Chapter Seven
Cole stripped off his shirt and tossed it in the hamper in his closet. He’d already removed his boots and socks. Today had been productive. The hangar stood ready for the new helo, and Abe was adjusting to his new situation. Once the security system had been installed and tested at the lab, he’d felt easier about JL being there every day. The danger still lurked out there—he could feel it—but he was taking every possible precaution to keep her safe. But it was time to put all that aside for a moment and focus just on the two of them. Tonight, he planned to take both of their minds off everything except right now.
When the two of them reconnected months ago, he wasn’t looking for anything more than a nice but casual relationship. Still restless after two tours in Afghanistan and trying to settle in at the ranch, he hadn’t exactly figured out his future. Then he ran into JL, and as their relationship grew and developed, his life seemed to settle around him. She centered him as no one had ever before, chasing away the demons that seemed to follow snipers around and giving his life a purpose.
He knew she had strong feelings for him. At least he thought she did. She gave every indication that was the case. He didn’t know if her reluctance to take things to a more permanent level had to do with the tension surrounding her experiment or his sense of something dark she kept hidden away. Something plaguing her he hadn’t been able to coax out of her. Every time he brought it up, she very cleverly steered the conversation away from it.
Forget about it tonight. Enjoy what you have. Make things so great for her there won’t be any question of what comes next.
She’d let her hair grow since she got home. At work, she pulled it into a ponytail or a messy bun on top of her head, but otherwise she wore it down. He loved the way it shimmered and danced below her shoulders, like now when she brushed it. When the light caught it, he thought it looked like a cascade of golden threads. Just sifting his fingers through it made him hard.
Still in his jeans and boxers, he moved behind her, pressing his bare chest against her body. God, she smelled incredible. The honeysuckle scent of the lotion she used filled his senses. Maybe he’d plant a ton of it in the back and snip off a piece every day. He was filled with an intense need to possess her, to stamp himself on her indelibly. Hold her heart as well as her body. He would make it his personal business to prevent any harm to her. To guard against the danger his instincts kept telling him lurked out there.
Very gently, he touched his lips to the smooth silk of her shoulder, trailing them to the slender column of her neck. She always tasted so delectable, like the best treat in the world. He took a slow, delicious lick from her chin down to her shoulder and back again. She shivered beneath his touch, her nipples turning to hardened peaks beneath her shimmery cami.
“I’ll give you a year to stop,” she teased.
“Like that, do you?” He nipped gently where her shoulder and neck joined.
“Mm. You know I do.” She set the brush down on the dresser and leaned back against him.
He cupped her cheek, loving the smooth feel of her skin. She turned her head and drew tiny circles in his palm with her tongue. Desire speared him, heating his body and shooting straight to his balls.
“I want to lick you all over, every tasty inch of you.” He sucked gently on her earlobe, then nuzzled the tender spot on her neck that drove her crazy. “Every. Single. Part.”
In the mirror, he saw a blush creep up her face, painting her cheeks soft rose. Lifting his hand, he rubbed his thumb over her full lower lip. She slid the tip of her tongue over it, a slow glide back and forth, sending electricity straight to his cock. God, amazing how one touch, one caress always turned him on so. Made him rock hard.
“Look at yourself,” he murmured, mouth close to her ear. “Watch in the mirror.”
He slid his hands beneath the thin cami and lifted it, exposing her breasts. Cupping them in his palms, he brushed his thumbs back and forth across the stiff peaks. She leaned her head back against him, a soft little moan of pleasure whispering from her throat, the sound vibrating through him. Taking her hands, he replaced his own so she held her breasts for him, leaving him free to explore other areas.
“Watch,” he repeated, sliding his hand down the sexy curve of her stomach beneath the flimsy material of her boy shorts.
The rosy flush on her cheeks deepened as his fingers touched the softness of her pubic curls, moved lower into the wetness of her sex. The moment the tip of a finger touched her clit, she sucked in a gasp. Cole’s shaft throbbed with need, pressing hard against the denim of his fly. Damn good thing he kept his jeans on, or this whole thing would be over before it barely got started.
Her labia were slick with her juices, the liquid coating his fingers and easing the slow caress he gave the length of her slit. Reflected in the mirror, he saw the increase in the beat of her pulse at the hollow of her throat. Her lips parted, and her breathing sped up. Cole didn’t think he’d ever get enough of touching her, of feeling the smoothness of her skin or the heat of her sex. The sleek wetness of her body.
“Look at us,” he growled softly in her ear. “See how good we are together?”
“Yes.” The word drifted out as a bare whisper.
“Pinch your nipples. Pretend those are my fingers squeezing them. Yes, like that,” he said when she obeyed. “Harder.”
He heard the hiss of her indrawn breath and saw the lids of her eyes droop as she did what he ordered. He added a second finger to the first and squeezed her clit between them. Leaving her boy shorts on, with his hand snaked beneath them, was more arousing than if he’d stripped her naked, as if they were doing something naughty. In fact, he planned to get even naughtier.
“Open your legs.” He gave the lobe of her ear a soft bite to emphasize his words. “Do it now.”
Obediently, she widened her stance, and he spread his fingers until his hand covered her entire sex. He pressed it against her wet flesh and dragged it up to the top of her mound then down again. Another one of those softly erotic sounds whispered from her lips. His cock flexed in response.
“Wet your fingers and coat your nipples.”
JL took a deep breath, licked the fingers of both hands then rubbed them lightly over her taut buds, now a dark rose color. Jesus! He moved his hips from side to side, letting her feel his hardness behind the denim.
Spreading his fingers against her hot flesh, he rubbed up and down, coasting each time over the tip of her clit. Touching, but never enough to give her what she wanted. She leaned into him while he petted and caressed and fondled her body. She dripped now, her cream thick on his fingers.
Sexy little noises rumbled from her throat, and her breathing ramped up. Cole increased the speed of his hand a little, then a little more. JL pushed harder against his touch.
“Legs farther apart.” He almost didn’t recognize his own voice, thick with lust.
She widened her stance even more, opening herself to his full touch. He dragged his hand back and forth over her clit, now moving faster, watching them both in the mirror. JL’s eyes locked with his as he brushed and petted and massaged, increasing the speed of his hand in small increments. She trembled now, and her legs shook the slightest bit. Cole banded one arm across her waist, holding her to him, steadying her. He could feel the pulse in her sex, now slippery to his touch.
“Please,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”
One hard stroke, then another and another, and she shattered, trembling as shudders raced through her. Her release washed through her, and a long moan of ecstasy burst from her lips. He pressed his hand against her, hard, as she came and came and came, touching her pulsing flesh until the last tremor subsided. Cole had to grit his teeth to hang on to his control. This was without a doubt one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen.
She still held her nipples in a tight grip, as if unable to release them, so he eased his hand from her shorts and lifted it. Very carefully, he removed each of her hands from her breasts and placed them at her sides. He kissed her shoulder, then gave it a tiny lick.
“Feel good, darlin’?”
“Mm-hmm.” She was still catching her breath.
“Did you like watching in the mirror? Did it make you hot?”
“Yes.” She barely spoke the word.
Her body was lax against him even as he felt it hum with unfulfilled need. Exactly what he wanted, her riding the edge until he could give her a deep, intense orgasm. He had big plans for tonight.
“Next time, we’ll do it with both of us naked.” He nipped her ear lobe. “But I promise you, right now if I’d taken my jeans off I’d have embarrassed myself like a sixteen-year-old horny teenager. You make me so hard and ready I could come just from looking at you.”
He turned her around and held her, kissing her forehead while her breathing steadied. Placing a soft kiss on her lips, then gently nipping her lower one and soothing the bite with his tongue. When he felt her relax in his hold, he slid his hands beneath her knees and lifted her in his arms. In seconds, he stripped the covers back on the bed and placed her carefully on the cool sheet.
He took in the sight of her naked body, a feast spread out before him. Pure lust heated his blood at her words. Time to get to the main event. With his gaze locked to hers, he stripped off his jeans and boxer briefs and tossed them carelessly to the side. His cock, relieved of its constriction, stood out swollen and thick. Standing beside the bed, he wrapped his hand around and drew it slowly up and down, drinking in the site of JL’s naked body.
She pushed herself to a sitting position and leaned forward, brushing away his hand and closing her own fingers around him. She gave a delicate slide with her tongue over the now ultrasensitive head, lapping up the bead of fluid sitting on the slit. Again an electric thrill seized him, and the heat surged through his veins and all the way to his balls.
He’d certainly had his share of women in his life, but with JL he’d learned the difference between having sex and making love. With her, every stroke was a caress, every touch a kiss, every joining a mystical experience. Whatever held her back from that next step in their relationship, he’d find a way to get past it. Because no way was he letting her out of his life.
In seconds, he’d dug a condom from the nightstand and rolled it on, then knelt between her thighs. She was so wet and slick, he practically glided inside her. When he filled every inch of her, he pulled in a deep breath to steady himself. Her sex was like a wet fist, holding him in a tight grip, her cream a hot liquid, scorching him through the thin latex.
Pulling in a deep breath, he began a slow, steady, in-and-out rhythm. As often as they’d made love, as much as they’d been together, every time with JL was new and exciting. He wondered if he lived another fifty years, would he ever get enough of her?
“Mmmmmm.” The sexy little hum danced over her lips as she arched and bucked and matched his movements thrust for thrust.
It felt so good, the grip of her and her searing, wet heat, that he didn’t want it ever to stop. But his release climbed its way up from deep inside him, warming his blood and sending his pulse racing. He reached for the edge of his control, but it snapped like a rubber band. He plunged harder, faster, his vision blurring as he pounded into her again and again. The muscles in his lower back constricted, and his balls tightened. He managed to slide one hand between them and rub her clit.
That was all it took for both of them. The orgasm roared up like a savage beast and shook them. Her inner walls pulsed and throbbed as he spurted into the latex sheath over and over until he felt as if every bit of his body had poured into her.
It seemed to take forever before his breathing and heart rate slowed enough that he could slide gently from her and lower her legs. He managed to move her so she lay completely on the bed, disposed of the condom, and dropped down beside her. Slick perspiration coated their skin, and neither of them was breathing too steadily yet.
Cole slid a hand up and cupped her chin, looking directly into her eyes. Slaked desire gave them a sultry look that would have had him hardening all over again if he hadn’t just ridden an intense climax. Her cheeks were still flushed with sexual heat, her nipples still darkened to a rosy brown. If he had the strength, he’d pull himself to his knees and lick her all over.
Idly, he stroked one hand over the dips and swells of her body, an affectionate rather than a sexual caress. He frowned when he saw the redness the stubble of his beard had created on her soft skin. He’d have to keep reminding himself how sensitive her skin was. Pushing himself up on one elbow, he sprinkled soft kisses over the abused area.
“Sorry about that.” He lifted his head so his face was close to hers. “I’ll try to remember to shave at night as well as in the morning.”
She curved her lips in a slow grin. “Actually, I kind of like it. I can walk around the next day reminded every minute of being with you. Making love with you.”
He touched his mouth to hers. “Good. I like being on your mind all the time. Same as you are on mine.”
“Cole?” Her smile faded.
“Yeah, darlin’?”
“You don’t really think any of these people would do anything drastic, do you? Unless you believe this elaborate security system is so much overkill, I’m beginning to get frightened.”
He chose his words carefully, not wanting to frighten her but needing her to understand the severity of the situation.
“Remember what Dan said? This is a good opportunity to test the system in a small, controlled area. It would take a week to install it at one of our corporate clients as opposed to one day here.” He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. “That being said, your project, if it’s successful, could mean a whole shitload of money for someone. Greed is a devil, JL. It makes people do terrible things. I don’t know how far any of these people would go to get the formula when it’s ready, but I want to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
“We need to get those lunch meetings set up,” she reminded him. “I’m sure I’ll hear from the people involved again this week. I’ll stop letting the answering machine pick up, so I can talk to them. I never thought I’d have to use my ability to read auras to protect myself.”
As she spoke the words, pain bloomed in her eyes, but only for an instant.
“JL? What is it, baby?”
She blinked. “Nothing. Just—nothing.” The smile she gave him looked only slightly forced. “I think a hot shower is what we need before we fall asleep.” She chuckled. “But no funny stuff. You wore me out.”
He made himself smile back. “Then my work here is done.”
But standing under the hot water with her, soaping her body and feeling her hands on his, he knew he’d have to figure out how to learn whatever plagued her that still kept an invisible wall between them, albeit a shimmery one. That made her resent her gift so much.
JL watched Brian disconnect the call on his cell. He’d walked into the kitchen to take one call, then made another before rejoining her in the living room.
“Problem?” she asked.
“Afraid our dinner got put on hold, babe. That was Jerry. I’ve gotta go. Something just came up.” He kissed her forehead. “I promise to make it up to you.”
“Am I allowed to ask what it’s about?”
“It’s that drug case Jerry and I have been working. He got a tip just this second from one of our snitches that the drug dealer we’ve been stalking has a big deal set up for tonight.” He looked at his watch. “In about ninety minutes. The snitch only now found out about it.”
“Don’t you usually get word about this enough in advance to have plenty of backup?”
“Jerry said he’s already talked to the captain. Backup is rolling as we speak.”
Her stomach knotted, a dark foreboding sweeping through her system. “I want you to be very careful. I don’t like the feel of this.”
Anger lined his face. “Are you on that kick again?”
“Brian, I wish you’d listen to me.”
JL twisted her hands together. For a scientist, she was strangely undone. But then, having an ability for which she could find no scientific reason was enough to rattle her to begin with. She kept trying to turn it off, to put up shields the way she’d read in books. But this time it just would not go away.
Brian shoved his hands into his pockets. “I can’t believe you expect me to take this nonsense literally. I’m a cop, for God’s sake, JL. I deal in facts. In things I can see.”
“You also deal in theories,” she pointed out. “Call this a theory.”
“That my partner’s some kind of bad guy and I should be careful of him?” He snorted. “I don’t think so.”
“Something bad is going to happen.” She had to try and make him pay attention. The sense of foreboding grew even stronger.
“But that doesn’t mean it has anything to do with Jerry. Jesus, JL, we’ve been partners for five years. Don’t you think I’d now if the guy was into bad shit?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. And maybe he’s just good at concealing it.”
Brian paced, nervous energy radiating form him in waves. He stopped and glared at her. “You’ve got to get off this kick. Jerry’s a good guy. We’ve been through some tough shit together. I won’t let you mess that up.” He glanced at his watch again. “Anyway, he’ll be here in a few to pick me up, and I can’t be distracted by this.” He cupped her cheeks, tilted her face to his, and gave her a hard kiss. “I’m leaving my car here so you’ll know to expect me back. We may not get dinner, but you sure are good enough to eat. I’ll settle for that.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but the doorbell rang.
“That’s Jerry. He was getting a bite to eat not far from here when he got the call.”
“I’ll get it.” She opened the door to see Brian’s partner standing there. Tall, lanky, with blond good looks, he could be the all-American guy. Except for the black aura usually shimmering around him. Tonight, it crashed into her the moment she laid eyes on him. JL had all she could do not to slam the door and lock it.
Jerry frowned. “You okay, JL?”
“Yes. I, uh—”
“I’m ready.” Brian had come up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Thanks for picking me up, guy.”
“Sure.” Jerry grinned. “Looking fine as usual, JL.”
“Thanks.” She turned and, ignoring the man on the porch, dragged Brian’s head down to hers and gave him the hottest kiss she could manage.
“Hey, hey, hey.” He disentangled her arms. “This won’t take long. I’ll get Jerry to stop so I can pick up a pizza on the way back. We’ll open a bottle of wine, gorge on a late dinner and ourselves.”
“But—”
He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips. “Gotta go. Everything will be fine. I promise.”
Before she could say another word, he was gone, down the walk and climbing into Jerry’s car. She stood there for long moments, hugging herself as if chilled before finally closing the door. She fixed a cup of tea and sipped it slowly, trying to calm her jittery nerves, but the feeling of dread would not go away.
They had been together for six months, she and Brian, the scientist and the cop. They’d met in a coffee shop where they’d both been getting their early-morning caffeine fix. It was crowded, someone jostled her arm, and she spilled her coffee, barely missing him. If not love at first sight, it was at least intense heat. But as they spent more time together, the love began to grow.
They were very private about their relationship. She had no close friends and only a couple of acquaintances. Her social skills had always taken a back seat to her focus on science. Brian told her he didn’t do much socializing with other cops, and he also lacked a circle of friends. So it was really only the two of them. He’d become her rock. Her anchor.
The first time she’d met Jerry, the black surrounding him had been so intense it nearly made her ill. Working up the courage to talk to Brian about it had taken some time and, of course, he’d thought her nuts. After all, he’d known Jerry longer than he’d known her, he pointed out. It became a continuous source of argument, so she finally dropped it. But tonight it was back, stronger than ever, reinforced when she saw Jerry surrounded by a black cloud.
The evening stretched endlessly. She tried reading but couldn’t concentrate on the words. She made an effort to watch television but finally turned it down low, just to have the noise in the background, poured herself a glass of wine, and settled down to count the minutes and hours.
At some point, she dozed off, awaking with a start and the alarming feeling something was terribly wrong. She peered at her watch, shocked to realize it was after two in the morning. Surely it hadn’t taken seven hours for Brian and Jerry to interview one person. If something else came up, he would have called. He always did, unless—
JL pressed her hands to her temples. She wouldn’t go there. But the man who had promised pizza and sex would not have stayed gone this long unless something terrible had happened. She chewed her lip as she paced her living room, finally grabbing her cell phone from the counter. She’d call him and let it ring twice. Two rings wouldn’t be so bad, right? He wasn’t undercover. If he didn’t answer, she’d hang up and wait it out.
But, right after the second ring, a strange voice answered.
“Brian Ward’s phone. Who is this?”
Nausea rose in her throat. “Who is this?”
“Captain Delahanty, Seattle PD. I want to know who called this number.”
JL had to swallow twice before she could get any more words out. “J. L. Mitchell. I’m a—a—” What exactly am I? “A good friend of Brian’s. Is—is he there?”
The long silence said more than any words could have told her. She clutched the phone to her ear, waiting. When Delahanty spoke again, his voice sounded pained and weary.
“There’s been—an accident, Miss Mitchell.”
Accident?
“Is Brian okay?” She tried to breathe. “Can I speak to him?”
More silence, although she heard murmuring in the background.
“Can you give me your address, please?” The kindness in his voice told her more than anything he said. “I’d like to send an officer to speak with you. I know it’s late, but—”
“Brian,” she said again. “Can I speak to Brian? What’s wrong?”
“Like I said, there’s been an accident. It would be better if I sent someone to your house.”
Oh God. She knew. Damn it, she knew. Someone was screaming, and it took her a while to realize it was her.
Then someone was shaking her, and she tried to get away.
“No, no, no, no. Don’t touch me.”
“Wake up. JL, wake up, darlin’. Come on.” Cole had a firm grip on her arms, trying to drag her out of whatever nightmare gripped her. The terror etched on her face was so blatant he felt his own fear rise up.
What the hell?
Finally, he pulled her against him and kissed her, hard, wrapping one arm around her and using his free hand to cup her head. After a moment, she stopped struggling, blinked, and stared at him, wide-eyed. He pulled back slightly but still kept his arm around her.
“W-what are you doing? Did you wake me up so you could kiss me?” She tried to push at him again, giving a shaky little laugh. “What’s going on, Cole?”
He brushed her tangled curls back from her face. “You were having a nightmare, sweetheart. I thought you’d scream the house down. Are you okay?”
Her face turned as white as the sheets, and she trembled in his grasp. He soothed her with his hands, petting her as you would a child. His own heart galloped, even as he tried to calm JL. She stopped trying to fight him and get away. He held her in the circle of his arms, stroking her back, smoothing kisses on her forehead until he felt more of the tension seep from her body. He wanted to get her a drink of water, or maybe some tea, but he was afraid to let go of her, afraid to leave the room. The scream that had woken him had been as shrill as a coyote, shaking him out of a sound sleep.
What the fuck could have scared her so badly?
Finally, her breathing steadied enough he felt he could move.
“I’m going to get you a drink of water, JL. You okay here for a minute?”
She nodded, teeth biting into her lower lip.
“Okay, then. I’ll be right back.”
He hurried as fast as he could, bringing the filled glass back with him as well as a damp cloth to bathe her face. Instead of climbing back in bed with her, he set the glass and cloth on a table next to the big armchair he kept in the room, picked JL up, and sat in the chair with her cradled in his lap. He held the glass while she sipped at the water, wiped the perspiration from her face, and made quieting sounds until at last she melted, boneless, into his body.
He waited in silence, well aware if he pushed too hard she’d clam up and he’d never get anything out of her. At last, a sigh rolled up from deep inside her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I guess I owe you an explanation.” Her voice sounded so small, not at all like the confident woman he knew.
“Well,” he drawled, keeping his voice low and even, “it would be nice to know why a woman woke up in my bed screaming. If you wanted me that bad, darlin’, you only needed to poke me awake.”
She fell silent again, and Cole wondered if she’d decided against giving him any answers. Then she heaved another huge sigh, and the words came out in a halting but steady stream. Cole used every ounce of his self-control to remain calm, stroking her arm, cuddling her, kissing her forehead, anything to give her the sense of safety and security he knew she needed.
“Captain Delahanty came to my house himself,” she told him. “He was stunned to learn about me. I told you, we kept ourselves well under the radar. But he was very kind. I could tell it was a hard visit for him.”
“Did he tell you what happened?”
“Not all of it. Not then. He just told me something had gone wrong at the drug bust and Brian was killed.” A tiny sob choked her throat. “But I knew there was more to it than that. I knew Jerry was involved somehow.”
“Did you tell the captain about your feelings about this Jerry?”
“Ha! Are you kidding? They would have thought me as much of a nut as Brian had.” She nestled deeper into his embrace. “Anyway, I had things to do, and I could only focus on one at a time. Brian’s parents live in Wyoming, and I had to contact them. They had never met me. In fact, Brian had barely mentioned me to them. We were really taking things slow, so you can believe I was quite a shock to them.”
“That had to be tough.”
She nodded. “They took him back to Wyoming to bury him. Even in their grief they insisted I come back with them and stay in their home until after the funeral. I was still a hot mess when I got back to Seattle. I hadn’t been back to work at the lab since the night Brian died. My boss told me to take whatever time I needed. I think he was stunned, too. I’m such a private person, no one there even knew I had someone in my life.”
Same as here, he reminded himself. Totally absorbed in her work, her father, and him.
“It must have been hell for you, going through all that without a support system.”
“I couldn’t rest until I knew what happened. From the moment I learned of Brian death, I knew Jerry had something to do with it, but there was so little information being released.”
“I’m sure you took the silence as a sign you were right.” His heart ached at the thought of her going through all that agony by herself.
“I pulled myself together enough to call the captain and insist he meet with me. He wasn’t a happy man. I told him I knew something was off about the whole thing, and if he didn’t tell me I’d go over his head.”
Cole chuffed a short, hard laugh. “I’m sure that made you very popular with him.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Like I cared. All I wanted were some answers.”
“So what did you find out?”
“It seems Jerry had been taking payoffs from the drug dealer for a long time. Brian was asking too many questions, and the head honcho wanted him out of the way. Jerry had it all set up. There was a bust, just like he said. But instead of the drug dealers, they faced a bunch of guys peddling stolen electronics. A setup, so Jerry could carry out his marching orders.” She paused, drew in a deep breath, and shuddered slightly as she let it out.
Bitterness flooded Cole’s throat. He hated dirty cops, the same way he hated those in the military who dishonored their missions.
“Jerry had backup, just like he said, but he started the shooting, hoping to cause enough confusion no one would pay close attention. He had a throwdown gun to use. All his bases covered. Unlucky for him, though, another cop came around the corner of the warehouse at the exact moment he shot Brian.”
“Damn, sweetheart.”
“I know, right?” Another sigh, and other little wiggle as she settled even deeper into the cradle of his arms.
“I can only imagine your pain.” Cole stroked her arm, petting her as he would a child in a nightmare. He swept a light kiss over her forehead.
“I couldn’t stay there anymore. Everything was all . . . I couldn’t. I quit my job, came home, and beat myself up, wondering if I missed any way I could have made Brian believe me about his partner.”
“Don’t do that to yourself, darlin’. Ease up. I don’t think you’d have been able to convince Brian. If he wasn’t a believer to begin with, it’s not an easy concept to accept.”
“But you did the other night,” she reminded him.
“Because I have partners who believe. Whose wives all have psychic abilities, as you discovered. Abilities I knew about going in and learned about in a very logical, practical way. Abilities with proven track records.” He pulled her closer to him. “Psychic abilities are used by law enforcement departments all over the country, JL. The government even had an ongoing program dealing with remote viewing as a way to gather intelligence.”
“It did? Then I wonder why Brian was so negative about the whole thing.”
“For some people, there is a lack of understanding and acceptance. Dan and Mia battled it when she helped Carpenter Techtronics with their situation.”
“I never really took the time to investigate psychic phenomena.” JL fell silent. “You’re willing to set up these lunches and trust my gift to see if any of these people are surrounded by a negative aura, right?”
“I am.” He kissed the lobe of one ear.
“And if I saw you with people whose auras were even slightly tinged with black, or any kind of situation that produced it, you’d listen to me?”
“I would. But I want you to listen to me, too.” His voice was firm. “If that’s what’s been holding you back, what’s keeping us from making things more permanent between us, you have to know there are no guarantees in life. I could be a plumber, and bad things could happen to me.”
“Maybe. But being in the line of work you’ve chosen just increases the odds. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure I could have handled it when you were in the marines, a sniper going into dangerous situations.”
“I think you’re a lot stronger than you think. And I can promise you, whatever I do with Phoenix, I’ll always have good intel and good backup.”
“That didn’t stop Rick Latrobe from getting shot and nearly killed,” she reminded him.
“An aberration. And a good lesson for me.” He gave her a slow grin. “Xena the Wonder Dog kept trying to warn him of danger. Rick even tried to get Kelly and Xena to go to Iraq with him, but that wasn’t possible. What he should have done—and will if it ever comes up again—was agree to send someone else with the shipment. He knows it now.”
“I wanted you to take the Phoenix offer because I knew how badly you wanted it,” she told him in a soft voice. “I also knew after the marines ranching by itself wouldn’t do it for you. And you’ll be very good at this. But I—” She shrugged.
“I hear you, believe me. I love you, JL. Maybe I haven’t said it enough, but I do. The real thing.” He cupped her chin so he could lift her face to his. “Answer me one question: do you love me? Do you really feel this for me? I mean, more than the great sex and being together.”
She lowered her eyes. “Yes.” Her voice was so low he had to strain to hear it. “But—”
“No more buts. We’ll go at your pace. Just so you know there are no guarantees in life, right? Like I said about the plumber—”
She touched her fingertips to his mouth. “I hear you. And I don’t want you to be a plumber, okay? I need you to help me get past all this, though.”
“As long as I know we’re on the right track, I’m good to go. Right now, I’m more worried about you.”
She gave him an impish grin. “But I have my very own security expert to protect me, right?”
“Damn straight.” He gave her a hard kiss. “And I’m going to make fucking damn sure nothing happens to you.”
“I know.”
“Then let’s go back to bed.”
“I’m not sure I can fall asleep again,” she told him.
He grinned. “Who said anything about sleep?”