He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not

deep in her hair. She waited for the panic but it didn’t come. Suddenly they were wrapping themselves up in each other. His mouth clamped down on hers and she struggled to pull him as close as possible. He growled low in his throat and lifted her up against him so she stood on her toes, her core centered against his firm ridge. The kiss went on and on, hotter and hotter until she was shaking with need.
    When she shifted her legs to cuddle him more intimately against her, he tore his mouth free and shuddered. “We have to stop.”
    Disappointment flared inside her but she knew he was right. He was probably afraid she would have a flashback again. She pulled out of his arms and started back down the path.
    He caught up to her quickly, put his hand through hers to guide her as he lit the way with a flashlight. “Don’t you want to know why I said we had to stop?”
    “I’m not an idiot, Logan. I know you’re worried I’ll freak out again. To tell you the truth, I’m worried, too. You were right to stop us. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to dream, to hope that we could . . . share ourselves in that way. I probably couldn’t handle it, no matter how much I want to.”
    They stepped out of the trees and onto the soft, springy grass of his back yard. She increased her strides, anxious to get back into the house, to forget this incredibly wonderful evening had ever happened. She couldn’t allow herself to dream of a future with Logan. It hurt too much, knowing it could never be.
    “Amanda, wait.” He caught up to her on the back deck. He gently turned her around, pressed his hand beneath her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes. “I didn’t want to stop, Mandy. I had to stop. Karen went home to have dinner and spend a few hours with her husband, Mike, but she’s coming back.” He glanced at his watch. “She’ll be here in a few minutes. They’re transferring Branson to the county lockup tonight to avoid the press. I have to be at the lockup to sign the paperwork when he gets there.”
    “Oh.” She was still stuck on the part where he’d said he didn’t want to stop. Her gaze lowered to his mouth and she licked her suddenly-dry lips. “Well, then, ah . . . thank you for a . . . wonderful evening.” She turned and ran into the house.
    L ogan didn’t make it to the county lockup. Neither did Branson.
    Pierce walked up beside Logan and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him as they both watched the detectives collecting evidence from the road surrounding the crumpled Ford Explorer and the T-boned patrol car.
    “The officer at the scene didn’t tell me much on the phone. Can you fill me in?” Pierce asked.
    “I’ll tell you what he told me, which probably isn’t much more than he told you. Two officers were transferring Branson to county lockup. It’s only ten miles from the station. When they didn’t show and didn’t respond to dispatch, another officer was sent to look for them and this is what he found.” He nodded toward the mangled cars.
    “How many victims?”
    “Two, that we know of. Both Branson and the driver of the Explorer are unaccounted for. The two officers who drove the patrol car are both in the hospital.”
    A muscle ticked in the side of Logan’s cheek. One of the officers, Redding, a young rookie, was in a coma. Logan had met the officer’s young wife at the academy’s graduation ceremony a couple of months ago. He remembered her name was Julia.
    The rookie’s partner was Clayton. Although he was unconscious at the scene, his vital signs were strong and steady. The EMTs were optimistic about his prognosis.
    “This is a busy road. Someone had to see the crash.” Pierce glanced at the line of cars being diverted onto the shoulder of the rural highway to get around the scene.
    “Not as busy as you think. This traffic is unusual, mostly curious kids with nothing better to do than to see where all the fire trucks were going when they sped through town.”
    “Knowing you,” Pierce said. “I’ll bet you’ve got a theory already.”
    Logan crossed his arms and shrugged as a tow truck arrived to take one of the cars away. “You can look at this several ways. The most obvious is that it really was an accident. The driver of the Explorer panicked when he realized he’d hit a police car, so he took off. Branson saw an opportunity to escape and he took it.”
    “Sounds reasonable.” Pierce cringed at the ear-piercing shriek of metal on metal as the tow