Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

Kylie blew out a loud sigh, resting her head on the back of her seat and staring at her visor. It wasn’t the first time she was the bait, entering the line of fire, only to be rescued and the bad guy taken out. For some reason, allowing John that credit rubbed her wrong. It would be so much better, so much easier, to part ways when the painful moment arrived, if Perry was the one who made the arrest.

“Stay focused,” Susie said, her tone serious again, as if she were reading Kylie’s thoughts. “There’s nothing wrong with caring about the people you’re working with as long as you keep it business, and make sure those who need to know understand why you’re there.”

Kylie didn’t say anything. Susie was right. Kylie had botched it up big-time, and as she searched her memory, replaying events since she arrived here, she tried focusing on the moment when she’d fucked up. Had it been the first time she met Perry? The first time she made love to him? A physical, almost animalistic passion had hummed around them, charged in the air, from the moment they met. Although she was coming to believe he didn’t act this way around all women, what she had witnessed last night at the crime scene made her wonder. Why would she be the only woman so strongly attracted to him? And wouldn’t he be better off finding a nice, local girl, who wasn’t going to leave the moment the case was solved?

That acknowledgment weighed so heavily inside Kylie it burned her eyes as well as made her heart hurt so badly she could barely breathe. Adjusting the key in the ignition, she rolled down her window, suddenly needing air.

“That’s what I’m doing,” she lied again, unwilling to let Susie see how badly she was handling this particular case.

“Good. And just so you know, the situation in Nicaragua is about ready to explode. You’ve always wanted one of the seriously high-profile cases, and I haven’t forgotten that. Wrap this up and I’ll get you on a plane down there. After that, I promise I’ll get you some downtime.”

Susie’s words hit Kylie hard. As focused as she was on this case, she had just been reminded of the big picture. Less than a month ago she was in Washington, doing everything in her power to nail a sexual predator who’d already raped, tortured, and mutilated several women by the time she arrived on that scene. Nonetheless, she’d jumped in, made the case her own, and solved it. Once this case was done, she’d been on a plane leaving Kansas City. Where would her thoughts be a few months from now?

“Thanks, Susie. That means a lot to me,” she said, meaning it, although she couldn’t get the excitement into her voice.

“I’ll be in touch.” Susie said her good-byes and hung up, probably to make another call to another agent somewhere else in the United States and to hear their personal situation.

It was the job Kylie had signed up for. The life she had craved and the dream she was seeing fulfilled. Solve this case and move on. Probably within a month she’d be trekking around in a jungle, dealing with people she would call friends whom she didn’t even know right now.

And Perry would go on with his life.

Perry let himself into his sister’s house that evening. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been wound so tight. Stress had the muscles in his shoulder blades burning, and the pain crawled straight up his spine to his head. He stared at Dorine and Denise, lying in the living room watching TV.

“Mom, Uncle Perry is here,” Dorine screamed, rolling onto her back and letting the words wail so that they vibrated off the walls and pierced his already-throbbing head.

“Dorine, was that necessary?” He scowled at his niece, who looked at him upside down from the floor before rolling back and resuming watching her show without answering.

There was a pounding down the stairs and Dani flew into the living room and into his arms. Ever since her almost abduction, she’d been clinging to him. And he couldn’t pull her tight enough into his arms. If he prayed for anything, it would be that he be given a thousand more chances to hug her like this.

“Kylie won’t answer her phone for me,” Dani whispered, still clinging to him when Megan walked into the living room, wiping her hands with a dish towel.

“There’s supper left if you’re hungry,” Megan offered.

He hadn’t given thought to food all day. “Thanks,” he said, nodding to Megan. Possibly some food would recharge him. He lowered his head, breathing in Dani’s strawberry-scented shampoo. For a moment he was thrown back to the little girl who would cry in Megan’s arms when she scraped her knee or when she fell out of a tree. Fixing those aches and pains had been a hell of a lot easier than taking care of the pain and fear that had Dani trembling in his arms now. “She’s not answering my calls, either,” he said into her hair.

Another reason he knew he was wound tight. He hadn’t been able to get over to Kylie’s last night and today she’d been MIA. He had half a mind to drive over to the FBI field office and demand to know where the fuck she was. Not knowing twisted his gut and left him convinced there was only bigger trouble looming just ahead. If things were okay, Kylie would be with him.

Dani pulled away, remaining at arm’s length, and stared up at him with sad green eyes. “Did you two have a fight?” she asked, almost whispering.

“No,” he said, shaking his head and wrapping his arm around her as he headed for the kitchen. “What’s for supper? Anything good?” he asked, changing the subject from Kylie.

“I made cheeseburgers,” Megan announced, leading the way to the kitchen. She handed him a plate that she’d piled with a mound of fries next to two burgers. “Of course they aren’t as good as when you make them on the grill.” Even her smile showed her exhaustion.

His family was suffering from this case. The sooner he wrapped it up, found the prick who had also ripped five other families in Mission Hills apart and also made it clear his intentions to stalk Perry’s niece, the better life would be for all of them. Perry almost felt guilty accepting the seat Dani pulled out for him and the food Megan put in front of him.

“Where’s Diane?” he asked, grabbing one of the burgers as his stomach growled.

Megan took a seat next to him, and Dani slid into the chair on the other side of him.

“She’s got some term paper,” Megan explained, dipping a tea bag into hot water and looking noticeably more worn-out than she usually looked. “I told her to be home by ten, but she’s at the library with some friends.”

“She’s got forty minutes,” Dani announced, leaning back to see the wall clock. “Shouldn’t those two go to bed?” she asked her mother, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the living room.

“Yes, they should.” Megan gave her daughter a pleading look.

“Get your sisters up to bed,” Perry told Dani, talking with his mouth full of burger. He gave her a look, ready for her to argue, but obviously the stress that had descended on the household took the fight out of all of them.

Dani sighed heavily and scooted the chair back from the table, forcing it to scrape loudly across the floor. Megan cringed and dabbed her tea bag with more energy when Dani left them alone.

Perry put the first burger away and stared at his sister, noting the lines at the edges of her eyes and the dark circles underneath. Megan was a pretty woman, overworked and determined to raise intelligent young women. He was proud of her but knew at the moment she wasn’t doing shit to take care of herself.

“Why don’t you head up to bed, too?” he suggested. “You look like shit.”

Any other time Megan would have been ready with a comeback, but when she sighed he almost felt bad for picking on her. Putting his hand over hers, he didn’t move it when she gripped his larger hand with a fair amount of force.