Tender Is The Night (20 page)

"We don't have time to waste."

"We have some time. The third fire has never happened less than three days after the second one, and I'm guessing that the car the suspect was driving is hidden away in some garage right now. You need to go to bed."

"No, I need to find the suspect," he said, glaring at her. "I need to work."

"You're in no condition to work. I'll do it if you go to bed. I can access resources you can't. So you can let me do my job, or you can stand here and argue with me for a couple more hours."

"You're really pissing me off right now."

"I don't care. Go to bed."

He gave her another irritated look, then said, "You wake me up as soon as you find something. If that plate comes close to matching any suspect we've talked about, I want to know."

"Got it."

"I mean it, Kate."

"And I said yes."

He walked out of the room and down the hall. She moved over to her computer and ran the partial plate through the Bureau's database. She really did hope they would get lucky and find a match to one of their suspects.

The partial plate unfortunately resulted in thousands of matches across the country, several hundred in California alone. She turned her attention to the list of suspects and ran them through the DMV, almost holding her breath in the hopes that at least one of them had a license plate with the same three letters.

But there was no match—just hundreds of possible leads to check out, none of which could be done at this moment.

Stretching her arms over her head, she yawned. She was exhausted, but she was also wired from all the adrenaline.

Getting up from the table, she walked down the hall and into Devin's bedroom. The lights were out, but he hadn't closed the curtains and there was enough moonlight to see him sprawled on his stomach across the middle of the king-sized bed.

She turned to leave, but he called her name.

"I thought you were asleep," she said, as she moved into the room.

He rolled over and sat up in the bed, resting against the pillows and the headboard. "I can't sleep. I keep reliving every minute of the night, trying to remember if I saw anything that would be helpful. What did you find out?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Sorry."

"Dammit."

"There are leads to check out, but no vehicles registered to anyone on our suspect list match the partial plate." She sat down next to him on the bed. "We'll start again tomorrow."

"We were right there, Kate. How did we miss him?"

"He came down the other street, probably with his lights off. Or he was there before we were and entered the building from the other side. He could have been in the building for awhile and just didn't have the lights on."

"We should have split up. We should have had you on one side and me on the other."

"That would have been a better plan," she agreed. "But it was a long shot we were even at the right location. And what about the other side of the park?"

"But we were at the right place, and he got away. I was behind the car, and I couldn't get close enough to see the person driving. I got nothing." He groaned and banged the back of his head against the headboard.

"Hey now, you've already bruised your head. Don't make it worse."

"It couldn't get worse."

"Yes, it could. You could have been killed tonight, Devin. But you weren't. You got the make of the car and a partial plate; that’s not nothing."

"It's not enough, and you know it."

"I'm not willing to dismiss it that quickly. We just need to work the problem. We go back to investigating. It's what we're trained to do, and that's what we're going to do. But we can't do that when we're both exhausted." She paused, knowing she needed to say the words that had been running through her head for the past several hours. "This is my fault, Devin. This is on me. I was talking my ass off in the car. I distracted you. I distracted myself. It was unprofessional and worst of all, not smart. We were there for a reason, and I should have stayed razor-focused. This wouldn't have happened if you'd been by yourself. I was not helpful tonight. I was not a good partner, and I am really sorry."

"So you're finally admitting you weren't helpful. That's a first."

"I can admit when I'm wrong. And tonight I was wrong."

He stared back at her for a long minute, his gaze still filled with angry shadows, but his tension was starting to ease. "It wasn't your fault," he said quietly. "It was mine."

"No, it wasn't. You got us to the right place. I should have had the foresight to think about splitting up."

"Why? I didn't. And I have more years than you on the job."

"But you're more emotionally invested than I am. I'm supposed to be the cool, objective party."

"I'm just as objective as you are."

"Well, I am going to make it up to you."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I won't stop working on this case until we find the person who killed Sam and who almost killed you. Even if Agent Roman pulls me off the assignment, I'll work it on the side, okay? I might have to take a few hours or a day off for Mia's wedding, but other than that, I will be doing everything I can to help you. Even if I'm sent back to DC, I'll be on the computer, I'll be on the phone with you. I'll recruit Emma and whatever other members of my family I can get to help you. You won't be alone." It felt so important to make him understand that this wasn't the end, and that she wasn't giving up on the truth or on him.

"Kate, are you done?"

"What? You don't believe me?"

"I believe you."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"Okay, good." She blew out a breath of relief. It wasn't really about screwing up the assignment that bothered her; it was about letting Devin down. She hadn't realized until just this second how badly she'd felt about it. But she'd come to respect him, to like him, to care about him, to want him to be free of the painful weight of the past year. She knew how much this case meant to him. And while she wanted justice for Sam, mostly she wanted it for Devin.

"Your dedication to this assignment is really impressive, Kate. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. You've gone above and beyond the call of duty. Tonight was just another bad night."

"Tomorrow will be better," she said.

He gave her a reluctant smile. "You're relentless in your belief."

"That's how I get what I want. You do the same thing, Devin. Just sometimes from a more cynical place." She yawned at the end of her sentence. "I should probably go home."

"You could do that, or you could stay here," he said.

"Maybe that's a better idea," she agreed, thinking the last thing she wanted to do was go back out into the cold, dark night. "I'll lie down on the couch."

"Or you could lie down here."

His suggestion sent a tingle down her spine and definitely changed the tenor of their conversation.

"That's not a good idea, Devin," she said, as her brain was already coming up with an argument for why it was an excellent idea.

"It's the best one I've had all night."

She shook her head, fighting the temptation sweeping through her. "You need to rest. You're hurt. And I'm too wired to sleep. I'd probably toss and turn and keep you awake."

"I'm wired, too. My thoughts are running around in circles. Why didn't I do this? Why didn't I do that?"

"Just think about something else."

"I
am
thinking about something else—or I'm trying to."

"
That
is not going to solve anything."

He put his hand over hers, and she almost jumped off the bed at the heat of his touch.

"You've been so helpful to me, Kate, I'm thinking that maybe I should start trying to be helpful, too."

Another tingle shot through her body as his expression changed from somber to flirtatious and teasing. "Really? You want to help me?" she asked suspiciously. "Since when?"

"Actually since a lot longer than you might think."

"What did you have in mind?" She could barely get the words out because she had a feeling the answer was going to be more than a little tempting.

"I could help you relax."

"I don't think what you have in mind is going to be relaxing."

A small smile spread across his lips. "It will be—eventually. You'll sleep like a baby—after."

Her pulse sped up, and desire teased all of her hot spots. The look in his eyes, the promise in his voice, the warmth of his fingers as they played around hers—were all so damned irresistible.

It was reckless, foolish, stupid, unprofessional…

There were lots of reasons for
why not
, but all she could think of right now were all the reasons for
why
…

She wanted to make him feel better. She wanted to make herself feel better. She didn't want to think for a while. She just wanted to escape…

She didn't know who moved first, but suddenly the distance between them was gone, and the touch of their mouths felt like the answer to a million questions. The sparks between them had been simmering for days, and now there was no holding back. Their need for each other was released in one long, hot kiss.

Devin's lips were firm, demanding, and possessive. This was no tender, tentative kiss of exploration for Devin. He was all in, and so was she.

She liked a man who knew what he wanted and went after it, and she especially liked a man who enjoyed kissing her as much as Devin did.

The deep groan in his throat between kisses, his hands threading through her hair to hold her head in place, made her pulse race even faster. Every time he lifted his head to breathe, she pulled him back to her.

She felt rushed and crushed by desire, by want.

Had it been a million years since she'd wanted someone as much as she wanted him? It certainly felt like it.

She grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it up and over his head, running her hands all over his warm, hard chest, loving the feel of his muscles and his power. He was all man, and she'd never felt more feminine in her life, a feeling that increased when Devin stripped off her top and her bra, his hands rushing to cup her full, suddenly heavy, and aching breasts.

Their mouths met again for a hungry kiss, and then Devin rolled her on to her back as he pulled the snap on her jeans and slid his hand into the heat between her legs.

Needing no more barriers between them, she wriggled out of her jeans and panties as Devin stripped off his boxers.

As he came back to her, she put a hand on his chest, forcing herself to take one second to think. "Wait."

"Second thoughts already?"

"Do you have anything?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." He pulled open the drawer next to the bed and pulled out a couple of condoms. "Got it covered."

"Not exactly, but you're close," she said with a grin. "Let me help."

"You do like to be helpful, but first—it's my turn."

He pushed her back against the pillows and turned his beautiful, intense focus completely on her. She'd seen Devin be thorough, determined, competitive, and now she knew how good it could feel to have his concentration on her pleasure.

He kissed, stroked, licked and teased her body until she went out of her mind. She wanted to torture him, too, but he kept telling her tonight was all about her. And what woman didn't want to hear that?

So she let him have his way with her, and he took her places she'd never been before. When they came together in passion, it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced.

She didn't know how much time had passed, or when she'd drifted off to sleep, but at some point she became aware of the sun drifting through the windows, and a cooler air hitting the parts of her body that weren't completely draped around Devin.

She grabbed a blanket that had fallen by the wayside and pulled it over them.

Devin shifted and blinked his beautiful brown eyes open, giving her a sleepy but happy look.

"I thought it was a dream," he murmured, running his hand down the side of her face. "But you're here."

"I am here," she said, feeling a little awkward now that the night shadows had gone, and there was nowhere to hide from her impulsive actions. "I probably shouldn't be."

"There are no rules between us, Kate, so you didn't break any."

"Didn't I?" she asked with a little sigh, rolling onto her back as she stared at the ceiling.

Devin turned on to his side, propping his head on one elbow as he looked at her. "So what? You feel guilty? Irresponsible? Unprofessional? Unsatisfied?"

"Definitely not unsatisfied," she said, seeing the gleam in his eyes. "But you already knew that."

"Still, good to have confirmed."

"I don't feel guilty or irresponsible or unprofessional; that's the problem. I feel good."

He grinned. "Good enough to take a shower with me?"

"Devin. You are way too—"

"Tempting? Irresistible? Hot?"

"What is it with the multiple choice questions?"

"You seem to have trouble putting words together, Kate."

He was right about that. She was still enjoying the delicious ache of her muscles and the memories of their night together. "Apparently, I don't wake up as fast and as sharp as you do."

"That's why a shower would do you good. I can help you wake up."

"You've helped me a lot already."

He laughed, and she felt a rush of warmth that she'd been the one to put the smile on his face, to make him forget for a while the darkness he'd been living in the past year and a half. "I'm glad to hear it."

"I'm surprised you want to spend time in the shower; I thought you'd want to get back to work right away," she said.

His smile dimmed. "That's true." Now, he was the one to flop over on his back and stare at the ceiling. "I just don't know what the hell to do next."

She rolled over to face him. "You know what to do."

"Work the problem?"

She nodded. "One step at a time."

"We're back at square one."

"I wouldn't go that far back. We have the partial plate, the make of the car. The police are interviewing witnesses around the fire scene. Emma is going to keep us in the loop. And tonight we have a book signing to go to where several suspects will probably be in attendance."