She groaned in frustration and shifted to her back with him leaning over her. Tori wrapped her arms around Guy’s neck, inviting him to press his length against hers but he merely used one elbow to prop up his head as he rested his other hand along his thigh. Soon she wiggled one leg between his and used it to move his over hers so she was more able to arch against his groin. She grabbed his hand and held it to her breast but failed to encourage him to fondle her. Nothing she did encouraged him to participate as she craved.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, completely confused. “I thought you wanted me.”
Guy lightly traced her jaw. “I do. But the only thing I suggested was a simple goodnight kiss. As I recall, you are the one who wasn’t interested in anything other than sleeping beside me. I won’t force myself on a woman after she specifically says she doesn’t want me.”
“But couldn’t you tell I changed my mind?”
“It seemed like you might have but maybe you were teasing me to punish me for scaring you. You might have been trying to lure me into a trap so you could accuse me of taking advantage of the situation even though you already made your wishes for the evening perfectly clear.”
Tori untangled herself so they were no longer touching and frowned as she searched Guy’s expression. “You really think I’d deliberately do stuff like that?”
“Honestly, no. Not unless giving in to your need to be next to me tonight has you afraid that you might let me get close to you and your subconscious came up with a different tactic to keep the distance between us. Could I be over-thinking again and letting my own paranoia of screwing up with you blow things out of proportion? Without a doubt. But I’d rather screw up in that direction than misread your reaction and destroy what little trust you’re able to give me.”
“My, how interesting,” she commented sarcastically. “Do tell, oh, wise one, what form of trust it is that you think I’m capable of?”
“Physical. Think about it, Tor. You have to trust me with your body or you’d never have let me hold you for longer than it took you to stop crying. You certainly wouldn’t have let me pull you onto my lap. You wouldn’t have demanded I touch you intimately. You wouldn’t let me peel off your shirt and comfort you with the feel of our bare skin pressed together. You wouldn’t have considered sharing a bed without being in a blind panic first and there is no way in hell you wouldn’t have my ass hauled out of here after I held a cocked gun to your head if you didn’t trust me fully with your physical safety.”
“Yeah. Probably. But I think you were more shaken up than I was that you were about to kill me.”
“Scared the hell out of me,” he admitted.
“Me too. Remind me to tell Lita that you ask first before you shoot. She thought you might do it the other way around when I said I was ready to scream in the locker room,” Tori paused. “Oh, wait. She was just saying that to keep me from losing it when I figured out who she was. Duh!”
“Overall, I’d say you’re right but it wasn’t entirely for your benefit. We’ve met briefly but most of what she knows of me is hearsay. Until you actually work with someone, it’s only natural to speculate how they’ll react in a given situation. When you’re in a line of work where you sometimes have to trust an unknown with your life you do need a certain amount of blind faith. You have to believe they have the ability and desire to do their job to the greatest extent possible as they, in return, expect from you.”
“Isn’t that hard?”
“Sometimes. I’ve been very lucky. Barry’s been my partner since the beginning. We were friends long before we bumped into each other at the academy. It surprised both of us since we hadn’t been in touch for almost a year but we still knew we’d watch each other’s back.”
“I thought they discouraged friends from working together.”
“At times if their friendship could interfere with their purpose. Barry and I work well together. We have a lot of the same instincts and can often sense what the other will do without discussing it.”
“I’m sorry, Guy, but can we talk about something else? It’s selfish but I really don’t want to think about what you’d be doing if you weren’t stuck baby-sitting me. It’s good to know that you and Barry watch out for each other but I can’t handle the way you accept the need for it because the next person you run into might want to kill you.”
“Aw, damn, tiger. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t.” Tori pressed her fingers to his lips. “I started it. You were just explaining things to me. You shouldn’t have to think that continuing a conversation that’s already in progress might make me freak on you. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Sure you should. I want to know what you’re thinking, no matter what it may be. It’s called getting to know you and that’s one of my top priorities.”
“For now, but I don’t want to argue about it. We already know what we’d say so let’s skip it this time. You were sleeping and I came to snuggle so I could too, not to wake you up for a repeat of the same thing again.”
“I certainly don’t mind talking to you anytime you want to talk about whatever the topic happens to be.”
“I knew you were going to say that,” she sighed. “Turn off the light please.”
Guy did and settled on his back next to her. “You staying over there or do I get to hold you?”
“I don’t think it counts as snuggling if we’re not touching somehow.” Tori slid into his arms. She didn’t feel comfortable and finally figured out what the problem was. “Let go a sec,” she said, pushing slightly away from him. She felt Guy tense momentarily until she slipped her tank top over her head.
As Tori returned to his embrace, he chuckled. “Amazing how quickly you get used to something, isn’t it?”
“Shut up before you start sounding like a jerk,” she teased, relaxing into his warmth.
“Just making sure you noticed what you just did.” He ran his hand over her back. “I love the way your skin feels. You’re so soft and silky. Bet we’d both sleep even better if we were completely naked.”
“Then we should get that way,” Tori giggled and squirmed out of her shorts. “Who knows how many nights we’ll get without me screaming and keeping us awake. We need as much rest as we can get.”
Guy arranged Tori so she was draped halfway on top of him. His arms were wrapped around her. One leg held hers in place and he had her head on his shoulder. He waited for her body to relax before he spoke. “Feel how right this is, our bodies perfectly meshed together. We fit, Tori. This is where we belong. Now that we found this, neither one of us will ever sleep as peacefully alone as we will together. You might manage to convince your mind that you’re fine without me wrapped around you but your body will miss mine. After you fall asleep, you’ll spend the whole night, reaching for me. In the morning, you’ll wake up, restless. You’ll feel cold when you realize you spent the night alone.”
“Hmm, maybe I should go back to my room now, before we expose ourselves to something so dangerous.” She wasn’t really joking.
“Too late,” Guy whispered, not letting her escape. “We’re in the same bed for no reason other than this is where we both choose to be. I didn’t join you to comfort you and we didn’t exhaust ourselves with hot sex. It only takes an instant in the right person’s arms to be hooked for life. Running away now won’t make one bit of difference so you may as well stay put.”
“You are so full of bullshit, Detective,” Tori declared. “But I’m warm and cozy so I’ll let it slide this time.”
“I love you, tiger.” He kissed her hair. “Go to sleep.”
“You don’t but goodnight anyway,” she protested but kissed his chest lightly.
* * * * *
Diana smiled behind Tori’s back when the younger woman failed to respond to her question. She left the table, hoping to catch Tori’s expression before she retreated behind her polite mask. Diana was startled by the level of emotion displayed on Tori’s face as she claimed the
rare and unguarded moment to study her.
As soon as Tori sensed Diana’s scrutiny, she lowered her chin, effectively hiding her features. When she raised her gaze to meet Diana’s, Tori’s expression was carefully blank. “I’m sorry, Diana. I didn’t hear what you just said.”
“Guess you were distracted by the view,” Diana teased, slipping an arm around Tori’s shoulders. “Can’t say as I blame you. That’s one fine bit of eye candy.”
“Diana!”
“What? No harm in looking. A woman would have to be dead not to notice a bod like that. Or are you shocked because you consider me too old to still be interested?”
“You’re not old.” Tori blushed. “It’s just that I never heard you say something like that before.”
“That’s because I never had an opportunity to tease you before. Not even when you were dating someone.”
“Huh? I don’t mean to be rude but I’m not really up to solving your riddles today.”
Diana considered her thoughtfully. “Yes, I can see that it is still a mystery to you. Tori girl, you can deny it all you want and I fully expect you to but you can’t hide the fact that you have feelings for Guy from me.”
“Well, sure I do.” Tori scowled. “He’s been with me continually for over a week now. He promised to protect me and keep me safe and he’s very patient and kind when my screams wake him up in the middle of the night. He even took me to the gym Wednesday to stop me from climbing the walls like I was about to do.”
“Guy took you to the gym?” Diana was amazed. “To work out or just to show off and flex all those nice muscles for you?”
“Aw, jeez. Neither, if you must know. He’s teaching me kickboxing.”
Diana laughed. “Now that’s something I wish I’d gotten to see.”
“Hey! I’m not a total slug.”
“I know. You must admit, however, that the image of you doing something athletic is not the first thing that comes to mind when I picture you away from here.”
“Right. It was kind of fun for a little while.”
Something in Tori’s voice prevented Diana from teasing her. “Only a little while? Did something happen in the gym?”
“Not really. I don’t know. Maybe. When we got there, I went to change and there was this FBI woman in the locker room. It was so strange. I confronted her and made some pretty rude comments but instead of being offended, she smiled and told Guy she liked me. It was okay while Guy was showing me how to do stuff and even when he let me try what I’d learned. It made me feel good when he told me I did something right but then I snapped and lost control and wound up on the floor with Guy, crying all over him. I was so embarrassed but he wasn’t at all fazed. He carried me into the locker room, gave me a shower and got me dressed and then did the same, all with the FBI woman watching. He acted like it didn’t bother him, like it was something he did all the time.”
Diana wondered why Tori selected this particular example and realized it was because it took place in a neutral setting. She also realized there were things going on that Tori had no intention of telling her just yet. How could Tori discuss things when she was fighting so hard against what was happening to understand it herself?
“Do you remember when I told you Barry said that you could explain things to Guy just as you would with him? The man with you at the gym was the man he expected you to meet that night. He truly is that man, Tori. Why are you shaking your head like that?”
“Because you’re wrong. Yes, Guy is really great but no one could ever be that good all the time.”
“Some are. My Bill was. Carla would tell you Barry is. Old Mr. Fisher from the hardware is, just ask his wife. I bet you’d be surprised how many of them there are if you went looking for them.”
Tori turned back to looking out at the main library so Diana couldn’t see her face. “Okay, if you say so. I guess I’ll have to take your word on that since I don’t have a clue where I would even begin to search for them.”
“You’re deliberately avoiding the obvious. I suppose I’m to pretend not to notice so you can think you’re fooling me again?”
“Um.” Tori squirmed uncomfortably. “Could you?”
Diana nodded slowly. “For now. After all, you were sweet enough to bring my favorite lunch so I don’t want to seem ungrateful.”
Tori smiled warmly and gave Diana an extended hug. “You’re entirely too good to me. Want to hear about my kitten?”
Barry watched Guy pretend he wasn’t watching Tori. He was so pleased with the table he’d selected before Guy and Tori had arrived. From his vantage point, he could see both of them without turning his head. While Tori and Diana shared their lunch, he’d observed more animation on Tori’s face than he’d seen in all the years she’d been there. He was positive that Diana saw it too and looked forward to comparing notes.
When Tori moved to embrace Diana, Barry’s jaw dropped. “Well, I’ll be.”
Guy understood. “It’s as I thought then?”
“Oh yeah. I wasn’t sure she had it in her. Even Diana’s had doubts from time to time.”
“You’re both in for a big surprise. One of these days, Tori is going to quit hiding and let everyone see her big heart and saucy personality.”
“Due to your influence, I suppose.”
“Of course. Holy Christ, Bar, you can’t begin to imagine the woman she is.”
“Aw, fuck,” Barry said, leaning forward and clenching his fists on the table. “You seduced her. Damn it, Guy! What the hell did you do that for? Why didn’t you keep it zipped at least until this was over? It really wouldn’t have killed you to go without sex for a month or two.”
“I know but—”
“But nothing. Tori’s not the kind of woman you fuck a few times and kiss off when it gets inconvenient. She’s one who is worth waiting for.”
“Shut up, Barry,” Guy growled. “Just shut the fuck up before I forget that you’re my closest friend and that I respect you more than just about everyone else I know.” Guy’s tone was deadly as he fought to control his fury. “If you ever refer to Tori as a quick fuck again I swear I won’t be responsible for what I do to you.”
Barry stared mutely as Guy reined in his temper. He waited until his eyes lost some of the intensity they held when Guy had issued the threat before letting out the smile he’d been hiding. A minute later he was laughing heartily in spite of Guy’s scowl.
“You do know why I had to say that, don’t you, Guy? Personally, I have all the confidence in the world that you have only the best intentions in regards to Tori. You’d chop off your right nut before you’d intentionally harm even one hair on her head. I know you’ve been trying to figure out how get her to believe that you would give your life to love her.”
“Sure have a twisted way of showing that.”
“Stop being so pissed off over nothing and think for a minute, would you? I said I trust that you know what you’re doing. Diana, on the other hand, doesn’t know you as well as I do.”
“Christ.” Guy’s tension vanished.
“Hold on before you get all worked up again. She may not know you like I do but she’s willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Even more so now that she’s seen firsthand how good you are for Tori. I haven’t told you this but Diana came to the station the day Tori asked to take this time off. She was loaded for bear, to put it mildly.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t break down Tori’s door and toss me out on my ear if she felt that strongly about it.”
“Yeah, that’s another one you owe me for. I defended you until I was blue in the face. Even had Todd stop by and vouch for you later on. Diana was a little more comfortable after she saw you with Tori at dinner. She wants to believe that you’re good for Tori. She’s trying to accept you.”
“But Tori is the daughter she never had and I’m the man who is trying to capture her heart so she can’t squash the urge to protect her little gir
l from the possibility that I might break it instead.”
“Give the man a prize. You can’t let it get to you because she will come around. Once you can put this mess behind you, you can focus exclusively on Tori. When Diana sees that you make her genuinely happy and that you intend to do whatever it takes to keep her that way, she’ll lighten up some.”
“But not entirely.”
“Hell no. No matter how much your mother-in-law adores you, nothing could stop her from turning on you the instant you screw up with her baby. It’s one of the laws of nature. I’m surprised your family hasn’t already taught you that. Hell, even mothers and daughters who usually despise each other close ranks when the husband becomes the enemy.”
“How did I miss this so completely?”
“Simple. You never considered having a mother-in-law before. When you don’t plan on keeping the daughter, there’s no reason to concern yourself with the mother’s opinion of you. Look, I know I’m stretching it because Diana’s not really Tori’s mother but—”
“She’s the closest thing she’s got. Tori values Diana’s opinion. She trusts her judgment as much as she can let herself. Diana’s important to Tori. She might also be the only other person who recognizes some of what Tori holds inside so that qualifies her as Tori’s mother much more than her real one does.”
“Not the ideal?”
“Not even close. I can’t give you specifics but I will say that getting away from those people was the second-best decision of Tori’s life.”
“And the first would be?”
“Admitting she loves me and doesn’t want to spend another minute not being the center of my life.”
“Damn, I hope she doesn’t take too long to figure that out. You’re going to be impossible if she keeps you hanging.”
“I won’t even bother denying that. But I swear I’ll be patient and wait as long as it takes even though it might kill me.”
Barry chuckled. “At least you already figured out that you have to hang in there. Think of how thrown you’d be when you hit some resistance if you hadn’t.”
Linked Page 24