Neither, it appeared, did Seth, because as the sounds of banging and shouts from outside the sealed door indicated that the Bear Claw cops had found them and were just about through the rubble and the door, Seth leaned down and kissed her again, and then said, “I’ve been thinking.”
She savored the taste of him and the rush of good, solid warmth that battled the rising pain in her arm. “Yeah? Me, too.” She slanted a sidelong glance at him. “I’m bad-tempered. Moody. You won’t always like me.”
He shrugged. “True. But even when I’m ticked off, I’ll still love you.”
And just like that, he cut the legs right out from underneath her little speech. She stared at him. “Oh.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Is that a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’?”
“A good one.” She closed the distance between them and touched her lips to his. “I love you, too. I’m not quite sure what to do with the feeling yet, but I know it’s there. Will you stick with me while I figure it out?”
“We’ll stick with each other,” he said gruffly, and gathered her close for a longer, wetter, hotter kiss.
They were wrapped together like that when the others broke through. There was an immediate cheer, laced with a good dose of catcalls, but for a change the hoots didn’t bother Cassie, because they weren’t aimed at her. Not really. Or if they were, they were meant in a good way.
A part-of-the-team way.
As she and Seth were hustled out of the kiva and down to the ambulance, she couldn’t help glancing back at the dead woman and the trussed-up figure of the man she’d known simply as Nevada.
Seth met her eyes when she turned back to pick her way through the rubble leading out to the street.
“He’s still out there,” Seth said, voice sober. “There’s still one more. The planner, he called him. The mastermind of this whole twisted plan.”
“Yeah.” Cassie suppressed a shiver, knowing the city wouldn’t be safe until they’d identified and captured the third man. He could be anyone. Anywhere. She had nothing more to go on than a distorted voice and a feeling of malevolence.
But they had the evidence from the vent shaft, she thought, feeling a hint of optimism. She glanced back again and saw Nevada being hustled out in handcuffs.
And they had the second man. Maybe they’d learn something from questioning him, maybe from backtracking his movements over the past months.
Maybe.
“We’ll manage it,” Seth said quietly. He took her hand. “How do you feel about commuting a bit to get to Bear Claw?”
She slanted him a look. “You mean from Denver?”
“Maybe halfway between. A compromise of sorts. I’ll sell my place, you give up yours. It could work.” He looked unsettled, a little uncertain, two emotions she never would have expected to associate with Seth Varitek.
And because he looked like she felt, excited and confused at the same time, she grinned. “A compromise. That sounds good.”
And it did.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
At Close Range Page 19