Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

“If you want to be with me, we can make this work.” He brushed his lips over hers.

Kylie melted right there on the spot. No man had ever suggested he would fight the system, not only local law enforcement but also the FBI, just to be with her. Perry’s statement scared the crap out of her and created an excitement inside her that had her floating in the air.

“Dani is going to come out here and throw a fit,” Kylie whispered, her voice cracking from too many emotions swirling around inside her.

“She needs to get accustomed to seeing me kiss you.” He pressed his lips to hers again, taking his time and tasting her.

Kylie couldn’t help feel that the kiss was a challenge. Not only was Perry staking claim, in his sister’s home, as to what would be allowed and tolerated from this moment forward, but he was also putting Kylie on the spot, giving her this one chance to accept the conditions or push him away and negate them. She hated ultimatums.

“This isn’t the time, or the place, to lay out the terms of our relationship,” she whispered, her lips moving against his while her lashes fluttered over her eyes. She couldn’t focus on him clearly with their noses damn near touching.

Perry straightened and let go of her hand, then backed up before turning to the couch. She stood there, watching him, feeling a sense of doom twist around her heart when she feared she’d just pissed him off. But damn it, there was too much at risk to just announce how it would be and believe it to be so. He sat slowly, taking his time stretching out his long, muscular legs, before crossing one cowboy boot over the other. Fire burned in his eyes, a mixture of lust and anger, which with Perry she anticipated could be a very dangerous combination.

“Is there anything to discuss?” His question came out of nowhere.

“Well, of course,” she stammered, answering without clearly understanding what he meant.

“Then we will discuss it,” he said with firm resolution.

Kylie headed to the kitchen, feeling numb from head to toe. This was why she steered clear of relationships. If she let her guard down for a fraction of a second, the pain and anxiety would wash over her worse than a tidal wave. And she knew without a doubt her heart wouldn’t be able to handle it. Kylie gave up loving a long time ago when she lost Karen, and then her parents. She’d barely started reconciling that relationship. How in the hell would she find the strength to start another relationship? Especially one she knew without a doubt would kick her ass and inevitably break what little heart she had left. Perry would take everything she had and destroy her, unless she gave all of herself to him.

Both of them knew there wasn’t any way she could do that.

Perry doubted anyone would question his being at the station at night. Hell, he’d been here around the clock more days and nights than he cared to think about. He mulled over a believable story in case questioned as he walked through the “pit” to his desk.

There wasn’t anyone in the “pit,” which was probably for the best, since his mood had gone from sour to downright pissy after he left Megan’s house earlier tonight. Kylie had hung out, spending most of her time with Dani, after he confronted her about their relationship. But she had slipped out after Megan got home, in the midst of the chaos that always followed when all the women in his family descended in one room after the end of their day. He’d driven by Kylie’s house twice, and she hadn’t been home, which damn near made him decide to stalk her until he found her, instead of coming here and doing what he had planned on doing after leaving his sister’s.

Rad’s office door was closed and no light streamed out from under it. Everyone had gone home. The evening shift were cruising their beats and would be in and out throughout the night, but mostly downstairs by the holding cells or in Booking. There wouldn’t be as many people here at their desks, although anyone who needed a computer or a space to do reports could always show up and take advantage of the space.

Or at least they could before Rad password-protected all the computers and enforced strict policy that everyone only use the computer at their own desk. Perry understood now why Rad had implemented these new precautions. The Chief was under pressure to prove none of his cops were Peter. Although it appeared from the ISPs they’d narrowed it down to that one of them was Peter. And whoever it was had used Perry’s computer to talk to those girls.

Motherfucker!

Everyone in the department who was innocent would abide by the new policy. Only Peter would go out of his way to not use his own computer when talking to the girls. When he struck again, Perry would be ready for him.

Sitting down at his desk, he glanced around the “pit” one more time, then stared at the doorway and the lit hallway beyond it. Voices echoed down the hall, probably from the stairwell. Someone was being brought in for booking. Perry doubted anyone would head up this way, but either way he needed to hurry. He didn’t feel like explaining why he was downloading a program onto his work computer.

Taking the CD he’d used to download the program he had bought online at his house, Perry slid it into the disk drive and waited for the box to pop up, introducing him to the ultimate computer protection.

Record every keystroke. Know what Web sites your loved ones go to. Read every chat conversation they have while online . The “Online Undercover Detective,” was designed to appease parents who felt a need to watch what their children were doing online and for spouses to catch each other cheating. He clicked on the button to download and then tapped the edge of his desk while the bar slowly slid across the screen, showing the extent it had downloaded so far.

Perry read each box as it popped up on the screen before clicking next. The software was undetectable once installed. No icons or programs would appear anywhere on the computer to clue anyone into the fact that it had been downloaded. The program would record every document opened, any file downloaded or uploaded even if it came from a CD put in the disk drive. It would take screen shots, and best yet, it would send all the information it logged to Perry’s computer at his home.

It would be interesting to find out if Pinky could detect the “Online Undercover Detective.” Hopefully Perry would bust Peter before Pinky proved the advertising for the program wrong, if it was wrong.

He quickly typed in the password he’d chosen, “Kylie,” and clicked “save.” One last box appeared, announcing he had successfully installed the software. It flashed an announcement telling him which keys to press down simultaneously to pull the program up and suggested Perry write down this information for future use, and then the box disappeared. He was done.

“Trap is set,” he murmured, standing and reaching for the disk drive on the tower to remove the CD.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Perry quickly slid the CD into its sleeve and then tucked it into his inside jacket pocket. He barely sat back down before Rad and the agent Perry had seen at the FBI field office entered the “pit.”

“What are you doing here, Flynn?” Rad demanded, narrowing his gaze on Perry and then shifting his attention to Perry’s screen. “You took a personal day today, didn’t you?”

“Yup. Hung out with my niece until my sister came home this evening.” Perry looked pointedly at the man standing silently next to Rad. He was tall, in a suit, and possibly somewhere in his fifties. There were silver streaks through his brown hair, and alert blue eyes studied Perry in return. “She was pretty shook up after last night. The whole family was,” he added, returning his attention to his Chief.