Chapter 9

Alec stared at the door after Ian left. He hadn’t said a word since he came back downstairs at the station. What happened? When he’d picked her up, he’d practically consumed her with heated looks. Not that she wanted to encourage him, a relationship, even a quick fling was the last thing she needed—ever. The looks he had given her fed her starving femininity and it was a hell of an ego boost, without breaking her heart. To have a man look at you that way, not leering or lecherous but more of an appreciation, admiring her form—so what had happened? He’d barely glanced at her tormented cleavage when she’d taken off the jacket.

Sighing, she began to wrestle with the stupid zipper as she walked slowly to the bedroom. One minute he’s all hot to find the brothers and the next he’s practically holding the doorknob to get the hell out of there. Taking a deep breath, the first one she could take since putting the tortuous top on, she tossed it on the bed and stood there thinking. He’d been stiff, not at all like she knew him to be. Laughing, she shook her head. You’ve known the guy for a whole week; you don’t know him at all. No, but she knew his nonchalant attitude had frozen over in a flash. Why?

Pulling her hair up, she wandered to the bathroom and turned the tub on. This day had sucked from start to finish. She still felt like she was covered in sewer sludge, she could still smell it. Her pulse picked up recalling the chase. Bill, as usual, slowed and let her take lead, the guy was a wuss. Shrugging, Alec added some scented oil to the water; she’d earned a girly bath tonight.

Stepping out of the pants, she rubbed her hip, it still ached. There would be a bruise there tomorrow. She had thought for sure she would lose the guy when she slid and hit the re-bar along the tunnel, and it had hurt like a bitch, but she’d managed to stay on her feet and the pain had annoyed her enough that she’d gained on him. Was it bad that she felt gratification when she’d knocked him face first in the six inches of stench and held him down to read him his rights? No, it wasn’t bad. Well, until the unit that picked him up had to put him in the back of their car smelling that way.

Chuckling, she turned off the tub and made quick work of her underwear. Her toes had barely touched the water when her cell phone shrilled from where she’d tossed it on her bed. For a quick second, she debated on ignoring it but turned and rushed back out the door.

Clasping the towel, she grabbed on the way out the door, she answered the phone.

“Yeah”

The voice of the desk sergeant was the last one she expected to hear. “Alec, sorry for the late call.”

“No problem, Joe, what’s up?”

He sighed loud like he didn’t know how to proceed. “Just thought you’d want to know some fancy ass lawyer just sprung your perp from the sewers.”

Her spine stiffened. “What? How? That bust was rock solid.” Dropping onto the bed, she cursed quietly.

“Some technicalities with the paperwork.”

She’d beat his head into the wall. Bill had done the paperwork when they’d got there. “Are you serious? Fuck!” Now her hip really began to hurt. “How did he afford a fancy lawyer?”

“No idea, I was shocked to the core when they said who they were here for. Anyway, I thought you’d want to know.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

“Have a good one.”

“Yeah.” She tossed the phone onto the bed beside her. How could Bill screw this up? The man grated on her patience like no other had. It was bad enough she’d been stuck with his prissy ass, but the least he could do was follow procedures to the ‘t’ and not piss her off.

Walking back in, she glared at the tub. Not exactly in the mood for a sweet-smelling bath now, she climbed in anyway. Hissing as the hot water engulfed her; she leaned back and closed her eyes. This day needed to end now.

When her mind went back to thinking about Ian, she gritted her teeth. She had to stop thinking about that man. Opening her eyes, she studied the shower head that dripped every few seconds, it never stopped dripping. She knew what she needed to do, and not with the leaking faucet. Getting Ian out of the picture meant they had to find this guy he’d overheard and put a stop to the threat to her. It was the only way because she needed to be far away from that man.

Each time he touched her as they played at being lovers sent her whole body into a heated spiral, making her want to do more than pretend, it made her mind mush and that was unacceptable. Men just messed with her life, broke her heart, and complicated things. Alec liked simple, straightforward, no bull, just facts in her world. Ian Mactavish with the pristine clean record was muddling that all to hell. It was unacceptable and she planned to put things back in order.

Feeling much better about the state of things, she relaxed into the heat and let the musky fragrance soothe her. Tomorrow was going to be a busy, busy day.

Ian stood in the dark, arms crossed over his chest, and glared out the large window into the night. He was agitated beyond anything he’d ever felt before. In a short period of time, his simple life had been tangled to the point it looked like a knot. He was trapped in it, not sure which way to go next.

He was going to take the job, even though he knew it could end badly and destroy him. How could he not? Everything that had happened in the last week seemed to be weaving together. Standing there, he tried to tell himself to sleep on it and make a decision in the morning, but he knew no amount of sleep or space was going to change his decision.

Turning away from the window, he headed to his bedroom. Walking out of Alec’s apartment had been a hard thing to do. His nerves were strung tight, not to mention his libido. When she’d pulled off her jacket, he’d been thankful the lights in her hall hadn’t been on. It had taken him a few mind-numbing moments to shake the lust out of his brain and say good night to her.

Pulling the shirt over his head, he rolled his shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension. His body was still filled with lust for the sexy detective. His brain was winning though, he had already decided he needed to help her, end the threat, and then walk away. He had no choice; it was too dangerous to do this job and be that close to her. Somehow her partner was ass deep in all of it and he had to unravel the connections and figure it all out.

There was also Doctor Sandy what’s-her-name, running into her had jolted his brain into flight mode. It was rare he encountered anyone that knew him as Dante. Still, she knew he had a big secret and it was one he couldn’t share, so he had to cut his losses and get away from Alec. It wasn’t just Alec, he admitted, Brent was family of sorts and he didn’t bring his job that close to home. Shit was more than complicated now.

Kicking out of his boots, he shucked his jeans and dropped them on the floor. Climbing in the bed, he leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. Before he could walk away, he needed to make sure Bill wasn’t a threat to Alec, and to the rest of the people that worked there too, he supposed.

At least he had a few starting points to do this job. There was Bill and the neatly dressed Miss Weaver, she was deep in it and she’d confirmed for him that Pierre Cardiel was calling the shots. That meant he had to be somewhere near the top of all of this. Bill’s connection was a surprise, he wasn’t one of the people on the list and the fact that he was involved was obscuring things even more.

What had Andrea Weaver called the sewer guy? Slimy little messenger. Now, Ian thought, to find out a name for the messenger and figure out what his role was. His pulse thudded in his throat. He knew this went high, but to know that the police department was involved irked him. These were the people that put their lives on the line to protect everyone. Just knowing that Alec’s squeaky shoe partner was a fraud bothered him more each second. Ian may be a fraud in some ways, but he hadn’t taken an oath to keep citizens safe and uphold the law.

Sliding down in the bed, he flung his arm over his eyes and groaned out loud. How the hell was he going to proceed with this? It made him pause for a second, a very fleeting one, and wish he didn’t always work alone. Because it would be so easy to find a partner that does what you do. Sighing, he pulled the pillow over his head. He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow and an impossible number of things to get done.