By the time the world came back, the feel of Connor’s naked chest behind her had been replaced with his cotton T-shirt. Normally baby-soft from endless washings and use, it seemed scratchy now against her skin. The man in question was still holding her close, nuzzling her pulse point and dropping small kisses there while his hands stroked along her body. The blazing heat between them had turned to a simmer from the intensity of her orgasm, his touch comforting rather than arousing. She relaxed her head back on his shoulders, leaning into him. His body, supporting hers, holding up her weight as his hands stroked her leisurely was so relaxing she could almost fall asleep right there, standing up in the equipment room. It felt right. Her eyes drifted closed. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit it felt like home.

Connor’s hands skimmed again over her thighs, and this time when they came back up, he was grasping the waistband of her pants. He pulled them back over her legs, pausing to squeeze her butt cheek before sliding the fabric up and over and fastening them.

She felt his grin against her neck, and Scarlett couldn’t help but return it. The man was warm comfort, but at the same time it seemed he couldn’t get enough of touching her. She could relate. Whenever she was physically close to him—and for the foreseeable future it looked that would be all the time—Scarlett felt the most relaxed when her hand was touching Connor. It didn’t matter where; just resting over his as they sat at a table was enough. The nudge of her shoulder against his in the truck. With a still-unknown perp escalating further and very little to go on, she should have been stressed to the point of coming undone. Instead, she was quietly confident. They were going to find this asshole, and nail them to the wall. She was sure of it.

Scarlett tilted her head, tucking back in to his touch. She moved her hands backward, gripping lightly on his hips as Connor did up the buttons on her shirt, reaching around her body as he almost cradled her in his arms. She pressed back against his still-impressive bulge, despite his softening cock, and grinned when his fingers faltered. “Damn, woman,” he muttered in her ear. “I need some recovery time.”

She dropped her hands away, still grinning as she turned to face him. Scarlett drank in his features, from the tips of his sex-mussed hair all the way to his still-bare feet. How someone’s feet could be sexy, she didn’t know, but Connor’s were. “I can think of a few things to do in the meantime.”

Connor returned her grin, and the heat rekindling inside her was reflected in his gaze. His mouth fell to hers, but as he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, a knock sounded at the door, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat. “Umm, guys.” Jeremy’s voice came through the door. Poor guy must have drawn the short straw as to who was going to go downstairs and interrupt them.

Connor hastily did up his fly and then pulled the door open, the grin still plastered on his face. “What’s up, Jer? Need something?”

Scarlett bit her lip to stop from laughing at the look on Jeremy’s face when the door swung open. The man’s hand was held up in the air in a light fist, as if he was about to knock. His eyes had widened as the door swung open, his gaze doing a rapid spot-check between the two of them. He let out a breath as his hand dropped to his side, a small grin sliding across his face in answer to the teasing one on Connor’s face. “Aww, you guys. You didn’t wait for me. Looks like I missed all the good bits.”

That time, Scarlett couldn’t stop her giggle from escaping, and Jeremy leaned around Connor and winked at her before standing back straight. His hands went to his shirt, and he pulled it up as if he were about to sling it off, displaying his ab muscles. “Do I need to show you how it’s done, Buddy? You’ve clearly let the side down. She’s still standing.”

Blush colored Scarlett’s cheeks, surprising her. The climate at the station was much the same; politically incorrect and completely irreverent. It was how the guys blew off stress, and she usually gave as good as she got. She frowned. Well, she used to. It had been a while since she’d been included in any of the daily verbal sparring matches. Connor looked down and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her back close to his side. His expression tightened at the look on her face, and he turned back to Jeremy. “Back off, Man.”

Jeremy held up his hands, stepping back. “It’s all good.” He stepped toward the entrance to the common area, jerking his thumb up the stairs. “Boss man wanted the room available again in case any calls came in. I can see you’re  . . . available, and so that’s all I need.” He turned, hightailing it back up the stairs.

Scarlett turned in to Connor’s chest, patting it lightly. “You didn’t need to be so hard on the guy. He was only joking.”

Connor’s frown deepened. “He was making you uncomfortable,” he growled. “Besides, I don’t want anyone else thinking about my girl like that.”

His words sent a million butterflies off in her stomach along with a burst of warmth all at once. His girl. She could get used to that.

She was moving to kiss him again, staying fully-clothed this time, unfortunately, when her phone buzzed. At some point, it had fallen out of her pocket, and it vibrated loudly against the concrete floor. She bent down and scooped it up, swiping to read the text message that had set it off.

Labs are back. Thought you’d want to know —Holly.

A tingle of excitement grew in Scarlett’s gut, mixing with the emotions swirled up at Connor’s words. Of course, with Harrelson keeping her continued involvement on the case on the down-low, she wouldn’t have gotten the official notification from the lab techs, but thank God for her friend in dispatch. Holly had looked out for Scarlett from the get-go. She’d just have to remember to tell her friend no more attempts at setting her up on blind dates. She’d found everything she needed right here.

She turned back to Connor, kissing him lightly. She resisted the urge to open her mouth and seek out his tongue. That would only lead to one thing, and even if Connor’s boss wasn’t about to send out more reluctant of the squad members hunting them down, she could well miss her chance to intercept the reports. She bent down, pulling on her boots. Somehow it was easier to tell him she was leaving if she wasn’t looking at his face. “I need to head to the station for a bit.”

“No problem,” Connor said. “I’ll have Mason organize a replacement for me. As soon as they’re here, we can get going.”

Scarlett bit her lip. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit that walking out into the open was still giving her the heebie-jeebies, just a little. But that was something she was just going to have to get over. Someone took a shot at her. Big deal. She wasn’t the first cop to be in the line of fire as part of the job, and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. Something seared through her at the thought, and for a moment she was overtaken by memories of the night someone had shot at Derek. He hadn’t been so lucky.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, forcing the thoughts away. Derek’s death had left a gap in her heart that she thought would never be filled. For months, she’d done nothing except exist. She’d done more living in the last few weeks than she had for an entire year, and Scarlett wasn’t about to let herself be dragged back to that dark place again. She survived, and she owed it to Derek—to herself—to start living again. The first thing she was going to do was get the fuck over her fear. The one thing she could do was refuse to let any more of her life be tainted by one terrible night. As much as her heart would like to wait for Connor, she had a job to do, and that meant she needed to leave immediately or she’d miss her chance.

“I have to go now,” she said, hoping the reluctance she felt didn’t show in her voice. At the sight of Connor’s frown, she added, “but I’ll text you when I get there, if it’ll make you feel better?”

Connor looked like he was going to say something else, but then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug. His breath felt warm against her neck, and she clung to him, sucking in as much of his scent as she could. “I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“You better be,” he said. “Otherwise I might have to resort to Jeremy’s offer.”

His laughter was still ringing in her ears as Scarlett hopped into her truck out in the firehouse’s parking lot and turned toward the station.

The drive was quick, what rush hour Monroe did get having long finished, and too early for the moms to be out picking up kids from school. She frowned as a couple of squad cars passed her on the way. It was unusual, but they didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry. Besides, if there was another fire, it would be Connor’s crew that headed out first, all lights and sirens. She was sure she’d hear about that, even if Harrelson was still attempting to keep her in the dark. He’d promised to let her keep investigating, but habits were hard to break. She wouldn’t be surprised at all if her boss still tried to keep information from her in an attempt to protect her.

She smiled to herself as she stepped out of her car. Maybe by breaking this case open, Harrelson would finally realize that she wasn’t some delicate flower that needed to be wrapped up and hidden from the world. She was still a cop. After everything, her vow to protect and serve meant more to her than ever. She’d be damned if she was going to let some assholes with a new, exploding toy take over her town.

Her frown returned when she walked into the back of the station. As she walked down the empty hall and found an also empty bullpen, a heavy boulder joined the bad feelings swirling in her gut. The room looked as it always did, except entirely empty. Papers were strewn over desks, the occasional filing cabinet still open. Pens left uncapped on desks, a phone or two sitting off the hook on the desk, one with the headset left hanging off the edge, swinging by the cord.

It was damn eerie.

The whole vision reminded Scarlett of those documentaries where they showed you what the earth would be like if humans were suddenly wiped off the face of the earth. There were no creeping vines or wild animals making their way into the squad rooms just yet, but she could almost imagine it. The room was usually loud at minimum, but right now it was as if everyone had suddenly just disappeared, everything sitting exactly as it had been in a single moment.

The silence that was screaming through her mind was broken by the distant sound of chatter coming from up the hall. Scarlett nearly wobbled with relief, and the cold fingers wrapped around her spine receded at the sound of her friend’s voice. Holly. She’d know what the hell was going on. Her friend ruled dispatch, and as a result was always the first to know anything. Well, maybe that was more to do with the fact that Holly was an insatiable gossip. She was a sweetheart, though, and never meant it unkindly. Right now, Scarlett would take any info she could get.

She moved down the hall, her jog increasing in speed until she jerked around the corner to Holly’s domain almost at full run. When she got there, she took in the sight of her friend, alone in a room that was usually staffed by several operators during busy times. She worked the phones like a pro, picking up one and barking something into it before dropping it back, only to grab another and place it on hold to talk to someone in her headset. Scarlett watched the whole routine repeat itself several times over before she managed to get her friend’s attention.

Holly’s eyes widened at the sight of her, and her mouth dropped open. “Scarlett! What the hell are you doing here?” A phone rang again, and Holly jumped at the sound, running a hand through her already-mussed-up hair and tugging on the ends as she picked it up. “No, your unit is on standby in case there’s a second wave. Meanwhile, I need you down at the National Guard base in case anyone pulls some more shit over there.”

At her words, Scarlett felt the blood drain from her face. No. There was no way Holly was reacting any way other than with absolute authority right now. Something was going down, and she needed to know. Now. She waited until Holly disconnected from the call and then stepped forward and yanked the headset from her head. “Holly. What’s going on?”

She expected to be reprimanded for snatching the headset, or at least have her hand slapped away, but Holly reacted as if Scarlett had done nothing at all. Instead, she twisted, grabbing a pen to scrawl something over a piece of paper. Scarlett tried to read over her shoulder. It wasn’t a report, or even anything official—just a blank piece of paper that Holly must have grabbed at some point in an urgent need to take notes. “Holly!” she barked. “What the fuck?”

Her friend suddenly seemed to remember Scarlett was still standing there. She turned, her expression still harried as she shoved the pen through her ponytail. “You don’t know?”

“No! I just left the firehouse fifteen minutes ago, and everything was fine and dandy then. Where is everyone?”

Holly’s eyes did that damn widening thing again, this time combined with guilt scrawling across her face. “I’m not supposed to tell you, but what the hell. Monroe needs all the hands on deck it can get right now.” She looked up, nailing Scarlett with her gaze. Despite her panic, her friend was all business. Any trace of her usual casual friendliness was entirely gone. The cold hand yanking on Scarlett’s spine returned.

“There was a bomb,” Holly said. “Oh, God, Scarlett. It took out half the high school. Everyone’s there.”