Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

“Might be a good idea to bring her in for questioning. I’ll have Barker or Richey talk to her.”

“I’ve questioned her thoroughly and can type up the report for you tonight if you need it.”

“I’m not saying you haven’t,” Rad said, his expression serious and unreadable. “But it would be a good idea for her to be debriefed on the situation by someone who doesn’t know her. You don’t have a problem bringing her into the station, do you?”

“Nope.” Perry would even go as far to agree it was a good idea. Someone who wasn’t family might pick up things from Dani he might miss. He wouldn’t tell Rad that Kylie had already recorded the conversation she had with Dani earlier today at the house. “She even drew a picture of Peter.”

“You don’t say?” the man in the suit said.

“Flynn, you remember John Athey.”

“Lieutenant,” Athey said, not smiling or changing his expression but nodding once.

“What are you two doing here?” Perry asked, returning his attention to Rad.

“We came down to go over the files on the Peter case, figured we would use my computer to see if we can find any more similarities we’ve overlooked.” Rad looked past Perry at his computer. “And what are you doing here?”

“Just logged in. Figured I’d take a look at what fun I missed out on today.”

“It was relatively quiet. Go ahead and type up that report on what happened the other night when your niece was almost abducted.” Rad started toward his office. “I also want a copy, or better yet the original, of that picture she drew of her abductor. And bring her down tomorrow after school or as soon as you can. We’ll have either lady talk to her. What was her name again?”

“Danielle. She goes by ‘Dani.’ ”

“Good. Dani. Bring her in tomorrow and get me that report.” Rad walked away from him without saying anything else.

John Athey gave Perry a final appraising look before following the Chief. “I’ve heard a few things about you,” Athey said gruffly, his comment sounding anything but complimentary.

He would learn now Perry wasn’t easily intimidated. “Can’t say I’ve heard a thing about you,” Perry told him.

“How good of a look did your niece get of this guy?”

“She ID’d him pretty well.” Perry leaned back, crossing his arms, and stared into John Athey’s face. Something dark passed over the man’s expression, a tightening of the lips, a narrowing of the eyes.

If the man hated Perry that much for seeing Kylie, he would get over it like everyone else. Athey wasn’t Kylie’s father. And even if he were, Kylie was a grown woman, free to make her own decisions, and Perry knew beyond any doubt she wanted him.

“You think you could ID him if you saw him?” John asked.

Rad turned, before reaching his office, and listened, shifting his attention from John to Perry and waiting for his answer. Perry wouldn’t let the FBI man make him look like an ass. Standing slowly, he sized the man up, noting he was a good inch or so shorter than Perry. John didn’t have Perry’s build, making him look a lot smaller than Perry, although in truth he wasn’t that much shorter.

Tugging on his T-shirt, Perry let his arms fall to his sides, relaxing his body but keeping a shrewd look in John’s direction. The man wasn’t easily intimidated, but Perry would have been surprised if Athey was, considering his position.

“Like with any victim who offers a description of a suspect, there are cracks that needed to be filled in,” Perry said slowly, not caring if his tone sounded a bit condescending. The motherfucker wasn’t his boss. “He never got out of his SUV, so when she tells me he is tall, I appreciate the fact that she never saw him standing. He wore a baseball cap, so when she tells me his hair is dark, I don’t know if he’s got a thick head of hair or is damn near bald. The only thing she was very adamant about is that he had blue eyes. Hell, for all I know Peter could be you,” Perry added, searching John’s face and noting the dark hair and blue eyes.

John’s expression twisted quickly as he puffed out his chest and growled, as if he would attack.

“Flynn, get that report typed up for me now,” Rad bellowed.

Perry squared off, ready for anything John might dish out at him. He didn’t take his gaze from the man when Rad approached, touching John’s arm and nodding toward his office.

“We’ve got things to discuss,” Rad growled, indicating John should come with him. Then giving Perry a look that would kill, he turned when the FBI man did and the two of them headed into Rad’s office, closing the door behind him.

“FBI motherfucker,” Perry grumbled, and slouched into his chair to fill out the report.

An hour later, well after Rad and John Athey had left without a word of good-bye, Perry saved the report and clicked to print it out. This was the worst part of his job, the computer work. He leaned back, stretching, and itched to get out of there. His trap was in place on his computer and when he got home, he could test it since everything he’d typed should have been sent to his home computer via e-mail.

The sky was a heavy black velvet blanket, stretching out beyond the businesses lining either side of the street. Perry bet it would be full of stars if he were home and not in the middle of town, with streetlights blinding his ability to truly appreciate the night. He headed over to his Jeep, feeling the cool night air on his face as he unlocked his car and slid in behind the steering wheel.

A quick drive by Kylie’s showed she was home this time and all lights in her house were off. At least she wasn’t out offering herself as bait to a madman. Picturing her cuddled under her blankets, sleeping soundly, made it damn hard to keep driving. There was one thing he wanted to do, though, and it would be best to do it alone. Driving past her house, he told himself he would go over there later. Like any FBI man or his Chief would keep him away from Kylie.

Turning off her street, Perry focused on his headlights beaming on the road ahead of him as he headed across town toward Franco’s house. Then parking down the street, Perry cut the lights and motor and stepped out into the calm, cool night air. He breathed in the scent of freshly cut grass as he walked slowly down the quiet street. Very few houses had any lights on, and he guessed those that did left those interior lights on all night. It was almost midnight, and middle-class homes such as these were filled with people who would get up at the crack of dawn, dragging themselves out the door for another day at the job.

It was people like these, just like Megan and the girls, whom he’d vowed to protect with his life. For those reasons, and especially after the death of David, leaving his sister alone with four children to raise, Perry always believed he would never settle down with a woman. His job required taking risks, stepping into the line of fire and protecting citizens of his town so they could go about their lives without interruption.

So what changed? Perry neared Franco’s house, checking out the neat yard and the dark windows, then glanced up and down the street. Not so much as a dog announced Perry’s presence. It was almost too quiet. Which left his thoughts to torture him as he neared the garage.

What was it about Kylie that made him want to risk hurting another person? Let alone take the chance of getting hurt if he turned his heart over to her. In all his years, he’d managed to keep any relationship he’d entered into with a woman casual, consensual, good sex, and that was it.

The sex with Kylie definitely qualified as better than good. Hell, it was damn near the best sex he’d ever had in his life. Was that the reason he wanted to push their relationship to the next level?