“Jeez, strong stuff.” She opened one, shook out a pill, and extended it to Mitchell. “Here, take this.”

“Tea? How ’bout a beer?”

Sandy shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Not with this stuff—it’ll knock you on your ass.” She pursed her lips. “Although maybe that’s not so bad.”

Mitchell laughed and reached for the tea. “I’ll take it tonight, just for you. But that’s it. I can’t think when I’m on this.”

“Aw, you’re so good.” Sandy leaned down and kissed her. “Maybe you’ll get a reward later.”

“Going somewhere?” Mitchell demanded. She caught Sandy’s hand and prevented her from moving away. “It’s late, San. Come back to bed.”

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“I told you I wasn’t going to be hanging around here all the time,”

Sandy replied, extracting her Þ ngers from Mitchell’s grip. “I have a life, y’know. I have things to do.”

Mitchell pushed herself up in the bed and shoved the tea and the pill onto the bedside table. “What things? What can’t wait until tomorrow morning?”

“I need clothes.” Sandy indicated the borrowed jeans and T-shirt she still wore.

“So you can get them in the morning. You’re not gonna wear anything to bed, are you?” Mitchell grinned.

“Jeez, what is it with you? Didn’t we just take care of things for you?” Despite her words, Sandy’s tone had softened. She brushed her Þ ngers through Mitchell’s hair. “No more for you tonight. You need to get some rest.”

“Okay. So come to bed, and I will.”

Sandy backed up a step. “I’ll be back later, Dell.”

“What are you doing, Sandy?” Mitchell’s eyes were dark, her voice urgent. “Are you working? Is that it? Because if you need money—”

“If I do, I’m not taking it from you,” Sandy snapped. “Not now, not ever. So just forget it.”

“Wait!” Mitchell called as Sandy spun around and started from the room. She ß ung the covers off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The pain hit instantly. “Fuck. ”

Inside a heartbeat, Sandy was back at her side. “Idiot. You’re such a fucking idiot.” Gently, she helped Mitchell lift her legs back to the bed and lie down. “What are you trying to do? Break something open?”

“You’re making me crazy,” Mitchell groaned. A wave of nausea followed the pain, and she closed her eyes, Þ ghting the urge to vomit.

You’re making me crazy.

Sandy stared, Frye’s words echoing in her mind. If you want her to be safe, then don’t make her crazy. She has to go out the door every day knowing that you’ll be there when she comes back. If you can’t give her that, then let her go now.

“Here,” Sandy said softly, offering the tea and the pain medication again. “You need this. Take it, Dell.”

Weakly, Mitchell complied, then closed her eyes again. When she felt the gentle weight of Sandy’s body settle on the mattress next to

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her, she lifted her arm and made room for Sandy against her side. She leaned her cheek against her lover’s. “You mad?”

“No. Just…” Sandy feathered a kiss over the edge of Mitchell’s jaw. “You gotta give me a little space, Dell. I’m not used to answering to anyone.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Fuck,” Sandy muttered, inching closer. With a sigh, she nuzzled her face against Mitchell’s neck. “It’s okay. It’s even…sorta nice, when I think about it.”

Mitchell stroked Sandy’s bare arm, then kissed her. “I’m not used to being with anyone either. I just love you so much…”

“Don’t start with that now,” Sandy warned, her voice husky. “I gotta go. I’m not fooling.”

“Okay.”

“I’m coming back, Dell. I promise. I’ll be right here when you wake up.” Sandy smoothed her hand down the center of Mitchell’s chest and rose up enough to kiss her Þ rmly on the mouth.

Mitchell closed her Þ ngers around the back of Sandy’s neck, holding her into the kiss long enough to taste her, deep inside. Then she let her go. “See you soon.”

v

Catherine awakened to the sound of quiet movement in the dark.

Far from being frightening, the experience was becoming not only welcome, but soothing. It meant that Rebecca was home, safe. The clock by the bedside read 3:38. Not many months ago, Rebecca would have patrolled the streets until the sun came up.

“You’re early,” Catherine murmured as she lifted the sheets and slid over to make room.

Sighing, Rebecca settled next to her and drew her close. “Sorry. I tried to be quiet.”

“You were, but you don’t need to be. I like to wake up when you come home.” Catherine curved her leg over Rebecca’s thighs, and the touch of her lover’s skin stirred her as always. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah.” Rebecca slid her hand under Catherine’s hair and alternated between stroking the back of her neck and weaving the

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thick, soft strands through her Þ ngers. “I spent most of the last six hours watching George Beecher hit on women in fern bars.”

Catherine laughed. “I don’t think they call them that anymore, darling.”

“Well, whatever they call the places where swinging singles go to hook up, that’s where I was. Jesus, what a life.”

“He’s still one of your two prime candidates as the Mob’s inside man in the department?” Even as she asked, Catherine shook her head.

“I can’t believe I’m even saying this. It seems impossible.” Then she remembered the night that she’d raced from Sloan’s building to Þ nd Michael lying in the street unconscious and knew that it was all far too real. “God, an assistant district attorney.”

“Better than a cop,” Rebecca pronounced.

“Yes.”

“I trust Sloan’s information. We have to run with the names she’s given us until we come up with something more solid.”

“So you’re going to…what? Follow him around every night?”

Rebecca shrugged. “Once we get the Þ rst bit of hard evidence, I can justify twenty-four-hour surveillance to Henry. Until then, yeah, it’ll be just me. Watts is taking the woman.”

Catherine was silent, struggling to assimilate the reality of her lover’s work. That it was a valuable service, she did not doubt. That it was essential to the structure of the society in which she lived, she did not doubt. She respected Rebecca’s skill and was proud of her dedication. And she hated every minute, day or night, that Rebecca squared off, face-to-face, with evil.

“I see,” Catherine Þ nally said, because regardless of how she felt, Rebecca would do what needed to be done.

“It’s not dangerous,” Rebecca said as if reading Catherine’s thoughts. “Only deadly boring.”

“I don’t mind you being bored now and then,” Catherine murmured, smoothing her palm over the center of Rebecca’s chest. The tips of her Þ ngers brushed the ridge of scar tissue at the upper border of her lover’s left breast, and she faltered, the tactile sensation triggering the memory of the bullet impacting Rebecca’s chest.

“It won’t happen again,” Rebecca murmured, gathering Catherine’s Þ ngers and lifting them to her lips. She kissed each Þ ngertip, then the palm. When Catherine moaned softly in appreciation, the sound struck

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home hard. Suddenly, every cell vibrated, and the need to join exploded in the very heart of her. “Catherine.”

The word was a benediction in the darkness.

“Yes,” Catherine answered the unspoken.

Rebecca arched her back and angled her hips until Catherine was beneath her and her hands framed Catherine’s face. “Don’t worry.”

“I don’t.” Catherine kissed her, a gentle brush of lips, then a deeper caress of tongue against tongue. “Not much.”

“You lie very badly, Dr. Rawlings.” Rebecca drew Catherine’s lower lip between her teeth and nibbled gently before easing her mouth over the crest of her lover’s chin and down her throat. As she worked her lips along the smooth skin, Catherine tilted her head back, exposing the fragile structures to Rebecca’s teeth. The trust in that simple gesture drove the breath from Rebecca’s chest, and as need ripped through her, she skimmed a hand between Catherine’s thighs. Finding her lover wet, she teased a Þ nger between her lips and over her Þ rm clitoris, sliding through Catherine’s desire with tantalizing slowness.

Gasping, Catherine dug her Þ ngers into Rebecca’s back and lifted her hips, seeking more of the enticing touch. “You’re so good at that.”

“What?” Rebecca rubbed her cheek over Catherine’s breast and captured a nipple with her lips. She toyed with the hard nub, ß icking it with her tongue as she echoed the rhythm with her Þ ngers. “Oh.” Flick.

“You mean…” Tug. “This?”

“Yes. Oh God.” Catherine nearly screamed as her body stiffened.

She drove her face into Rebecca’s neck and, in a voice almost too strangled to be heard, pleaded, “Inside. Make me come…deep.”

Rebecca pushed herself up on one arm as she buried herself in Catherine’s yielding depths. She pushed steadily, gasping as tissue slick with passion enveloped her, claiming her even as she laid claim.

“Oh Christ,” Rebecca whispered. “I love you.” She leaned back to bring Catherine up to face her, her arm thrusting steadily between Catherine’s thighs.

“I can’t…” Catherine gasped for air. “Can’t wait much longer.”

Rebecca’s thumb found Catherine’s rigid clitoris, and she stroked Þ rmly. “I don’t want you to wait. I want you to come all over me, right now.”

“Oh, I am. I am.” Catherine shivered, then froze as a cry tore from

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her throat. As her climax crested, she dropped her head to Rebecca’s shoulder and sucked hard on the thick muscle.

The unexpected sensation lanced through Rebecca’s chest and belly, igniting the nerve endings that already danced on the edge of explosion. “Touch me. Catherine, God, touch me.”