party in the room.” He shook his head. “Why someone would shoot him when he was committing suicide anyway is anyone’s guess. But because of the suspicious manner in which it happened, we got tipped off, in case it ties in with ours somehow.”
“Do you have a photo of Mauro?” Nate rolled his shoulders when the captain looked at him. “I’ll add it to the ones I gave Tomey and Edwards.”
“I can get it to you.” Morales stepped forward to pat Risa’s shoulder. “Glad you and your mom are okay. And what’s the update on Raiker?”
“His condition has been upgraded to serious. He isn’t conscious for long periods of time, but he did speak this afternoon when I was in with him.” Her mouth quirked. “He said, ‘Get me the hell out of here.’ ”
The two men smiled. “A man after my own heart,” Eduardo said. He crossed to the door. “I’ll track down the picture of Mauro for you,” he told Nate. And then to Risa, he said, “Darrell’s still on duty. I’ll have him look into getting a hotel room for you.”
“That’s not necessary . . .”
“Let’s see what he can do.” Eddie winked. “The guy’s a magician sometimes.”
When the door had closed behind him, she looked at Nate. Couldn’t identify the expression he was regarding her with. “Listen,” she said, a bit unsteadily. “About last night . . .” She needed to tell him that she’d appreciated his presence. His strength. Even while panic still flickered at how natural it had seemed to lean on him. To accept support when she was much more used to relying only on herself.
She didn’t get any of it out. Because Nate was on his feet and rounding the desk. He had her hauled out of her chair and into his arms with a sneaky ease that she might have suspected came with long practice. If she’d been thinking.
When his mouth settled over hers, surprise held her still for the first few seconds. But then a familiar weakness stole to her knees. Her arms went around his hard waist, and she returned the pressure of his mouth with her own. His kiss was demanding. Edged with desperation. It fired an immediate answering response as heat rocketed through her system. When he tore his lips away a moment later, it was all she could do not to haul them back to hers.
His voice, when it came, sounded as raspy as her own. “Twice in twenty-four hours is a bit much to take.”
His arms loosened and she tilted her head back, comprehension filtering slowly through the haze of desire. “First seeing you covered in Adam’s blood. Then hearing you’d barely escaped a fire with your life.”
Awkwardly, she stepped away, uncomfortable with both the gesture and the sentiment. And her emotional responses to each. “I’m sure it was a shock.”
“Not as big a shock as recognizing how hard it hit me, thinking you’d been hurt.” His words were blunt. The look in his narrowed midnight gaze intent. “I didn’t expect this. Don’t want it. But lots of things are jumping up to knock me on my ass recently, so why should you be any different?”
She wasn’t following his meaning. She didn’t want to follow his meaning. The conversation was skating much too close to the personal, and she was usually careful to avoid that. Notwithstanding the last couple minutes. Carefully, she responded, “I haven’t knocked you on your ass, McGuire. Although if you ever agree to a little one-on-one, you’d probably end up there. Just saying.”
The gibe brought a quirk to his mouth, but his gaze remained fixed on her. “I’ve got female friends. I know how I’m supposed to feel when one of them gets hurt or catches a bad break. I damn well know that it shouldn’t be like taking a brick to the chest. I don’t want to feel this.”
Panic was starting to steal in. One sneaky inch at a time. “Then don’t.”
“That’s all you’ve got? Just order the emotions aside and ignore them?”
She felt hunted. “It could work.”
“It doesn’t work for me,” he said flatly. “Timing hasn’t always exactly gone in my favor. But this? Between us?” He waggled his index from one of them to the other. “There’s something here that can’t be ignored. I won’t let you ignore it. Just fair warning.”
She watched him move back to his desk, wanting to get her hands on that brick he’d mentioned earlier so she could heave it at his arrogant