that our relationship would last? Now here I’d gone and thought when, not if.
I had to admit it was a pretty darn pleasant thought.
“What?” he asked.
I made an inquisitive sound.
“The look on your face,” he said. “Made me wonder what you were thinking about.”
I might have been a newbie at this dating thing, but I knew enough not to mention I was contemplating couplehood. At least, not yet.
“I was thinking about those moments,” I said. “Especially the ones we’re going to have tonight.”
It was only a small fib, and besides, I had been thinking about the moments we’d have tonight ever since we’d decided to take this trip. Tonight’s moments, and tomorrow morning’s moments when we’d be waking up together for the first time.
“Oh,” he said, his grin melting into something more intimate. “Nice way to change the subject.”
He kissed me again, a little more seriously this time. A preview of those moments to come? I sure hoped so.
When we stopped, he glanced down at the oversized lollipop I was holding. “So, I plied you with candy, I’ve promised to buy you genuine San Francisco sourdough and a shrimp cocktail, and we can even ride the cable car back to the hotel if you want.”
He had done all those things. I arched an eyebrow, wondering where this was going.
“Think you might reconsider wearing a Giants’ hat tomorrow?” he asked.
He looked so hopeful, I had to chuckle. Yes, I looked horrible in a baseball hat, but for him? Relationships were all about compromise, and as compromises went, this was a little one.
“If you take my picture,” I said, “you might have to arrest me for assaulting an officer.”
“Was that a yes?”
I held up the lollipop. “This had better be one fantastic lollipop.”
“I have it on the highest authority that it’s the best lollipop in San Francisco,” he said.
“The highest authority?”
He shrugged. “The girl behind the counter.”
“An unimpeachable source.”
“Of course.”
He was grinning down at me, and I saw it again—that open, honest expression in his eyes that made my heart do strange things.
Maybe it was the city, or the fact that we could just be two people here, not the detective and the private investigator we had to be back home, or that I’d come so close to losing my life, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so alive. Alive and happy and cared for.
When my mother’s voice tried to pop up in my head and ruin the moment, I squelched that bit of negativity and worry.
This might be only the start of a deeper, long-lasting relationship with Kyle, or it might be the best day I’d have with him. Either way, for right now, life was good.
And you know what?
I intended to enjoy the heck out of it for however long it lasted.
About the Author
Multi-genre award-winning author ANNIE REED’s first Abby Maxon novel Pretty Little Horses was a finalist in the Best First Private Eye Novel contest sponsored by the Private Eye Writers of America. Her versatility in not only the crime and mystery fields but also in science fiction and fantasy led to her short fiction appearing in five of the first seven volumes of the inaugural year of Fiction River, and her short crime fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. She has won a literary award for her speculative fiction and was recognized in the romance field as a Brava novella finalist. A Nevada native, much of her fiction is based in her home state, including her mystery novel A Death in Cumberland featuring tough rural sheriff Jill Jordan.
Annie still lives in Nevada with her husband and daughter. Visit her online at www.annie-reed.com.
Table of Contents
ABBY MAXON MYSTERIES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
About the Author
Coming Soon
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