Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,29

saw too much, and mouth some horrible cliché.

He wanted to go home, pour himself a Scotch. And then another one. Drink until he could be sure he wouldn’t dream about Isaac.

He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the wall. ‘I’ve been ignoring you.’

Evie stared at him, dismayed at the return of his churlish tone. She should have expected it but for some reason, after their frantic efforts with Damien and the shared horror of losing him, she’d thought it’d be different.

He’d be different.

Irritated, she sauntered over to the patch of wall he was fixated on and deliberately parked her butt on it. Now he had no choice but to look at her. She folded her arms.

‘There’s some paperwork for the coroner you need to sign out in the office.’

Finn flicked his gaze up to her determined face. ‘Fine.’

They stared at each other for a moment, the blue of Finn’s eyes even more pronounced against the blue of his scrubs. Evie battled the urge to debrief, as she would normally with a colleague who had shared such an emotionally intense situation. Even a churlish one. But everything about Finn said, Back off.

But, then, when hadn’t it?

‘Damien’s been taken to the morgue and—’

Finn pushed himself to his feet, interrupting her words. He bit down on a wince as a hot needle jabbed viciously into the nerves that ran down his right arm.

‘We’re not talking about Damien,’ he said, turning to his locker, his back deliberately to her.

Evie took in the expanse of his back in his scrubs as she reeled from the vehemence in his words.

But I want to talk about him. I had my hand in his chest too, felt his heart pulsating. I need to talk about him.

She pushed off the wall and took a tentative step towards him and even though she knew she was overstepping the line, she didn’t seem to be able to stop.

‘Finn.’

His back stayed stubbornly turned away. Evie stared at it and let out the breath she’d been holding. She waited for a moment and stepped closer. ‘Maybe it’d help … to talk about it?’ she murmured.

His silence was absolute and out of pure frustration she tentatively placed her hand on his left shoulder. Despite the flinch she felt right down to her soul, Mia kept it there. His muscles were knotted with tension, practically vibrating beneath her hand, and she moved closer again until her body was almost touching his.

Finn shut his eyes as her scent and her warmth enveloped him. He could sense her right there behind him. Could hear the soft huff of her breath and the empathy oozing from every pore. A part of him wanted to unburden so badly it was shocking in its intensity.

Would it hurt to lean back a little, to have just a moment today that made sense?

Even if it didn’t?

Evie held her breath as his body swayed a little and then seemed to slowly relax back against hers. His scrubs felt warm on her skin and she could sense the vitality of him as they stood in silence, cradled against each other, her cheek brushing his shoulder blade.

It was a magical moment and she shut her eyes to absorb every second. Everything suddenly seemed … right. Evie felt safe. She felt understood.

‘You were brilliant today,’ he whispered.

Evie eyes fluttered open at the barely discernible words. Had he said it or had she only imagined it? She opened her mouth to return the compliment but a beeping pager shattered the intimacy.

Finn’s eyes opened instantly. His surroundings came into sharp focus, the feel of Evie pressed against him suddenly too, too close for comfort.

What the hell was he doing?

He shrugged her away. ‘I have to go,’ he said gruff ly.

Evie stepped back from him, reeling from the quick severing of the fragile emotional connection they’d just made.

He didn’t even look back as he departed.

Mia headed straight for Pete’s Bar after work later that evening. It had been a harrowing day for all of them, with Evie seeming particularly stressed when she’d finally returned to the department. They’d arranged to meet for a drink and a bit of a debrief session. Her friend was obviously taking the soldier’s death hard.

Evie, however, was nowhere to be seen amidst the surprising Sunday night crowd as Mia made her way to the bar.

Luca, on the other hand, was easily spotted by her specially tuned senses and even if she’d been able to resist his devilish smile, she couldn’t resist his I’ve-been-waiting-for-you stare.

Luca