Somehow they ended up in Cam’s bed and he wasn’t sure if he carried her there...or she carried him.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“Extremely. You?” she asked, snuggling into his chest.
He was going to say that he needed the release, but that would have been a lie. One she would have seen right through easily enough.
“Pretty darn good. You’ve got some moves on you, Doc.”
She sighed. “Back to that again.”
“What?” he asked, wondering what she was thinking.
“I was Cam earlier. Now I’m back to Doc.”
“Does it bother you when I call you that?” He didn’t think much of it. To him, it was probably more of an endearment, but he couldn’t very well tell her that.
“I think a lot of things are bothering me now when they normally didn’t.”
“You’ve got a reason to feel that way.”
“What about us?” she asked. “Or shouldn’t I be talking about it?”
“Is there an ‘us’?” he asked.
“I’d think the fact you’re naked in my bed and had me screaming for a second time a few minutes ago is answer enough. I guess the question is if you want to go back in time and pretend this didn’t happen?”
She was trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal; he could see it in her eyes. But it was a big deal to him. More than he wanted to admit though. “What do you want to do?”
“I think if we try to play it off we’d both be lying to ourselves.”
“I like that you’re pretty to the point.”
She ran her hand around his chest. “It normally comes in handy. Guess lately I haven’t been too much to the point. Not like I should have been. Maybe if I told you more, I wouldn’t have been so pent up trying to hide it all. That I look at you and want to strip you naked every single time. That I see your hard edges and rough lines and know that I’ll be dreaming about them for years to come.”
He ran his hand down her hair, trying to keep it gentle when he really wanted to show her those edges and lines she talked about. It wasn’t what he expected of her, but had a feeling she liked keeping it hidden.
“No more holding it in. I’m going to move in with you until this is over.”
She sat up straight. “That’s making a lot of assumptions.”
“There’s no winning with you. I can stay in the spare room if you want.”
She paused. “That’d be a complete waste.”
“Make up your mind, Cam.”
“I don’t know what I want. Why do you want to stay here?”
“You need protecting. I’m not buying the coincidence, that the day you don’t have keys or your keycard there is a fire in the building trapping you inside.”
“You don’t think they are related?” she asked. “Do you? That’s a lot of damage to get to me.”
“Some people don’t care about collateral damage when they want something,” Ian said.
“Like Simon Arrow?”
“I don’t know. Once we find out more about the fire, we’ll go from there.”
“So you only want to stay because you think I need protection?”
“That and I’d like to end up back in this bed again, but I’ll understand if you want me to sleep in the one next door.”
She rolled over on top of him. “You’re where I want you for the moment.”
If the moment was all he could get, he’d take it for now.
***
“The fire was set in the janitor’s closet.”
Cam looked over from the dinner she was cooking. “Set?”
“Yes. It’s arson. Clear as day.”
Ian had just hung up the phone after talking to his captain again. Once they’d gotten out of bed, she’d taken a shower while he made a few calls. Then he showered and joined her in the kitchen, answering yet another call.
She was trying to dial her emotions back. Ian said he was staying to protect her. That was simple and to the point. He wasn’t staying to be with her. Or for her. She reminded herself this was why she grew up and stopped with the bad boys. This was why when she was fifteen and had gotten caught riding on the back of a motorcycle in the middle of the night speeding with a nineteen-year-old, she realized the stifling life she was leading.
That everyone had to be so perfect and life had to be so calm. Risks and danger were fun. Sneaking out and drinking as a teen, taking a few hits of pot, all that made her feel alive. Being caught the few times never made her stop.
Having her heart broken when she was nineteen and the man was twenty-four just looking for someone to add to his little black book, that had been the last straw.
No more bad boys. No more sneaking around. No more letting loose.
It had been time to figure out why she acted out. Why she did what she did. When it came down to it—what she’d discovered was—she’d been bored with her life.
But a boring life was catching up to her again. All those quiet perfect suit-wearing, clean-cut men she’d been dating. Yeah…not doing it for her.
Then there was Ian. Right in the middle? Maybe. Or maybe not. She couldn’t focus on it right now.
“How was it started?” she asked.
“I don’t have all the details. Some kind of accelerant in a basket. It was with all the cleaning supplies. It could have been a lot worse than it was, but the smoke built up faster and set the alarms off. By the time the fire department got there, they were able to contain it pretty fast. The sprinklers in the basement had turned on, controlling a lot of it too.
“I guess I should be thankful for the sprinklers, just not that I didn’t have time to get out before they went off. There’s a timer on them unless there is heat. Then they’ll go right off.”
“There was a lot more smoke than flames, most likely, from the chemicals around. Thankfully the system in that building was good.”
She nodded. There wasn’t much more she could say right now. Nothing more than she was thankful she was alive and in one piece. Chances are she would have been fine in the building anyway, but it wasn’t a chance she was willing to take again.
She tossed the shrimp in the pan after she poured in the white wine. She was starving right now and cooking a meal for the two of them was calming her down almost like the sex had earlier. Nah. Nothing would calm her like that.
“Are those your keys?”
She turned and saw her office keys on her table where she’d switched out her purses last minute this morning. Her old one was still sitting there. There were some papers on the table she’d taken out too. “Yes. See if my keycard is there?”
He got up and moved over while she finished up dinner. “I don’t see it.”
“Did you check my other purse?”
“I checked everything,” he said.
“That’s strange. Maybe it is in my car and I just missed it. I was focused on my keys. That purse was too big and things were always falling out of it. It just had a snap and not a zipper. That’s why I switched them out. I thought it was convenient to just slip my hand in and grab what I wanted, but realized it’s not if things are falling out of it all the time.”
She placed his dish and hers on the island, then poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle she was cooking with. He was sticking with water, it seemed.
“Tell me why you went into psychology.”
She laughed. “Where is that coming from?”
He shrugged. “I just want to know more about you. You know how I ended up on the force.”
That was because it was during therapy, though she didn’t bring that up right now. It wouldn’t be right. But did she want to tell him her reasons? She supposed it wouldn’t hurt.
“When I was younger my neighbor was molested by her uncle. She was a few years younger than me, but I talked to her a lot. I think she looked up to me at times. I didn’t know about it at first. But the uncle was in prison. Gabrielle, that was her name. Gabrielle was only five when it happened. When they moved in next to us she was ten. We talked a few years before I found out what had happened.”
“And you were inspired to help her?” he asked.
“Yes. Some days she was so happy and others sad. I couldn’t figure it out. Her mother talked to my mother and then I knew. I hated seeing her so down at times. I guess when I knew she had those sad days I made more of an effort to be there and talk to her. Just cheer her up. Her mother appreciated it, said I had a caring soul.”
“You do have one. You always seem to know what to say to make someone feel better. I know I joked about it before, but it’s true.”
“So that’s the reason I went into it.”
He hesitated like he wasn’t sure he believed it all. “You said before you wanted child psychology and then changed? Why change?”
“Because sometimes there are no saving people. Sometimes what happens to them is so hard and deep that it hurts even me. And sometimes it wasn’t the victim I had to treat but the accuser. I found I didn’t like that part of the job. I found that I’d rather be on this end of a crime. Helping put someone away, not trying to help them personally. I want to help victims if it comes to that. But kids...that hurts too much now, so I refer them on.”
“And you’re not going to tell me why that is, are you?”
“Not tonight.”
“Now tell me the real reason you went into phycology.”
“I just did,” she argued.
“No you didn’t. You told me a nice story that has some truth to it. But there’s more. I know it. It’s easy enough to see for those you let into your life.”
“And what do you see?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“I see someone who wants the world to know she is perfect and calm and in control. But what I know is someone that likes bold colors in her bedroom where no one sees it but her. Someone that paints her toenails flashy as a hint of a wild side that you just can’t keep hidden. Someone that was all over me and stopping any tenderness I wanted to send your way.”
“Maybe we should switch fields,” she said.
“Am I wrong?” he asked.
“No.” That was all she was saying at this moment.
“What about your family then?” he asked instead. She was glad he wasn’t pushing.
“What about them?” she asked, starting to eat. Maybe if she ate, he’d follow and they could stop talking.
“You gave in pretty quickly when Gary mentioned going to the chief if you weren’t going to cooperate. Why is that?”
She could lie there too, but why bother? He’d figure it out. He was a detective, and from everything she’d seen in his file, he was a damn good one. That he hadn’t looked into her background that closely meant he didn’t have cause. He might feel he had it soon, so she’d be honest.
“Mason is my grandmother’s maiden name. I changed it when I graduated from college.”
“The reason?”
“Many reasons. First off, my parents are Francis and Madeline Groff. That was my last name at one point.”
“Groff Real Estate Investments?”
“That would be them. I didn’t want my family’s name to get me a job and I didn’t want people looking at me like that was how I got it.”
“But Gary knows. Chief Hillside knows.”
“The chief knows. He’s friends with my father and that goes no further than here. My father didn’t get me the contract with the city. I fought taking it for the very reason of their friendship.”
“That’s the only reason you changed your name?”
“No. If you looked into my family history you’d see my mother’s maiden name is Jefferies. Her father, my grandfather, is a federal judge.”
He set his fork down. He’d been eating, but now wasn’t. “All the security you’ve talked about then is because of the family you come from. You’ve all been protected to an extent.”
“Yes.”
“Could any of this have to do with a family connection?” he asked.
“I’ve thought about it, but I don’t see how that is possible. When I met with the chief last week, he said he ran down anyone that my grandfather had locked up to see if they were recently released or in this area. There was nothing. I’m inclined to believe it has nothing to do with my family. If the chief thought it did, he’d be calling my father, then my grandfather.”
“Your parents know nothing about what is going on?” he asked, looking more stunned that she expected.
“No. There’s no reason. If they find out, they’d pressure me to close my practice. Or close it temporarily. They know I wouldn’t do it. Then they’d assign bodyguards everywhere I went without my knowledge. I don’t want that either.” She’d had enough of being watched growing up. Some of her own doing, probably making her break away from it rather than just asking for privacy as a teen.
“I’m not sure how I feel about being a compromise,” he said smirking at her.
“As for compromises, this one is turning out pretty damn good in my eyes.”
He held his hand out for her, she stood up and walked over, then sat in his lap. “Not too bad in mine either. So why don’t we go back to your bedroom and you can show me more of your wild side.”
“Gladly.”