Fatal Series 01 - Fatal Affair

you thinking about?”
    He couldn’t tell her he loved her. Not now. Not in the midst of murder and chaos and not when she wasn’t ready to hear it. Later, he decided. There’d be time. He would make sure of it. “That you showed a lot of spine before, letting them know you planned to stay on the case.”
    “Yeah, well, apparently they predicted that’s what I’d say and had planned for it.” She looked up at him. “I just cashed in every good judgment and sterling moral code chip I’ve earned in twelve years on the force to bring you into my life.” With a coy smile, she added, “I hope you’re going to be worth it.”
    Realizing the huge step she was taking, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her. “I will be. I promise.”
    “I was kidding.”
    “I wasn’t.”
    She brought him down to her and sucked the breath out of his lungs with a passionate kiss.
    “Sam,” he gasped, burying his face in the elegant curve of her neck. “God.”
    “What? What is it?”
    “When I think about what might’ve happened.” He raised his head, met her sparkling blue eyes and was grateful. So very grateful. “I know this is all so new, but the thought of losing you…again… I don’t want to lose you.”
    “You won’t. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
    “They could take a shot at you right now. We’re totally exposed standing out here.”
    She reached up to caress his face. “You can’t do this. If you’re going to be with me—”
    “If?”
    She smiled. “I get hurt every now and then. I have close calls—not like I did today—but stuff happens . You can’t let fear rule you. That’s no life for you—or me.” She hesitated, as if there was something else she wanted to say.
    “What?” He sensed her tension before he felt it. “Babe. What?”
    “When I was married,” she said haltingly, “Peter obsessed about my safety, my whereabouts, my cases. It wasn’t healthy, and while it wasn’t the only problem we had, it made a bad situation much worse. It was totally suffocating.”
    “I hear what you’re saying, and I understand. I really do. I’ll do my best to give you room to breathe, but you’ve got to give me some time to adjust, okay? I’m not used to the woman I care about being nearly blown up in my front yard. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the dangers that go with your job.”
    “Fair enough.”
    He brushed his thumbs over the deep, dark circles under her eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to the lump on her forehead. “You’re whipped. Do you think you could sleep for a bit?”
    “I guess I could try, but my mind is racing. I want to get everyone here later when Freddie gets back to start all over again. We’re missing something. I know we are.”
    “You won’t be any good to anyone if you run yourself into the ground. How about a nap to recharge?”
    She flashed that coy smile he’d come to love. “Only if you join me.”
    “ Here? With your dad in the house?”
    “He can’t shoot you.”
    “That’s not funny. He can have me killed. Easily.”
    “I was married, Nick. He knows I’ve had sex.”
    “Not with me.”
    “I’ll bet he doesn’t think we were baking cookies last night.”
    “That’s what we were doing. If he asks, that’s exactly what we were doing. Baking cookies—all night long.”
    Laughing, she took his hand to lead him inside. “We’re going to crash for a bit,” she said to Celia. “Freddie is due back later tonight. If we conk out big time, will you wake us up when he gets here?”
    “I sure will, honey. Can I get you two something to eat?”
    “I don’t think I could eat yet,” Sam said, running her hand over her belly.
    “Me either,” Nick said. “But thanks anyway.” He glanced at the kitchen where Skip was still engrossed in the immigration bill. “If you could fail to mention to Chief Holland that I’m upstairs, too, that’d be cool. In fact, I’d pay you.”
    Celia chuckled and waved them up. “I’ll see what I can do.”
    Feeling like a teenager sneaking into his girlfriend’s room—a goal he’d never managed to achieve back then—Nick followed Sam up the stairs.
    She closed the bedroom door and pulled off her sweater.
    He winced at the ugly purple bruise on her chest. If he hadn’t stopped breathing, he might’ve enjoyed watching her strip. “I agreed to a nap. I didn’t agree to nudity.”
    “You want me to sleep, right?”
    “Uh huh.”
    She wiggled out of her jeans and