Jill Shalvis - Flashpoint

But not sorry enough to have come to him last night. Knowing that, he might have been able to resist what she did next, except he didn’t. She pressed her mouth to his cheek, and then to the corner of his mouth, and then, because he’d apparently lost his mind, he turned his head and hungrily met her lips with his.

Reason went out the window. Everything went out the window as he did his best to inhale her whole. She had her arms wound around his neck, her hands fisted in his hair. He had a hand up the front of her shirt cupping her breast over her bra, the other down the back of her pants, when he vaguely heard someone clear his throat behind them.

Shit.

Lifting his head, he locked eyes with Blake over Brooke’s head.

“Bad time?” Blake asked drolly.

Brooke squeaked and hid her head against Zach’s chest.

“Very bad,” Zach said.

Blake gestured to the refrigerator at Zach’s back. “But I’m hungry.”

With a choked sound, Brooke stepped away from Zach. Without a word, she walked out of the kitchen.

Blake just arched a brow, gesturing to the fridge.

“Jesus.” Zach pushed away from the refrigerator and let Blake at it.

* * *

The next night, off duty and at home, Zach sat at his own kitchen table with all the evidence he had on the arson fires so far spread out on a board laid in front of him. He was trying to connect the dots instead of thinking about Brooke when the doorbell rang.

It was pizza delivery by Aidan. His partner handed off the extra-large, loaded pie and pushed past him to get inside.

“Well, gee,” Zach said dryly. “Come on in.”

“We’ve got to talk.” Aidan moved into the kitchen and helped himself to a beer in the refrigerator. He twisted off the top, drank deeply, then gave Zach a long look.

“It’s not good,” Zach guessed.

“It’s you. And what you’re doing.”

“Look, we’re both adults. If we decide to go at this until she leaves, it’s our business.”

Aidan looked confused. “Huh?”

“You’re not talking about Brooke?”

“No.” Aidan cocked his head. “Although, I did hear some interesting rumors today, which I ignored. Erroneously so, apparently.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Okay.”

“It’s just casual.”

“Okay.”

“But Jesus, the way everyone’s going on about it, I might as well marry her.”

Aidan’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Whoa. The M word? Out of your mouth?”

“It’s just a word.”

Aidan was still eyeing him like a bug on a slide. “Why are you harping on this?”

“Because you are.”

“I said okay about twenty minutes ago, dude. It’s all you.”

Zach opened the pizza box, pulled out the biggest piece and stuffed a bite in his mouth. “Jenny brought me pizza a while back. Hers was better.”

“That’s because hers came with a hot bod. You boinking her, too?”

“No.”

“Then can I boink her?”

Zach sighed. “Why are you here again?”

“To yell at you. But not for the women. I only wish I had half your woman problems.”

“Hey, you’ve had your problems.”

“Name one.”

“Okay, how about you doing Blake’s soap-star-diva sister and not telling him about it.”

Aidan winced. “Hey, she wasn’t a soap-star diva at the time. And besides, I was really young and really stupid back then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re unusually testy. You’re either PMSing, or those new rumors are definitely true.”

“Which are what exactly?”

“That you and Brooke nearly did it up against the refrigerator. Which, by the way, if it’s true? Nice.”

“Do you ever think of anything besides sex?”

“Alas, rarely.” Aidan grabbed his own huge piece of pizza.

“Fine. But I don’t want to talk about Brooke.”

Aidan shot him an amused look. That rankled. “Okay.”

“I don’t.”

“Fine. Let’s talk about a little thing called arson. You told Tommy you thought Phyllis’s house fire was deliberately set.”

“Yes.”

“Are you crazy?”

“It was arson.”

“Okay, but Tommy is the best investigator this town has ever had and you know it, which means he’s on it.”

Zach opened his mouth to speak, but Aidan stopped him. “And you also know he has the biggest mouth this town has ever seen. Everyone is talking about you.”

“So what?”

“So what? You love this fucking job, that’s what. You work your ass off. You’re one of the best in the whole damn city, and there’s a lieutenant position coming up that you’re going to take yourself right out of the running for because you won’t leave this alone.”

“I can’t leave it alone.”

Aidan sighed. “You’re that damn sure?”

Zach pointed to the material he’d been working on.

Twisting one of the kitchen chairs around, Aidan straddled it, steepling his hands over the back and setting his chin on them as he studied the board on the table. After a long moment, he let out a breath. “Mysterious points of origin. Metal trash cans. And now, maybe a blowtorch.” He shook his head. “So what now?”

Zach sat heavily and for the first time put words to the terrible thoughts in his head. “I’m not sure. But look at this.” He tossed down the photos he’d taken of the razed properties.

Aidan shifted through the pictures. “Who ordered the demolitions?”

“I’m working on that.”

Aidan finished his beer, silent.

“I know. I’m crazy.” Zach shoved his fingers through his hair. “I feel crazy.”

“No.” Aidan shook his head. “Someone is systematically destroying evidence. Tommy either knows this, or…”

They stared at each other at the unspoken implication that Tommy could be behind any of it.

“You’re not crazy,” Aidan said. “And you need to get to Phyllis before someone convinces her to destroy any more evidence we can use.”

“We?”

“Partners,” Aidan said. “For better or worse.”

* * *

Long after Aidan had left, Zach stood on his back deck, staring out at the night, his mind whirling.

Arson.

Brooke.

Restlessness…

He was surrounded by the life he’d chosen, a life both exhilarating and challenging. He loved it. And yet there was no denying he’d shut himself off from the very thing that people would say mattered most.

Love.

Had he really done that because of losing his family so long ago? Or had it just been an excuse, a handy reason not to let himself get hurt? If so, that had backfired, because he’d gotten hurt, anyway. Whether he was ever with Brooke again almost didn’t matter-his emotions were involved.

She hadn’t come to him tonight, either. That left him two choices: be alone, or go to her.

Easy enough choice. He went inside and grabbed his keys, and then whipped open the door-to find Brooke standing there, hand raised to knock.

Brooke stood on Zach’s front steps, having gotten his address courtesy of Dustin. One minute she’d been at her grandmother’s, absorbing the sensation of feeling at home inside a house for the first time in…well, ever, and the next, she hadn’t been able to stop her mind from wandering to Zach. She had no reason for being here. None.

Okay, that was a lie. She knew. And her body’s reaction to the sight of him, all big, bad and slightly attitude-ridden, cemented it.

She was here to, what had he said? Take it as far as they could.

He wore a T-shirt and jeans, no shoes, no socks. Simple clothes.

Not such a simple man. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi.” He let out a breath and hooked his hand around her elbow, pulling her up the last step and closer to him. In the dim light he was all lean lines and angles and hard muscle as he jangled his keys in his other hand. “I was just coming to see you.”

Her heart skipped a beat or two. “You were?”

“Yeah. I got tired of waiting for you to finish thinking.” He moved aside so she could come in, but she hesitated.

“Give me a second,” she murmured.

“Okay. For what?”

“For my brain to catch up with the rest of me.” She smiled nervously. “It’s my body that brought me here, you see. For some of that letting loose we’re so good at.”

He smiled, and her body began to tingle.

“Maybe you should let your body lead on this one,” he suggested in a very naughty, silky tone.

“You think?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Just sort of let my brain take a rest?”

“Exactly.” Gently crowding her in the doorway, he put his hands on her hips and his mouth to her ear. “So, are you going to come inside?”

“That was going to be my question to you.”

His soft laugh stirred the hair at her temple and all her good spots. Then he slid his arms around her and gave her a hug, and along with the lust came such a rush of affection that her heart hurt. She buried her face in his throat and held on tight. “Okay,” she said. “Maybe I’ll come in for a little while.”

“Great idea. We could-”

“Let loose?”

“Anything you want,” he murmured, pulling back to look into her eyes. “I wanted to see you tonight.”

Her breath caught. “You’re seeing me.”

“Yeah. I am. I see you, Brooke. The real you.”

“With lines like that, you’re awfully hard to resist.”

“I’m trying to be.” Pushing the door shut, Zach kissed her and, turning them both, backed her to the door. This freed up his hands, which he used to cup her face, a touch that turned her on more than any other. “I needed this connection tonight.”

“With me?”

“Only with you.” He kissed her again, his mouth making its way over her jaw to her throat.

“Zach?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Zach.” “Right here.” His hands slipped beneath her shirt and her eyes crossed with lust.

“I don’t have a condom this time. I forgot to put a new one in my purse.”