When the Heart Lies - By Christina North Page 0,25

creating distance between them. A split second later, he took her by surprise when he vaulted forward and seized her face with both hands, pulling her mouth into a forceful passionate kiss. Every muscle in her body released its tension, and the frosty brazenness she’d tried to maintain liquefied into a kiss that sent her reeling. Connecting, wanting. The moment she arched to meet him, he stepped away, smiled, and slowly licked his lips.

With eyes dreamy and voice soft, he whispered, “Sweet dreams.” Mocking her right back. A flick of his brow was the cherry on top as he turned and walked away.

He was almost out the door when she grunted and threw the hairbrush she grabbed off the dresser. It sailed past him, missing his head by a fraction of an inch. The emotional teeter-totter she’d been balancing in the middle of was on an incline. “Be careful with this one,” she reminded herself.

Chapter 6

Jackson lay sleepless in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t get the picture of Kinsley out of his head. The way she waited for his kiss and watched his lips until they met hers. Either this case ended soon or he was going to lose every ounce of integrity he had. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

After waking up early, he headed to breakfast. Uncharacteristically, he passed up the buffet and got some coffee. Kinsley, was nowhere in sight. When he saw Scar, he signaled her to the table.

“What the hell happened last night?” she asked.

“What didn’t happen? I made things worse by taking her out of here. Things happened. I’m supposed to be helping, and I screw things up. Not to mention I can’t get her out of my head.” Kinsley was becoming his drug, and he needed to shake his addiction. “Now, on top of everything, I’m giving you far too much information.”

“I thought you might be getting too involved. Please tell me you didn’t … ya know.”

“No. Well, not really.”

“Not really?” Her tone was unsympathetic.

“Let’s just say things happened, and they shouldn’t have.” His palm cradled his head to the side while his fingers and thumb worked his brow and temple. Professional boundaries were nonexistent at this point. After a moment, he stopped and dragged his hand up to his chest in an attempt to clear the acid working its way up. He leaned back to search his jeans pocket, retrieved the last antacid from the roll, and popped the circular relief into his mouth.

Scar left the subject alone. “What was all the yelling in the hallway about?”

“We didn’t return until four. They found out we left the building.”

“Shit.” Leaning back in her chair, Scar fell silent, but her spoon continued to tap an annoying rhythm against her coffee cup. “What do you think Pierce will say?”

“Pierce will gripe, but he’ll bend my way.” He threw the plastic coffee stirrer he’d been chewing on onto the table. “The stuff between Kinsley and me is what I’m worried about. What was I thinking, letting things go so far? I’d like to kick my own ass.” Never had he compromised a case the way he had with this one. If he could, he would remove himself. He was beyond that option now. Sensing she needed him, he couldn’t walk away.

Scar leaned forward, arms still crossed. “I’ll tell you what you were thinking.”

He popped her in the head with his balled up napkin. “Not necessary.”

She popped him back. “You’re such a man-child. Have fun with Pierce.”

“Yeah, about time I face the old weasel.” He stood, and as he walked away, he reached out to muss up her hair like he use to when she was a kid, but since about age thirteen, she saw it coming and ducked. He headed down the hall to meet with Pierce.

He knocked firmly on Pierce’s open door.

“Come in.” It was evident from Pierce’s harsh tone he was cross.

He entered the room, nodded to Pierce, and spoke in a determined tone. “I need to talk to you about last night.”

“Talk to me? Or tell me to ignore it and let you walk out the door with no consequences? I should have never agreed to you posing as a patient.” Pierce slammed the pile of folders he held onto his desk. “Sit, we need to talk.”

“I’m fine standing.”

Pierce stood behind his desk, leaning forward onto his fists with stiff arms. With Pierce’s display of authority, Jackson glared at him. “Don’t try to turn this into something about you