Rochelle Alers - Long Time Coming

He stepped back and handed her the flashlight. She unlocked and opened the door. Intermittent flashes of light sliced through the pitch-black streets. He could make out the shapes of people out with flashlights or candles, standing around in small groups. A slow-moving car with high beams came down the street, the slip-slap of tires on the roadway breaking the eerie silence.

Tessa smiled at the man standing on the top step, his luminous blue eyes illuminated in the glow of a lantern. “What’s up, Jacks?”

Micah peered through the opening in the door. He wanted to tell Tessa that he knew her neighbor.

“Some of the folks have gotten together to throw a block party.”

Tessa gave him an incredulous look. “How are we going to party in a blackout?”

“I bought a generator after the last blackout. Come on over and get your eat and drink on.”

It wasn’t often that Tessa socialized with the residents of her close-knit neighborhood because of her hectic schedule, but she decided getting together with the people who lived on her block was preferable to sitting in the dark waiting for the power to come back on.

“I’ll be over as soon as I lock up here.”

“Do you want me to wait to walk you over?”

Micah stepped from the shadows for the first time. “That’s all right, Jacks, I’ll see that she gets there safely.”

Jackson’s smile faded as his gaze narrowed. “Sandy?” Those familiar with Micah Sanborn had shortened his name to Sandy.

“Long time no see, Jacks,” Micah said to the man who’d entered the police academy with him and later graduated with him. Time appeared to have stood still for Jackson Cleary.

Jackson reached for Micah and grabbed him up in a bear hug. “Where the hell have you been? Since you left the department it’s like you dropped off the face of the earth.”

Tessa watched in astonishment as the two men greeted each other like long-lost buddies. She knew Jackson Cleary was a New York City police officer, and when she registered his comment about Micah leaving the department she assumed Micah also had been a police officer.

Micah thumped Jackson’s back. “I’m working with the Brooklyn D.A. Where are you now?”

“Internal Affairs.”

“So you decided to join the rat squad,” Micah said softly.

Frown lines appeared between Jackson’s eyes. “Look, why don’t we talk about this when we’re alone?” His frown vanished quickly. “I didn’t know you knew Tessa, but you’re welcome to come.”

Micah turned and stared at Tessa, who nodded in agreement. “We’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Later,” Jackson called over his shoulder as he made his way down the stairs.

Tessa stared up at Micah, trying vainly to see his expression. “I need to put out the candles before we head over to Jacks’s place.”

“I’ll help you.” He held out his hand. “Please give me the flashlight.”

She handed him the flashlight at the same time his free hand went to the small of her back. She stiffened before relaxing against his splayed fingers, the heat warming her skin through her cotton dress.

Tessa and Micah, his suit jacket draped over her shoulders to ward off the cool night air, joined the modest crowd that’d gathered in the backyard of the brownstone in the cul-de-sac. Floodlights lit up the area like daylight.

The smell of broiling meat was redolent in the crisp autumn night as Jackson manned a gas grill, flipping franks, hamburgers, sausage links and steaks. The waning full moon in a clear sky competed with the flickering flames from lighted candles in the many windows of the buildings lining both sides of the street. After the 2003 blackout most New Yorkers had learned to stockpile candles and battery-operated devices in the event it would happen again. And it had, but not to the proportions that had affected the entire city.

Tessa found it ironic that the brother of a client she had yet to meet was on a first-name basis with one of her neighbors. The adage about it being a small world was certainly true. What were the odds of her running into someone she hadn’t seen in years in a city that boasted a population of nearly eight million?

Grasping the proprietary arm Micah had draped around her waist, Tessa smiled up at him. “I’m going inside to see if Irena needs some help.”

More people had begun to crowd into the Clearys’ backyard; they hadn’t come empty-handed, many carrying trays of meat, fruits and vegetables.

Lowering his chin, Micah smiled at the alluring woman pressed to his side. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” he teased.

She affected an attractive moue. “Why wouldn’t I? Especially with several members New York’s finest in attendance. Yours truly included in the mix.”

“Former NYPD,” he corrected softly.

“Are you still in law enforcement?”

Dipping his head, he pressed his mouth close to her ear. “Instead of arresting the bad guys, I now prosecute them.”

There was something in his voice and the way he stared at her that permitted Tessa to shed her professional persona and enjoy the moment and the man under whose sensual spell she’d fallen.

Her family always complained that she was too serious and that was why men tended to stay clear of her. What most had refused to understand was that her priority was growing her business, and that love and marriage—if it was in the cards for her—was always a possibility no matter her age.

“I have a parking ticket I need you to fix for me.”

Micah went completely still. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not,” she replied, her voice even and her expression deadpan.

“I can’t help you. And even if I could, I wouldn’t.”

A hint of a smile touched Tessa’s lips. Micah Sanborn had just gone up several more notches in her approval category. He was no doubt quite ethical.

“And I wouldn’t want you to.”

He lifted black expressive eyebrows. “Then why did you ask me to help you?” His gaze narrowed. “You were testing me,” Micah said intuitively as she placed a hand over her mouth to muffle the giggles. Tessa nodded. “And did I pass?”

Lowering her hand, she placed it on his shoulder, feeling the heat from his skin through his shirt. “Yes, you did.”

“What do I get as a prize?”

She angled her head. “I don’t know. I suppose I’ll come up with something appropriate.”

“If you can’t come up with anything, then may I make a suggestion?”

Sobering, Tessa kept her features deceptively composed. Seeing Micah in the light, albeit artificial, had changed her opinion of his looks. He was handsome and very sexy, the combination having a lethal effect on her senses. Before the loss of electricity she hadn’t been able to glimpse the attractive slashes in his lean cheeks, the stubborn set of a strong chin and the smooth texture of his close-cropped hair.

“What?” The single word came out in a breathless whisper.

“Let me return the favor of you cooking for me by taking you out to dinner.”

“I…I can’t,” she stuttered.

“Why can’t you? It’s only dinner.”

She flushed like a nervous schoolgirl and remained silent for several seconds, pondering how she was going to reject Micah’s offer when she knew she would continue to come into contact with him until his sister’s wedding.

“I don’t date.” The three words rushed out of their own volition.

“You don’t date?”

The heat in her face increased. “What I mean is that I don’t date or get involved with a client or anyone associated with that client. It’s not good for business.” Her gaze was drawn to his teeth when he smiled. “What’s so funny?”