Saving Amber - Zoe Dawson Page 0,37
over other men, which was exactly what made up the military. There were role models, leaders, and then the guys who got off on lording it over others weaker than them. Tristan guessed that Garza had been a bully as a kid and it only escalated when he became a teenager. He was the kind of guy that also got others to do his dirty work.
Egomaniac was a mild description for the deputy. The other was that he thought Amber was his conquest and that made Tristan shift and suddenly feel proprietary and protective of Amber, who straightened away from the gun cabinet.
Garza caught her frown, and her eyes blazed. She turned and marched up to him, pulling out her badge. She shoved it into his face and said, low and strong, “You see this badge? This is an NCIS badge. I am a federal special agent in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service of the Department of the Navy and any Navy or Marine anywhere in the world is under my jurisdiction. I don’t need your permission or your sanction to investigate a crime against Navy or Marine personnel that I deem necessary. This badge gives me that right. Are we clear, Deputy Garza?”
“Whoa, you are feisty when you’re in official capacity, Special Agent Dalton. But the sheriff’s department would like to be kept abreast of the situation if that is agreeable with you.”
“Just as long as you understand I don’t answer to you or the sheriff.”
“Got it, Special Agent Dalton,” he bit out.
“Good. Now tell me what you know about Randall Mayer.”
It took all of Tristan’s control not to smirk, but damn. She was something else. This was a side of her he hadn’t seen, and he realized that she could have dismantled him the first time they met. If there was one thing he’d learned about her, it was that she could hold her own.
But she also could melt in a man’s arms. He hadn’t really wanted his mind to go that route, but he couldn’t help it. She had made him laugh and actually participate in a snowball fight, something he hadn’t done since he’d been a carefree kid with his brother Thane and his twin sisters.
“We are looking for his car, but so far, no luck.”
“Anything else you know about him?”
Garza shook his head.
“All right. See if he has purchased or sold any guns recently. Pull all records including background checks and safety certificates. Confiscate these and have them cataloged as evidence in this investigation. And I want the autopsy results on James Connelly today, or I’ll officially take possession of his body and ship it to my own medical examiner. I’m not waiting any more for that report.”
“Yes, ma’am. What is that in your hand?”
“Looks like he belonged to Sportsmen Unlimited and there’s a local chapter here in town. I’m going to see what they know.”
Garza nodded. Without another word, she watched them collect evidence. As soon as the door closed on the two deputies, Tristan hauled Amber against him and planted his mouth over hers. He had no idea he was going to do it. It just happened.
Her startled sound of pleasure only fueled his desire more. Ramped it up. He pushed her against the wall. She pushed him right back against the opposite wall. They parted and she said, “Either you liked the way I chewed up and spit out Garza or you’re trying to do some alpha, I’m-claiming-this-female caveman thing because he is so overtly sexual to me.”
“How about both? Is that a problem?”
“No.” She pressed her mouth to his again. He sent his hands through that thick head of blonde, silky hair, over and over again, letting the strands trail through his fingers, rubbing his fingers against her scalp and holding her tantalizing, velvet mouth to his.
His perception clouded; he felt her tugging at his uniform shirt and then the T-shirt beneath until her palm was on his waist.
“Hmm,” she murmured curiously as if she’d just encountered a puzzle.
Hmm, hell.
“Sweetheart,” he cautioned, reaching around her with his free hand and gently disentangling her fingers from the material.
“What is this dang thing called?” she asked, obliging him by letting go of the T-shirt and smoothing her hand across the muscle curving over his hip and down to his groin.
“Dangerous,” he replied with a grimace, catching her wayward hand before he lost it completely and let her do whatever she wanted to him.
“You are being a tease,” she said.
“I’m being prudent and smart.