Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,42
she did, but he had to grudgingly admit she’d surprised and impressed him. She could have sat in the car and been perfectly safe while he helped with the evacuation. Instead, she’d risked her life, all to help a friend. And then she’d ordered the cops to go help him, to provide backup as he searched for the bomber.
She stood as he neared the desk, her purse on her shoulder as if she was ready to go. “Detective Morgan—”
“After what we’ve been through, I think you can keep calling me Rafe. Don’t you?”
Her face flushed an adorable shade of pink. She blushed more than any woman he’d ever met.
“Um, yes, of course. Rafe. I thought, because we were in the station, that I should still call you Det—”
“What were you going to say?”
She tightened her hand around her purse strap. “Is there anything else you need from me? Now that the bomber is...well, now that I’m not in danger? I’d really like to go see Mindy.”
He hated the idea of her being alone when she found out how her friend was doing. He hadn’t heard any updates, but he couldn’t imagine the prognosis was good. “As long as you don’t mind coming back in for an interview if we have more questions, you’re free to go. I can drop you off at the hospital and have an officer bring your car up there so you’ll have a way home.”
Some of the tension seemed to drain out of her. “That would be great. Thank you.”
He led her through the squad room to the parking lot. “I saw my brother talking to you earlier.” He held open the Charger’s passenger door.
“Oh, I forgot. He wanted me to tell you he had to leave earlier than expected, some kind of undercover assignment.”
He nodded, disappointed Nick hadn’t stuck around to talk to him. But he understood Nick’s job, and that he had his own schedule to keep.
When Rafe slid behind the wheel, Darby turned toward him. “I really appreciate everything you did for me. You saved my life, several times. I don’t know how to thank someone for that. All I can say is, if you ever...well, I know you don’t seem to like psychologists much. But I’m a good one. More than good. I’m one of the best in North Florida. That’s why I testify in so many cases.” She smoothed her nails across her slacks. “Anyway, if you ever want to talk, about Jake, or your wife, or whatever...I’m available. No charge.”
He tightened his hands on the wheel. “You seem to think I need fixing. I don’t. My life is fine, just the way it is. And while I’ll admit you’ve surprised me these past few days, and that you might not be the devil I once thought you were, nothing has really changed. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be out on the streets, arresting bad guys. And you’ll be right back in the courtroom, doing everything you can to let them go. Don’t think that because of everything we went through that we’re suddenly friends. We’re not, and we never will be.”
She blinked at him, her mouth falling slightly open during his little speech. Rafe ruthlessly squelched the feelings of guilt that shot through him. Darby had been trying to help. He knew that, but even if he believed in her mumbo-jumbo therapy—which he didn’t—he would never sit in a room with her and let her try to make him feel better.
Because he didn’t deserve it.
Regardless of how broken his marriage had already been before the night of the home invasion, he should have been able to protect her. He knew more than anyone how dangerous the world could be. He shouldn’t have let his guard down just because he was at home. If there was a way to rid himself of all this guilt, he wouldn’t take it.
Not when his wife was lying in a cold, lonely grave at the edge of town.
* * *
RAFE’S DENIAL THAT he needed help had filled Darby with sadness, but her sadness had turned to cold rage when she stepped into Mindy’s room in the intensive care unit. Mindy was lying unconscious on the bed, with wires and tubes attached all over her body. A ventilator hissed as it breathed for her, and the doctors weren’t sure if she’d ever wake up. The rage that flooded through Darby had no outlet, nowhere to go. Because the man who’d done this to her friend was dead. There