Where Angels Tread (20 page)

She smoothed her apron and checked the clock above the stove. It was time for her to finish getting ready for Shane’s arrival. Heidi poured the glaze over the salmon and stored it in the refrigerator, then untied the back of her apron and draped it over the table.

Shane wouldn’t know it when she opened the door, perfectly dressed, but Heidi had spent the better part of the morning tearing through her closet for something suitable to wear. She had taken to wearing sweatpants on their evenings spent in, but that wouldn’t do for tonight. Neither, she knew, would a fancy dress, so she opted instead for a dark pair of jeans and a sleeveless blouse. She slipped the blouse over her head, and spritzed on a generous amount of her favorite perfume, the one that smelled like honeysuckle. She added a touch of makeup and had just stepped back to analyze her reflection when the doorbell rang. Heidi ran a comb through her long hair one last time, and after taking a deep breath, hurried to answer it.

“Hi,” Shane said, cradling in his arms a bottle of white wine and a bouquet of sunflowers. He smiled at Heidi, and a sense of relief flooded her when she realized from the slight strain in his expression that he felt just as nervous as she did. “I thought I’d take a break from roses for a while. I’ve given you so many that you could practically plant a garden. I’m not one for creativity, unfortunately, so Lana suggested sunflowers.”

“They’re lovely.” Heidi took the bouquet from him and opened the door wide enough for him to step inside. As he did, his arm brushed up against her chest, and a shiver ran through her body. As usual, she thought as she looked him up and down, Shane managed to look effortlessly handsome. His hair was charmingly windswept, and he was wearing a casual button-down shirt and a crisp pair of jeans. He also, she noticed with a twinge of pleasure, had allowed several days’ worth of stubble to grow on his face. If there was one thing that made Heidi grow weak in the knees, it was a man who could go unshaven and still look sexy.

Shane followed Heidi into the kitchen and set the wine down on the table. “Can I interest you in a pre-dinner drink?” Heidi nodded and handed him the wine opener; she noticed that his hands trembled slightly as he uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses. “To a memorable night,” he said with a soft smile, clinking his glass against hers and taking a sip. “So.” He clapped his hands and looked around the room eagerly. “I don’t smell any sauce cooking.”

Heidi laughed and playfully pinched his arm. “You’ll just have to do without it for one night.” She opened the fridge and bent down to retrieve the salmon; as she did, she could feel Shane’s eyes on her back.

“I don’t know if that’s going to work,” he teased, peering around her into the fridge. “Didn’t we have the conversation yet about what a picky eater I am? I consider spaghetti to be a food group, and it genuinely confuses me when other people don’t agree.” He took a sip of his wine, then came behind her as she straightened up and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her skin tingled pleasantly as he softly kissed the nape of her neck.

Setting the pan of salmon down on the counter, Heidi turned around to face Shane. She gently touched the middle of his forehead, then ran her finger down his nose until it came to rest on his lips, which parted slightly under her touch. Keeping her finger pressed against his bottom lip, she leaned in and kissed him lightly. “What’s that for?” he whispered softly.

Heidi kissed him again, this time running her tongue along the outside of his mouth, enjoying the groan of pleasure that escaped from his lips. He pinned her arms to her sides and backed her up against the wall, then licked the tip of her ear, trailing his tongue down the side of her neck until her whole body was trembling.

As she closed her eyes, he slid one strap of her blouse from her shoulder and ran his fingers up and down her arms, stroking her skin lightly. The second strap he pulled down more roughly, then pushed her blouse down around her waist. “My God,” he said softly, his eyes drinking in the black and pink lace of her bra. “You’re beautiful.”

He leaned in slowly and kissed her again, and while his lips teased hers he cupped his hands over her breasts. Through the gauzy fabric of her bra she could feel the heat of his hand pressed up against her skin, and her chest rose and fell as she struggled to catch her breath.

Heidi reached up and deftly unbuttoned Shane’s shirt, gasping as she saw for the first time the smooth muscles of his chest and stomach. Sliding down to her knees on the ground, she played her lips along his stomach, which contracted with pleasure. She slid her fingers under the waistband of his pants as he pushed her bra down and stroked her nipples, then brought his face down to her chest.

A shrill beeping sound broke through the silence like a foghorn; they both jumped in alarm, their minds hazy with desire. “What is that?” Heidi gasped, staring around for the source of the noise. The beeping was so loud that she could feel it pulsating in her brain; she squeezed her eyes shut to try and ward off the sound.

A shock of recognition crossed Shane’s face as he felt around in the pocket of his jeans. “Oh, hell.”

Out of all the minutes in a day, Shane thought furiously, sliding the small black device out of his pocket and fumbling around to turn it off, why did Palen have to pick that exact moment to page him? He wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. He and Heidi, finally alone for the night, and now it was ruined.

“What is that?” Heidi asked again, staring at the pager with wide eyes. Her breasts were still exposed; Shane looked away and took a few deep breaths to try and regain control of himself. He screwed up his face and debated whether or not to answer the page. So what if Palen had said that it was a requirement? Shane was rather busy at the moment; the chief would just have to understand.

As Heidi listened closely, Shane gave her a quick rundown of the meeting he and the other officers had earlier that day, purposely leaving out the part about how dangerous Chief Palen considered Sam Shephard to be. He didn’t want to worry her needlessly; besides, he reasoned, Heidi was perceptive enough to know that Shane would never even consider leaving her unless it was something beyond his control.

“I’m just going to ignore it,” he said, tossing the pager onto the kitchen table and crossing his fingers that it had broken. “It’ll be fine.” He turned back to Heidi, whose cheeks were still flushed pink with pleasure. “Where were we?” Tracing his fingers along the top of her chest, he bent down and nibbled on her lips.

Heidi inclined her head slightly away from him. “Shouldn’t you answer that?” she asked, and Shane could hear a note of uncertainty in her voice.

He stared at her in disbelief. “Are you telling me that you want me to leave?” He tried not to betray the hurt that he felt, but her words cut through him like a knife.

She pushed her hair behind her ears and crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course not, but it’s what I signed up for, right? I knew what I was getting into when I decided to fall for a police officer. Part of the gig, I guess.” She stood up and pulled the straps of her shirt back over her shoulders while Shane looked on morosely. He glanced over at the kitchen table, where the pager lay silent. He knew that the fierce internal debate he was having probably showed in every feature of his face.

Heidi switched off the oven and picked up the pager, examining it closely. “Old-fashioned,” she said with a smile. “I never thought I’d see one of these again.”

Shane heaved a sigh and joined her at the table, twirling his fingers absentmindedly through her long hair. She reached up and grasped his fingers briefly, then patted him on the arm. “Let me ask you something,” she said. “If you ignored the call and we continued on with our evening as though nothing had happened, how would you feel tomorrow?”

“Amazing, because I got to spend the whole night with you. It’s what I’ve been dreaming about for months now. But guilty, also,” he admitted, “because I made a promise to serve and protect this community, and it’s my duty to be there when the other officers need me. Everyone’s really stressed out right now, obviously.”

Heidi nodded knowingly. “I thought that’s what you’d say. You’re not the kind of man who worms his way out of his responsibilities, and you aren’t going to feel good about yourself knowing that you did this time. Besides,” she added playfully, “now you’re really going to be thinking about me.”

“You have no idea,” Shane said, leaning down to kiss her soft cheek. As he did, he inhaled the flowery perfume she was wearing. He wanted so badly to stay, but he knew that Heidi was right. He grabbed the pager and slid it back into his pocket, buttoned his shirt, and after one last, long kiss, said goodbye to Heidi and walked outside and into the night, determined to catch a killer.

Heidi watched from the front window as Shane’s car pulled out of the driveway and disappeared down the road. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her blood frozen with fear. Shane didn’t tell her exactly why he had been called in to work, but he didn’t have to. She knew that the only thing important enough to tear him away from her arms would be the same face that had been plastered across the cover of every newspaper in town: Sam Shephard.

She hated having to pretend to Shane that she thought it was best for him to go, when inside every nerve in her body was screaming for him to stay. Not just because she had been looking forward to tonight and everything it would mean for their relationship, but also because she was beside herself with worry. Shane, she knew, was a target, for the simple reason that he chose to put on a police uniform every morning. Heidi fervently wished that she hadn’t been working at the hospital on the night the first two victims were brought in; in her mind, the only thing she could see beneath their bruised and battered faces was Shane. Please God, she thought desperately, keep him safe tonight. And every other night.

Wandering into the kitchen, she stared sadly at the platter of uncooked salmon sitting on the counter before wrapping it up and storing it in the fridge. She straightened her blouse, which was hanging oddly around her shoulders. As she did, her mind flashed back to the way Shane’s hands felt on her body as he caressed her breasts. She could still smell his scent on her skin. Despite the giddy nervousness she felt leading up to their night, being with Shane, if only for those few precious minutes, seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Like it was meant to be.

Heidi glanced at the clock, then sighed heavily. She hadn’t counted on being alone for the entire night, and the weight of worry was still pressing around her heart, causing it to flutter anxiously. She rummaged around in the freezer for a few seconds, then pulled out a pint of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, grabbed a spoon, and headed to her favorite armchair in front of the television. Settling into the chair, she peeled off the lid of the ice cream and dipped the spoon inside, then switched on the news.

What she saw on the screen made her drop her spoon to the floor with a loud clatter.

Shane sat huddled around the table with the other officers, their faces pale and drawn, a somber silence weighing heavily in the room. His stolen moments with Heidi seemed like something out of a dream, so removed was he now from the intoxicating feeling of wrapping his arms around her, pressing his lips against every inch of her sweet skin. Next to Shane, Buddy drummed his fingers on the table with an expression of intense anger that was mirrored on the faces of his fellow officers. A mixture of anger, sorrow, and determination.

Their heads swung around as the door to the room opened and Chief Palen stepped inside, looking more serious than Shane had ever seen him. And older, Shane thought, as though the man had the weight of the world pressed against his shoulders.

When Palen took his seat at the table and opened his mouth to speak, his voice came out as a croak. “I’ve been on this force for over forty years,” he said, rubbing the purple bags under his tired eyes, “and I’ve never lost an officer. It’s been a point of pride for this community and for this team I have sitting in front of me. Tonight…” Palen stopped and covered his face with his hands; Shane could see that his broad shoulders were shaking. “Tonight, I can’t say that anymore.”