Operation Breathless (3 page)

“The right ribcage. Kevlar blocked it, but the bruise is big, and nasty. I just showed you the results of the second shot I took when I grabbed the guy and worked to disarm him. Fortunately it didn’t do a lot of damage. The gun went off a third time, an accidental shot that happened as we wrestled for possession. That’s when my partner got hit. He had tackled the perp who tried to run away. At that point, backup arrived.”

“You got the bad guys. You stopped them. There’s vindication there.” She offered the praise because something about the clinical way he described the shooting struck hard against her heart.

Following a gentle squeeze, he surrendered his hold; Susanna absorbed an instant chill. He folded his hands and leaned forward. He reached down after a time to stroke Axle’s neck and shoulders.

“I’m trained. Rule one of the academy: what’s history is history—over and done. I know I shouldn’t dwell on what happened. I know I shouldn’t let it keep chafing at me, but I can’t help it. I keep feeling that explosion on my right side. I still see the bruise. The gunshot wound? It’ll leave a scar on my arm. These were kids. Products of a hopeless environment.”

“I know all about that scenario.” Susanna breathed deep while birds whisked past, their chirps and caws floating in the air. “The past molds us. It makes us into who and what we are. Moving forward afterwards is what defines us. Don’t reject it. Embrace it as part of who you are—a noble person with a warrior’s heart.”

The words settled between them. His gaze traveled to hers. “I had so many dreams when I left here. I wanted to go somewhere I could make a difference. Angel Falls felt small to me. I wanted to tackle the demons of the big city, where people seem to be in greatest need. I wanted to use my training as an officer to affect change and bring about good. Instead, I can’t seem to reconcile that idealism with the realities I butt up against every day. I didn’t do any good. I didn’t help anyone the way I wanted to.”

“A key similarity between us.”

“So it would seem.” He stretched out his endlessly long legs and leaned back against the bench. “Like you, I feel depleted…as though I need oil in my lamp.”

He let out a heavy sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face while Susanna watched, enjoying the way he nailed that piece of analysis. He had such an appealing, gentle demeanor—especially for a cop.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Go for it.”

“Did you deliberately quote the Bible just a bit ago?”

He looked down sheepishly. “Yes. Faith is what holds me together. I’m on sabbatical for the next month. During that time I need to have some serious conversations with God and figure out how to cope or how to move on to something new.”

“You’re a believer.” Sweet warmth swirled through her chest. “I am too. I can’t get by without my faith. It’ll make all the difference.” They shared a look. Susanna furrowed her brows. Why wasn’t she asking more practical questions—like his name, for example? For now, other thoughts crowded in. “Pray, search, and then let the answers come to you. God will put you where you need to be. We both need to hang on to that promise. Let your belief in God become a salve on those wounds.” She touched his arm. “Heal. From the inside out.”

Suddenly self-conscious and way too aware of how strongly this man’s presence affected her, Susanna ducked her head and rested her hands on her lap, wondering what had gotten into her today.

When she turned toward him again, she disrupted Axle’s nap, and the dog lifted lazily to a sitting position. Susanna looked at her seatmate and noticed his attention had zeroed in on a spot near her throat.

“That’s a very striking necklace. It’s beautiful.”

Susanna smiled, fingering the delicate silver chain with its small, dangling pendant crafted in the shape of angel wings set to unfold. The rhinestones had probably captured the light, flashing to life in wild colors.

“It was designed for me by a very dear friend.”

His penetrating gaze performed a caress against her throat then moved to her cheeks. Susannah’s nerve endings sparkled and hummed. In a spell-breaking instant, he reared back and checked the face of his watch.

“I really—truly—hate to say it, but I need to get going. I have so much unpacking and settling to do.”

“Oh, OK.” Disappointment lent texture to the words. Susanna nipped the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to brave it up. “Can I ask you another question before you leave?”

“Absolutely.”

“What’s your name?”

He seemed to think about that for a few seconds. “God works in everything, right?”

Why did she have a sudden urge to catch her breath—to hope and anticipate? “I believe that with all my heart.”

“So do I.”

“Then answer the question.” The words might have sounded bold and playful, but her skin tingled. Her pulse went crazy against her wrists, her throat.

“Isn’t there a bit of mystery and intrigue in leaving things the way they are? Two strangers connecting on nothing more than God’s good grace?”

“But…” Susanna couldn’t process his reply. Walk away? Empty? No name…no chance to reconnect, or…? No way.

He stood and regarded her steadily while he pulled in the slack on Axle’s leash and prompted the dog to his side. “Faith, lovely lady. Faith.”

He was going to leave—anonymously. For real. Susanna already felt bereft. A supernatural level of courage—an unheard of bravado—filled her spirit. She stood quickly, before he could turn away, before she could over-think what she wanted to do.

She took hold of his forearm. “Wait…before you go…” Her gaze never left his. “Thank you.”

She slid her hand up his chest, quick and light, curving shaky fingertips around his neck to draw him down. He didn’t blink or flinch, but the way his mouth relaxed, the way he focused on her lips, stirred an explosion of heat. She came aware of only one fact. He knew what was coming, and he welcomed it.

The instant his mouth touched hers, Susanna’s lashes fluttered closed. She melted and trembled. That was OK, though. His uninjured arm slid fast against her waist, anchoring her against him while a kiss dawned and blossomed into life.

In that instant, her heart slid away and landed neatly in his hands.

His lips moved against hers, softly seeking, but not greedy. Susanna accepted, and trusted, for no sense of entitlement or disrespect clouded his actions—despite the spontaneous and overt way she had initiated the kiss. His sigh filled her—the breath of his spirit. She moved outside of herself, mysteriously propelled. Fleetingly she wondered how any other man would ever begin to compare.

Don’t leave,
she wanted to scream.
Don’t walk away from a connection that feels so natural, and so wonderful, don’t…don’t…

Her legs wobbled; a dizzy mind grappled for solid purchase while his mouth skimmed slowly to the corners of hers, then her cheeks, then the sensitive underside of her jaw. Susanna gasped for air.

She moved away, shaken and flushed. “I hope…I want…to see you again someday, Handsome Man.”

He touched her cheek reverently, looking her deep in the eyes. “Handsome Man?”

“What else can I call you?”

“Grateful. For now, Lovely Lady, you can well and truly call me Grateful.”

After a final lingering kiss to her cheek, he gave Axle’s leash a gentle tug. He turned and walked away.

2

Susanna peered inside the open doorway of Pia Peretti’s apartment-slash-jewelry design studio. Her friend’s back was to the door, and she bent over her latest creation. In automatic reflex, Susanna touched the pendant that dangled at her neck, glossing her fingertips against the angel wings. Susanna liked to refer to it as a
Peretti Original
. She smiled when she thought of the man she had just met at the park—the way he had admired the piece. The way he had listened to her and talked so openly. The way he had held her hand.

The way he…Susanna’s world hazed deliciously along the edges, but she gave herself a firm shake. She needed to snap out of it and gain the advice of a trusted friend, but she didn’t want to disturb Pia when she was in the middle of a project. Wouldn’t it be best to sort through the stunning encounter on her own terms? The kiss was nothing, after all. Really. Why make a big deal out of it?

For one very critical reason: Never, ever did Susanna Daniels treat a kiss casually—therefore kisses of magnitude, the kind of kisses that rocked your foundation, just didn’t happen in her world. They were precious. Sacred. What had happened with this stranger? What had possessed her? Hours later, she still resonated from the strange, otherworldly force that had led her into his arms. Even now, echoes of pleasure rippled through her soul.

The first step she took away from Pia’s doorstep and back to her nearby car was like slugging through cement. The second felt as though she were pushing against a thick, brick wall. Shaking her head, Susanna stopped moving—she had no choice really. She chewed on the corner of her lip, looking back at Pia. Attempting to walk away once more, she came up against that same solid wall of resistance.

She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t shake him—or the need to share what had happened.

OK—fine; have it your way.
Silently she addressed herself to the ever present, if somewhat bossy angel, that seemed to hover around her of late…ever since Pia had given her the necklace a few weeks ago.

Susanna knocked on the doorframe before entering. “Pia?”

As soon as Susanna announced herself, Pia spun on her stool. Delight covered her features. “Hey, Sus! Come on in!”

Reassured, Susanna stepped across the threshold. Pia enfolded her in a tight hug. Susanna returned the hug; she smiled appropriately, and sincerely.

Pia pulled back, peering at her intently. “You OK?”

Pia had an almost frightening knack for spotting spiritual disquiet. This instance proved no different.

“Fine. Just spotted your open door as I drove by and decided to say hello. Hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Mm-hmm.” Pia arched a brow and returned to her stool. “You never bother me. Come here—check this out.”

Susanna joined her friend at the workbench. On a piece of paper, Pia had penciled in the design for a pair of small cross earrings that featured a slight dangle. Next to the paper, she had laid out the pattern in powder blue crystals. The simple, elegant design was stunning. Susanna admired the artistic process. Pia designed her pieces then created a mock-up in order to double check feasibility. Once satisfied with the results, she shipped the sketches and photographs of her mock-ups to a design team.

“They’re gorgeous.”

“Can’t you just see them in Swarovski? Or I could even go a bit deeper in hue, and upscale. How about white gold and sapphire?”

“Dazzling. The combination would be perfect.” Swept willingly into Pia’s design, Susanna had time to breathe, and regroup.

Pia abandoned her work. “So…talk to me. What’s behind those masked eyes of yours, sweetie? What’s going on? Trouble at Wellsprings?”

Susanna sighed. “Sometimes I wish I had a gift for creating, for taking the seeds of an idea and growing them from nothing into something of substance and beauty. Like you and Zoe.”

“What do you think you do every day at Wellsprings? You don’t just make beautiful things; you enable beautiful lives. Talk about a gift. Sure, I might craft Spirit-inspired jewelry, and Zoe creates stained glass so beautiful it leaves one to weep…but you? You mold hearts and souls.”

“Oh, Pia, I wish I could see it that way.”

From there, Susanna spelled out the shoplifting experience…concluding the story where she had arrived at Falls Park. Thoughts of Handsome Man caused Susanna to go dreamy and wistful for a moment.

Pia remained perched on her stool, listening intently, sharing in Susanna’s heartbreaking journey. At the end, a restful moment or two passed.

“Now…get to the rest of the story,” Pia urged.

“Huh?”

“I saw the change in your expression. Out with it.”

Susanna blushed. Nothing got by Pia Peretti, especially with regard to matters of the heart. This conversation was what Susanna needed, but moving forward and properly expressing what had happened proved difficult.

“I’m afraid I…I mean, I’m…well…I’ve come to the conclusion that…” Susanna huffed. “I’m such a mess right now about my professional life that I think I might be turning into a woman of questionable morals.”

Pia’s features melted into such unconditional affection and tenderness that Susanna felt a lump form in her throat.

“Honey, what would
ever
make you think that?” Pia reached out to take hold of Susanna’s free hand, the one that wasn’t fretting with radiant crystals spread out in a rainbow of colors across the small bench.

“I kissed a man today.” There it was out.

“OK.”

Susanna groaned. Didn’t Pia get it? This was huge.

Pia shrugged. “Ah…still waiting for the whole lack of moral character part.”

Susanna diverted her eyes, far more interested in the warm glow of metals and the vibrant flash of stones than revealing the way she had surrendered a piece of something mysterious and powerful to a stranger on a park bench today.

You see? This is why I didn’t want to walk in here, distract Pia, and be a bother. I can’t explain what happened.

Her silent argument with that unseen angel of hers went unanswered. Not surprising.

“I don’t even know his name. We sat down, and we started talking, and there was an instant, incredible—connection.” When Susanna waved a hand in the air, the stirring of light and shadow caused gemstones to sparkle. “I’m an intelligent woman, I know all the psychological symptoms—I was raw and hurting, and he was so warm and easy to talk to. A never-to-be-seen-again connection can be appealing and even beneficial. It’s just that…I don’t know…there was such an effortless way to how we came together. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

“You kissed a guy you don’t know?” Pia didn’t look alarmed. Her features went warm and soft, straight through to her eyes. She seemed swept up by the romance of the idea rather than alarmed by Susanna’s indiscretion and utterly uncharacteristic behavior.