Dance With Me - By Hayden Braeburn Page 0,34
her warmth, her acceptance, her love. Real love. Love that would die for a mate, not capture and kill for want of it.
She felt him disconnect and pulled away. “We don't have to do this. I love you, I want you, but I won't take what's not given freely.”
He kissed her again, softly this time. “I need you, Kat.”
“You need me,” she replied. “And you'll always have me, but you don't need this.”
“Rain check?” he asked, hoping his tone was teasing. Kat knew him too well, knew he would throw up walls and pretend things were fine even when he was ready to break. He rolled them both to their sides, arranging their bodies spoon-fashion on the overstuffed couch.
She settled against him. Her body might be unsatisfied, but she was happy with her choice. She knew he would have made love with her, but he didn't need that. Not yet. “Of course. I plan on collecting that rain check, too, don't you forget it.”
He smiled against her hair. “I love you.”
“I know. I love you, too.”
~*~
“My client has nothing more to say,” Gregory Peters said as soon as Chris and Jason walked into the interrogation room.
“You can't throw us out when we've only just gotten here, counselor,” Chris joked. “Besides, we haven't heard all the lady has already said.”
Peters' eyes went cold. “Get the transcripts, gentleman. Ms. McClaren is not speaking to you.”
At that moment, Priscilla looked up, her gaze catching on Jason. “You!” She pointed at him. “You stuck me in a car and let me scream myself horse. You mistreated me.”
Jason tried and failed to hold in a snort of laughter. “I mistreated you? You had just shot a man twice.” He raised an eyebrow. “No one made you scream when you were in the car.”
Ignoring her attorney, she kept right on yelling at the detective. “Yes, you did.”
Playing along, Jason asked, “How?”
“You arrested me.” She heaved a resigned sigh. “I was mad.”
Stark raving mad. “Of course you were. You had plans and no one was abiding by them.”
“Exactly! Mason wasn't listening, and then that tall man nearly broke my back, and then you shoved me in a car.”
“I did. You nearly killed a man today.”
“I didn't mean to shoot him. I wanted to shoot Mason.”
Her lawyer was yelling at her nonstop through the entire exchange, and now he nearly clamped his hand over her mouth. “Priscilla, you can't confess to every detective who walks through this door,” he whispered in her ear.
“It doesn't matter anyway. My life is over.”
Peters gave her a strange look. “You didn't kill anyone.”
“It doesn't matter,” she said again before dissolving into tears.
“We're done here,” Peters said unnecessarily. Chris and Jason had already turned to leave.
~*~
Dylan cracked his eyes open, the beep of the machines telling him he'd made it to a hospital. He hadn't hurt this much since Iraq. He squeezed his eyes shut against the memory, a groan escaping his lips.
“Do you want some water?” a soft voice asked from his right.
He turned his head, expecting to find a nurse and was floored by who was sitting there with a plastic cup. Had he been hit in the head when he'd been shot? Whatever, he was thirsty. “Please.”
Cassidy brought the straw to his lips, choosing to fill the silence with an answer to the question he hadn't yet asked. “I know you're wondering why I'm here. You saved my brother's life, and I didn't know if you had anyone to worry about you.”
He spat the straw from his mouth. “So you decided you'd worry for me?” His voice sounded like sandpaper and made the question harsher than he'd intended.
“You took two bullets meant for my brother. Caleb said if either one of those bullets had been over even a millimeter you'd be dead.” She took his hand in hers. “And it's all my fault.”
He blinked at her. “How ya figure it's your fault?” he asked. Priscilla had never mentioned Cassidy Everett. She sighed then, causing her green silk shirt to mold beautifully to her breasts, and he felt his body respond. At least he knew everything was in working order. “I don't recall you bein' up there in the woods shootin' at your brother.”
She shook her head. “I knew she wanted Mason, and I encouraged her.”
He narrowed his golden eyes. “So, naturally it's your fault, then.”
She dropped his hand, crossing the room to the stare out the window, the darkness reflecting her thoughts. “I should've known. I should've seen she was