by Carsen Taite
“Do you need to get that?” Ellery asked.
Sarah looked at Danny’s name on the display. By now she’d probably heard what happened and was worried, but Sarah didn’t want anything to interrupt whatever was about to happen between her and Ellery. When the message icon appeared on her screen, she typed a quick text to let Danny know she was okay, switched off the ringer, and stowed the phone in the console. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I understand you have a job to do.”
Sarah started to say she wasn’t here because of the job, but Ellery spoke first. “Walk me in?”
“Absolutely.”
They were halfway up the walk when she heard Leo’s gruff voice call out. “You found her.”
Sarah raised a hand to wave at him and he leaned over the railing of his front porch as they approached. “I said I would.”
“You look like you got a little beat up in the process,” he said.
“You should see the other guy.”
Leo grunted his approval and gave her a quick salute before returning to his chair.
As Ellery pushed open the front door, she said, “Something going on between you two I should know about?”
“We seem to have formed a bond.” Sarah followed her into the kitchen. “Actually, there’s probably a lot of detail we’re both missing about what went down today. Are you up for talking about it?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“There are a bunch of things I’d like to talk about. If you want to start with what happened today, we can do that.”
Sarah glanced down the hallway. The door to Ellery’s bedroom was shut, but every inch of the interior was emblazoned on her mind and she sensed it always would be, no matter what happened next. She’d brought Ellery home because it had seemed like the right thing to do, but now that they were here, every detail about the night before came rushing back, and she wasn’t sure if her motives were fueled by arousal or something more permanent. Back in the tunnel, she’d been ready to call what she felt for Ellery love, but was that a by-product of danger or a real feeling?
Ellery’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Kayla and Jasmine showed up here around noon. They said they were looking for Naveed. Apparently, he missed his court appearance this morning. Meg was already here when they arrived. She’d called earlier to ask about Naveed and I asked her to come by to talk about something that was on my mind.”
Sarah looked into Ellery’s eyes as she relayed the simple facts. She saw pain and something else. Longing? Whatever it was, Ellery had apparently decided not to push for some big discussion about feelings, instead choosing to sort through the events that had brought them to this point. It couldn’t hurt to meet her halfway.
“HSI took Naveed into custody this morning,” she said. “When we took a break, he made a phone call to Jasmine. It sounded innocuous at the time, but we think he must have given her some kind of code to signal her to initiate this plan.”
“Is Meg okay?”
“For now. After you and Kayla left the van, Jasmine became a big soppy mess. I don’t think she was ever really committed to any of this. She just wanted to be close to Naveed. As for Meg, she has a lot of questions to answer. You should know HSI has connected her to Jafari and they’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the evidence they gathered from her office.”
Ellery sighed. “Whatever she’s done, she didn’t deserve what could have happened today. I’m fairly certain those girls intended to take us out with them.”
Sarah shook her head to clear a mental image of the downtown building exploding with Ellery underneath it. “Thank God for Leo. After he saw Kayla and Jasmine drive off with you and Meg, he showed up at headquarters demanding to see me. Clever trick with the card in your wallet.”
“I figured it was a long shot, but I’m glad it worked. I think we’ll let Leo stay on as head of the neighborhood watch,” Ellery said as she reached into the fridge, pulled out a beer, and tilted it in her direction. Sarah started to shake her head no. Any minute now, she could get called back in to deal with the aftermath of the scene she’d just left. HSI had both of the Barstow brothers in custody now and they’d want to try to question them. Aadila’s crew would be spread thin, and she imagined she and Trip would be asked to help out. The process would be long and tiring, and it would consume her while it lasted.
She stared at the beer in Ellery’s hand and closed her mind against all the distractions. She reached for the bottle and, as she grasped it, her fingers closed around Ellery’s, and she braced against the onslaught of opposite sensations. The heat of Ellery’s touch and the chill of the bottle—the contrast pretty much summed up everything about their relationship. Relationship. Outside of the bonds she’d formed on the job, the entire concept of a relationship was foreign. Was she ready to accept this most personal challenge and have a life defined by more than her work?
She looked into Ellery’s eyes and she knew. She didn’t want the push and pull of working this investigation. She’d come to Dallas to find something new and exciting, someone she could love who would love her back. Standing here in front of Ellery, she was absolutely certain she’d found exactly what she was looking for, and she wasn’t going to let anything get in the way.
She set the bottle on the table and pulled Ellery into her arms. “I want to talk about something else.”
Ellery pulled back and met her eyes, her expression hopeful. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“I’m falling in love with you.”
Ellery grinned. “You really know how to change the subject.”
Sarah play shoved her. “Is that all you have to say?”
Ellery caught her hands and pulled them to her lips. She kissed the tips of her fingers one by one, as she withheld her answer with delicious delay. Sarah groaned in response to her soft, teasing touch. “You have incredible skills, but are you going to answer my question?”
“I’m saying plenty here.” Ellery kissed another fingertip. “I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you when you showed up at the design show in that blazing hot red dress. Or maybe it was when you met me for coffee and then dashed off in your shiny blue Corvette. You’re bold and smart and full of life.” She leaned in for a kiss and murmured against her lips. “How could I not fall in love with you? All this time, I guess I’ve been waiting for you to catch up.”
Sarah melted into the kiss, into the heat of Ellery’s embrace, and let her uncertainty about her job and her role in the investigation recede. Her body hummed with anticipation and, for once, the suspense wasn’t about a mystery she was trying to solve, but about the path her life was about to take. She was in love, and all that mattered was she was here with Ellery, and Ellery loved her back. She had no doubt everything else would fall into place.
align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:0in'>THE END
About the Author
Carsen Taite’s goal as an author is to spin tales with plot lines as interesting as the cases she encountered in her career as a criminal defense lawyer. She is the author of a dozen previously released novels, truelesbianlove.com, It Should be a Crime (a Lambda Literary Award finalist), Do Not Disturb, Nothing But the Truth, The Best Defense, Slingshot, Beyond Innocence, Battle Axe, Rush, Switchblade, Courtship, and Lay Down the Law. She is currently working on her fourteenth novel, Above the Law, the second book in the Lone Star Law series. Learn more at www.carsentaite.com.
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
Deadly Medicine by Jaime Maddox. Dr. Ward Thrasher’s life is in turmoil. Her partner Jess has left her, and her job puts her in the path of a murderous physician who has Jess in his sights. (978-1-62639-4-247)
New Beginnings by KC Richardson. Can the connection and attraction between Jordan Roberts and Kirsten Murphy be enough for Jordan to trust Kirsten with her heart? (978-1-62639-4-506)
Officer Down by Erin Dutton. Can two women who’ve made careers out of being there for oth
ers in crisis find the strength to need each other? (978-1-62639-4-230)
Reasonable Doubt by Carsen Taite. Just when Sarah and Ellery think they’ve left dangerous careers behind, a new case sets them—and their hearts—on a collision course. (978-1-62639-4-421)
Tarnished Gold by Ann Aptaker. Cantor Gold must outsmart the Law, outrun New York’s dockside gangsters, outplay a shady art dealer, his lover, and a beautiful curator, and stay out of a killer’s gun sights. (978-1-62639-4-261)
The Renegade by Amy Dunne. Post-apocalyptic survivors Alex and Evelyn secretly find love while held captive by a deranged cult, but when their relationship is discovered, they must fight for their freedom—or die trying. (978-1-62639-4-278)
Thrall by Barbara Ann Wright. Four women in a warrior society must work together to lift an insidious curse while caught between their own desires, the will of their peoples, and an ancient evil. (978-1-62639-4-377)
White Horse in Winter by Franci McMahon. Love between two women collides with the inner poison of a closeted horse trainer in the green hills of Vermont. (978-1-62639-4-292)
The Chameleon by Andrea Bramhall. Two old friends must work through a web of lies and deceit to find themselves again, but in the search they discover far more than they ever went looking for. (978-1-62639-363-9)
Side Effects by VK Powell. Detective Jordan Bishop and Dr. Neela Sahjani must decide if it’s easier to trust someone with your heart or your life as they face threatening protestors, corrupt politicians, and their increasing attraction. (978-1-62639-364-6)
Autumn Spring by Shelley Thrasher. Can Bree and Linda, two women in the autumn of their lives, put their hearts first and find the love they’ve never dared seize? (978-1-62639-365-3)
Warm November by Kathleen Knowles. What do you do if the one woman you want is the only one you can’t have? (978-1-62639-366-0)
In Every Cloud by Tina Michele. When she finally leaves her shattered life behind, is Bree strong enough to salvage the remaining pieces of her heart and find the place where it truly fits? (978-1-62639-413-1)
Rise of the Gorgon by Tanai Walker. When independent Internet journalist Elle Pharell goes to Kuwait to investigate a veteran’s mysterious suicide, she hires Cassandra Hunt, an interpreter with a covert agenda. (978-1-62639-367-7)
Crossed by Meredith Doench. Agent Luce Hansen returns home to catch a killer and risks everything to revisit the unsolved murder of her first girlfriend and confront the demons of her youth. (978-1-62639-361-5)
Making a Comeback by Julie Blair. Music and love take center stage when jazz pianist Liz Randall tries to make a comeback with the help of her reclusive, blind neighbor, Jac Winters. (978-1-62639-357-8)
Soul Unique by Gun Brooke. Self-proclaimed cynic Greer Landon falls for Hayden Rowe’s paintings and the young woman shortly after, but will Hayden, who lives with Asperger syndrome, trust her and reciprocate her feelings? (978-1-62639-358-5)
The Price of Honor by Radclyffe. Honor and duty are not always black and white—and when self-styled patriots take up arms against the government, the price of honor may be a life. (978-1-62639-359-2)
Mounting Evidence by Karis Walsh. Lieutenant Abigail Hargrove and her mounted police unit need to solve a murder and protect wetland biologist Kira Lovell during the Washington State Fair. (978-1-62639-343-1)
Threads of the Heart by Jeannie Levig. Maggie and Addison Rae-McInnis share a love and a life, but are the threads that bind them together strong enough to withstand Addison’s restlessness and the seductive Victoria Fontaine? (978-1-62639-410-0)
Sheltered Love by MJ Williamz. Boone Fairway and Grey Dawson—two women touched by abuse—overcome their pasts to find happiness in each other. (978-1-62639-362-2)
Asher’s Out by Elizabeth Wheeler. Asher Price’s candid photographs capture the truth, but when his success requires exposing an enemy, Asher discovers his only shot at happiness involves revealing secrets of his own. (978-1-62639-411-7)
The Ground Beneath by Missouri Vaun. An improbable barter deal involving a hope chest and dinners for a month places lovely Jessica Walker distractingly in the way of Sam Casey’s bachelor lifestyle. (978-1-62639-606-7)
Hardwired by C.P. Rowlands. Award-winning teacher Clary Stone, and Leefe Ellis, manager of the homeless shelter for small children, stand together in a part of Clary’s hometown that she never knew existed. (978-1-62639-351-6)
No Good Reason by Cari Hunter. A violent kidnapping in a Peak District village pushes Detective Sanne Jensen and lifelong friend Dr. Meg Fielding closer, just as it threatens to tear everything apart. (978-1-62639-352-3)
Romance by the Book by Jo Victor. If Cam didn’t keep disrupting her life, maybe Alex could uncover the secret of a century-old love story, and solve the greatest mystery of all—her own heart. (978-1-62639-353-0)
Death’s Doorway by Crin Claxton. Helping the dead can be deadly: Tony may be listening to the dead, but she needs to learn to listen to the living. (978-1-62639-354-7)
Searching for Celia by Elizabeth Ridley. As American spy novelist Dayle Salvesen investigates the mysterious disappearance of her ex-lover, Celia, in London, she begins questioning how well she knew Celia—and how well she knows herself. (978-1-62639-356-1)
The 45th Parallel by Lisa Girolami. Burying her mother isn’t the worst thing that can happen to Val Montague when she returns to the woodsy but peculiar town of Hemlock, Oregon. (978-1-62639-342-4)
A Royal Romance by Jenny Frame. In a country where class still divides, can love topple the last social taboo and allow Queen Georgina and Beatrice Elliot, a working class girl, their happy ever after? (978-1-62639-360-8)
Bouncing by Jaime Maddox. Basketball Coach Alex Dalton has been bouncing from woman to woman, because no one ever held her interest, until she meets her new assistant, Britain Dodge. (978-1-62639-344-8)
Same Time Next Week by Emily Smith. A chance encounter between Alex Harris and the beautiful Michelle Masters leads to a whirlwind friendship, and causes Alex to question everything she’s ever known—including her own marriage. (978-1-62639-345-5)
All Things Rise by Missouri Vaun. Cole rescues a striking pilot who crash-lands near her family’s farm, setting in motion a chain of events that will forever alter the course of her life. (978-1-62639-346-2)
Riding Passion by D. Jackson Leigh. Mount up for the ride through a sizzling anthology of chance encounters, buried desires, romantic surprises, and blazing passion. (978-1-62639-349-3)
Love’s Bounty by Yolanda Wallace. Lobster boat captain Jake Myers stopped living the day she cheated death, but meeting greenhorn Shy Silva stirs her back to life. (978-1-62639-334-9)
Just Three Words by Melissa Brayden. Sometimes the one you want is the one you least suspect. Accountant Samantha Ennis has her ordered life disrupted when heartbreaker Hunter Blair moves into her trendy Soho loft. (978-1-62639-335-6)
Lay Down the Law by Carsen Taite. Attorney Peyton Davis returns to her Texas roots to take on big oil and the Mexican Mafia, but will her investigation thwart her chance at true love? (978-1-62639-336-3)
Playing in Shadow by Lesley Davis. Survivor’s guilt threatens to keep Bryce trapped in her nightmare world unless Scarlet’s love can pull her out of the darkness back into the light. (978-1-62639-337-0)
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The Revelation of Beatrice Darby by Jean Copeland. Adolescence is complicated, but Beatrice Darby is about to discover how impossible it can seem to a lesbian coming of age in conservative 1950s New England. (978-1-62639-339-4)
Twice Lucky by Mardi Alexander. For firefighter Mackenzie James and Dr. Sarah Macarthur, there’s suddenly a whole lot more in life to understand, to consider, to risk…someone will need to fight for her life. (978-1-62639-325-7)
Shadow Hunt by L.L. Raand. With young to raise and her Pack under attack, Sylvan, Alpha of the wolf Weres, takes on her greatest challenge when she determines to uncover the faceless enemies known as the Shadow Lo
rds. A Midnight Hunters novel. (978-1-62639-326-4)
Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler. A baseball writer falls for a single mom, but can she ever love anything as much as she loves the game? (978-1-62639-327-1)
Getting Lost by Michelle Grubb. Twenty-eight days, thirteen European countries, a tour manager fighting attraction, and an accused murderer: Stella and Phoebe’s journey of a lifetime begins here. (978-1-62639-328-8)
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The Witch of Stalingrad by Justine Saracen. A Soviet “night witch” pilot and American journalist meet on the Eastern Front in WW II and struggle through carnage, conflicting politics, and the deadly Russian winter. (978-1-62639-330-1)
Pedal to the Metal by Jesse J. Thoma. When unreformed thief Dubs Williams is released from prison to help Max Winters bust a car theft ring, Max learns that to catch a thief, get in bed with one. (978-1-62639-239-7)