Ana
Three Weeks Later
“What the fuck is it going to take to get these assholes to talk?” Luke bellowed, his anger vibrating inside the small office.
Ana had only just arrived after the hour drive from Pittsburgh to her new place of employment for the foreseeable future. Even so, it didn’t take long for her friend and former classmate to get down to business. “I don’t think it is a matter of getting them to talk. I honestly think they have told you everything they know.”
Luke chucked the pen he had been gripping in his hand across the room.
“The fact is, Artiga is a smart fucker. It isn’t often we run across smart criminals, but that is just the case here. We must stop investigating him as we would any other dealer off the street. We need to find a new approach.”
Over the past few weeks, since they interviewed Richard Artiga’s sister in the hospital, the investigation had stalled. It didn’t help that Ana had been able to come up to help only on a sporadic basis. But now that all her duties in Pittsburgh were wrapped up, she was officially the detective on loan to Middleburg PD. Hopefully, now that she would be on the case full-time, they would be able to catch a break.
“The Chief is not happy that we aren’t getting anywhere.”
“No offense, but fuck the Chief. You are the chief now. He took off with one of our witnesses to God knows where.” Ana didn’t even try to hide her disdain for the former Chief Gallo. He might not have relinquished his title permanently, but as far as she was concerned, he should have. “If he wants this case solved, tell him to get both their asses out here and help.”
Luke ignored her little tirade. For some reason, the current acting chief still held out a loyalty to the man who had abandoned his department. A small sliver of guilt worked its way into Ana’s chest. She wasn’t abandoning her department though. She was simply on loan until everything back at home settled down.
Thankfully, her night rolling in the hay with Justice had gone a long way to helping her forget Derek. Turned out, sex she had experienced with her ex wasn’t the be-all and end-all of pleasure. Instead, she now wondered if the stranger from a bar would be the last truly fantastic sex she ever had. Almost a month later, and she still felt the imprint of him inside her, though she knew it was simply the ghost of a memory.
“Ana, we’ve picked up four suspects in the past three weeks, and not a damn bit of good has come from it.” Luke paced behind his desk, frustration written plain as day on his features. “We have a contract killer who claims not to know shit, and three low-level dealers who definitely don’t know shit. My guys are damn near dropping dead on their feet from the hours they’re putting in because the damn city council won’t approve enough money to hire more bodies. And now I have to go out there and tell the same bunch of guys that despite all their hard work, they are no closer to finding the man that we damn well know is responsible for all the problems our town has seen over the past two years.”
The door to his cramped office opened, and Luke’s very cute, and pregnant, fiancé waltzed in. Ana liked to think of herself as fiercely independent. She didn’t need a relationship or a man to define her. But seeing Luke and Sophie together caused a pinching deep in her chest. The whole debacle with her ex had proved one thing to her. She might not need a relationship, but she liked having one. So many years of her twenties had been focused on building her career, she never even thought about what she might be missing out on. But the months she’d been with Derek had been nice. Before the whole cheating thing. Having someone to talk with, to sleep next to. It had fed something inside her she had ignored for far too long.
“Hey, honey, the guys are all in the briefing room.” Sophie came over to rub Luke’s neck, having to rise up slightly on her tiptoes to make up for their height difference. “You’ll get them, Luke. If there is one thing I know, it is that.”
Just as Luke lowered his mouth toward his fiancé, Ana diverted her attention to the file in her hand, embarrassed to be witnessing this amazing couple’s private moment. The two whispered words to each other between kisses before they seemed to realize Ana was still in the room.
“Okay, let’s go introduce you to the guys.” The door clicked closed behind Sophie and Ana turned back to her friend. “There are a few guys who have been more involved with the case that I’ll assign for you to use in any way you please. I asked them to meet us in the pen before I introduce you to the whole crew. Just prepare yourself for Officer Wright. He’s a smart-ass.”
Ana smirked. “I’m sure I can handle anything you throw at me.”
“Remember you said that after you want to strangle him for the first time.” Luke picked up several files from his desk, then whipped open the office door, holding it open for her.
An unexpected rush of nervous nausea swept through her, throwing her off balance for a moment. She placed her palm against the smooth wall with her eyes shut tight to gather her equilibrium. Ana wasn’t prone to fits of self-doubt. She knew how to do her job and do it well. But there was no doubt in her mind that some of the men at the Middleburg Police Department would not be happy to have a female detective from the city encroaching on their territory.
Just as she collected herself, one voice sent her spinning off her axis again. “Ana?”
That smooth bass rolled over her skin. It may have been only one night a month ago, but she would never forget the filthy words he’d muttered while pumping into her body or the whispered conversations they’d shared between bouts of sexual ecstasy. But it couldn’t possibly be him, not here.
Ana turned, her heart hammering inside her chest, her head swimming slightly with the shock of seeing Justice Reilly standing with three other men across the room, all dressed in their sharp patrol uniforms, chests made even more broad by the bulky Kevlar vests beneath their shirts. “Justice?”
Silence filled the bull pen for three tense seconds before the olive-skinned man standing beside the man she had spent one amazing night with and never expected to see again spoke up. “Who the fuck is Justice?”
“I am, asshole.” Justice never diverted his attention from Ana, those green eyes that disconcerted her so much boring holes through her.
According to his name tag, the man was the ever-infamous Officer Wright. “Shut the fuck up. How did I not know that? I thought your first name was Rookie.”
Luke’s earlier warning about the guy now made complete sense. She really did want to cause him bodily harm at that moment. The guy didn’t seem to notice the tension that stood thick in the air between his fellow officer and Ana.
“You guys know each other?” Luke tentatively stepped beside her, his gaze traveling back and forth between them.
The moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Did they know each other? Yes and no. He probably knew her body better than any other man she had even been with since losing her virginity at sixteen. But during that night, their conversations never scratched much below the surface. They didn’t discuss specifics about their lives or careers. Obviously.
“Yes, our paths crossed once a few weeks ago.” Thankfully, Ana kept her voice even, not giving anything away.
Justice’s body, however, gave everything away. His large frame coiled tight as if holding himself back, his face hard but his eyes heated with unrepentant lust.
Luke took the awkward meeting in stride and marched on as if nothing odd had happened. “Detective Formosa, I would like to introduce you to Officer Bryan Coy, Officer Justice Reilly, and Officer Cole Wright. These three have been in the thick of the investigation into Richard Artiga and his drug operation. They’ll be at your disposal for the entirety of your time with us.”
Ana shook the hands of Coy and Wright first, dreading the moment her skin would touch Justice’s. But it couldn’t be avoided. It would look unprofessional if she slighted him. The whole of her body screamed for her to go to him, to find the pleasure in his arms he had so thoroughly given. Luke had said she could use these men in whatever way she saw fit, right? But her mind held firm control and gave him the same handshake she gave everyone else. His long fingers wrapped around her smaller ones. Their contact lasted no more than a few seconds, but in that time her panties soaked with arousal, and her nipples peaked at the memory of his rough, calloused fingers tweaking and pulling them.
“Nice to meet you all.” The words croaked out as she pulled her hand from Justice’s grip. “I look forward to working with you on the case. I’m confident we will be able to bring Artiga down and wrap this up as quickly as possible.”
Bryan and Cole nodded and gave her polite smiles. Justice continued to stare at her as if her face held the answers to the mysteries of the universe.
“I’ll want to sit down with one of you and go over the notes in the file one-on-one. I’ve read it, but it helps to have insights from the officers actually on scene.” Ana avoided Justice’s eyes as much as possible. They would need to have a little chat and work through the awkwardness if they were going to be working together. Until then, she needed to just avoid him.
“I can do that.” Justice spoke up first, even going so far as to take another step closer to her. “I’d be happy to sit down with you, Ana.”
“Happy” was the last word Ana would use to describe his voice.
“Actually, I think it should probably be Bryan to fill in the blanks for Detective Formosa.” Luke pointedly emphasized her official title. “He was the officer to arrest Camille Artiga, the first on the scene of the explosion, and the one to put the most hours in so far.”
Anger swirled in Justice’s eyes, and for the first time, he broke his intense inspection of Ana to glare at Luke. But in the end, he was an officer to the core and respected his superior. “Yes, sir. If that is what you would like.”
Bryan gave his coworker a suspicious look before addressing Ana. “No problem. These guys endangered the life of my wife and son, so I am as invested in capturing the assholes as much as anyone. We all are.” Bryan clapped a hand on Justice’s shoulder, obviously trying to defuse the situation.
“Sounds good. We can sit down after the briefing.” Ana turned to Luke. “Shall we get this thing started?”
With a nod, Luke led the way into the briefing room, with Bryan and Cole trailing behind him. It didn’t escape Ana’s attention that Justice moved a little slower than the rest, putting some distance between the other three before spinning around to confront her.
“What the fuck is this, Ana?” For some odd reason, the seething anger in his voice ramped up the already intense need throbbing through Ana’s system.
“I’m just as surprised to see you here as I’m sure you are, Justice.” She masked her growing desire for the beautiful man glaring at her with her own mask of anger. “I had no idea you were an officer when we met. We didn’t exactly talk about our careers that night. I thought all the guys from the MPD hung out at the Blue Line. It never occurred to me that the random guy I fucked from the bar that night might be local law enforcement.”
“I don’t bother with the badge bunnies at that place. I’ve always preferred the women at places I’m not known.” Justice advanced on her, backing her into a desk directly behind her. “That is until a leggy, mouthy woman ruined all that with one night of incredible sex before disappearing on me with nothing but a thank-you note.”
“We both knew what that night was about.” Ana’s chest heaved with the power of her breaths, the swell of her breasts brushing against Justice’s stiff uniform shirt. Even through her blouse and bra, the contact felt illicit. “Neither of us needed the awkward morning after, so I spared us both the trouble.”
“Yes. So glad you spared us any awkwardness.”
Luke’s voice echoed out from the briefing room, reminding Ana that this was neither the time nor place to have this conversation with her one-night stand come back to haunt her.
Justice seemed to read her mind, taking a step back from her. “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”
He spun back around and stalked into the briefing room. The hot, fucking prick took a seat right in the front row, where it would be impossible for Ana to miss him. She followed slightly behind, her head held high and determined to ignore whatever dramatics Justice was so intent on causing. She’d tried to escape entanglements like this back in the city. But here she stood, behind a podium, and smack dab in the middle of another damn office romance drama.
Fuck.