by Hanna Noble
She stretched her leg out in front of her, bending to grab her foot in a hamstring stretch. “Not see,” she said, trying to put into words what she had felt. “I was looking up at Lily’s building and—”
“Wait,” he interrupted. “You went back to Lily’s building? Alone?” His eyes had narrowed, and she could see the beginnings of his temper. She hadn’t considered the fact that she’d gone back to the scene of the crime on her own.
“I didn’t mean to,” she hedged, unsure of how to explain her strange afternoon. She repeated the stretch on her other leg.
“Naomi.” She could hear him striving for a patient tone. “Explain. Talk to me.”
She told him about how she had missed her stop, had been compelled to change lines and head toward Lily’s apartment.
“It was like my feet were moving by themselves, tugging me back,” she said, struggling to describe how the flash of Knowing had coursed through her, and how she found herself sharing a view with a killer. One who was brazen enough to return to admire his own handiwork. He made her repeat her interpretation of the Phantom’s feeling several times.
“It’s hard to put into words, Cole.” She ran a hand through her hair. How do you give voice to an evil that slithered over your skin and repulsed you? “He felt like a predator, ramping up for his next hunt. Looking forward to it.”
She knew he was trying to understand her, this man whose world was built upon cold, hard facts. She was frustrated with her inability to provide him with anything more substantial than her abstract feelings. “I’m sorry I can’t give you anything more,” she said, standing up to stretch her quads.
“Hold on.” He also got to his feet, but his eyes narrowed again, his arms crossing over his chest. “Why were you on the Orange Line?”
The question caught her off guard. “What?”
“Lily’s place is close to the Red Line. You said you changed at Downtown Crossing. Where were you before that?”
She stared at him for a minute before turning to stretch her other leg. Stupid. She was so busy thinking about how he was putting her at ease, she’d forgotten that Cole was a man who questioned people for a living, an expert at excavating the truth behind words. His instincts had picked up a trace of something that didn’t fit, and he would follow it like a bloodhound scenting prey.
“Naomi?” Cole prodded.
“I went back to my old neighborhood.” She kept her voice flat, not wanting him to sense her pain. “I went to see my apartment. I missed it.” She was now an outcast in the place she’d once considered home.
She felt a pang of sadness; her little slice of Boston didn’t belong to her anymore. Once again, silence hung between them, and Naomi kept her gaze on the wall in front of her.
A quick movement out of the corner of her eye had her jerking up to see Cole shift toward her. Strong arms pulled her against a warm, hard chest. She was surrounded in his earthy scent, a potent mix of soap and unidentifiable spice that was uniquely Cole.
One of his hands cradled her head, his hold strong yet gentle. She froze, a shudder working its way through her body as she savored the feeling of being held. It had been a while since she had felt so safe.
“Cole?” she asked, still not daring to move, her arms limp by her side as she drowned in sensation “I’m all sweaty.” It was the only thing she could think of to say, her brain too busy enjoying the sensory nirvana to form coherent thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair, holding her closer still. “I’m so sorry, Naomi. That must have been hard for you.” His voice was gruff, yet so sad that Naomi couldn’t help but reach her own arms around him, her touch tentative, unsure.
“It’s ok,” she said. She could feel his guilt through the Knowing. It was swirling around him shaded with hues of anger and regret.
Medication or not, when it came to Cole, her psychic senses cut through any barriers between them as if they didn’t exist. She felt sad for both of them, caught up in a current of events that had swept the foundations of normal life away. Nearly a year later, it seemed like she wasn’t the only one struggling to find her footing again. “It’s ok.”
“It’s not ok.” He pulled back, placing some distance between them, looking down on her upturned face. “It’s far from ok. This is all my fault.” His eyes were bleak. “I am sorry.”
“Cole.” Her voice was soft, and later, she would wonder why it hurt her to see him upset. They had suffered enough pain and anger, Naomi didn’t want to experience that again this time around.
She wanted to continue to nurture the fragile trust that was budding between them, not dwell in a past soaked with death and tears. Before she could say anything, he bent his head and brushed the lightest of kisses on her forehead.
“Forgive me.” Another kiss, this time on her right cheek. “Forgive me.” His lips were warm as he trailed feathering kisses, as light as a butterfly’s touch, on her nose, her other cheek. He looked into her eyes, his expression intent, pained. A man desperate to make amends. “Forgive me, Naomi. Please.” His voice husky, he bent his head toward her once more.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt the first brush of lips against her own. Finally. His lips were warm and soft, his hands tender as they cupped her face. She opened her mouth, granting him permission to enter, her own tongue rising eagerly to meet his.
As the kiss deepened, the heat between them sizzled with electricity, the air heavy with desire. Naomi craved the feel of his skin against her, moaning as she pictured those rough, sexy hands all over her body. She burned with wanting.
At the soft, intimate noise, he let her go, moved to put some distance between them. He looked at her through hooded eyes, and she saw the desire she was feeling reflected in his smoldering grey gaze. She felt bereft, surrounded by gym equipment, feeling aroused and confused in equal measures. Her heart was pounding, and she raised a trembling hand to her lips. They felt tender and swollen from his ministrations.
“Damn.” Cole exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. He straightened. “I’m not sorry,” he announced.
“But you said—” Naomi couldn’t keep up, her mind still hazy. First he was sorry and now he wasn’t?
“The kiss,” he said. “I’m not sorry about the kiss. I am sorry about ... everything else.”
“I see.” Her head was still spinning, the chemistry between them even more explosive than she’d remembered, than she could have imagined.
That kiss had thrown her, and it wasn’t even a passionate embrace! If they ever got around to doing the deed, she would probably combust. Her breasts ached as she imagined him nibbling on every inch of her body.
She realized she was staring at him while having some very naughty thoughts, and her eyes widened. Thank goodness, she was already flushed from the workout; her face must be beet red.
“You see? That’s all you have to say?” Cole was glaring at her and she could see that his unresolved longing would be channeled toward temper if she didn’t do something to defuse the situation.
She calmed herself, closed the small distance between them, her lips curving in amusement as he tensed. She knew what she had to do.
Working with Cole was cathartic, a necessary piece of her healing process, but there was another step still to be taken. Her heart lurched as she raised a trembling hand. This would be the first time she initiated any contact. He held himself perfectly still as she touched his cheek, the same way he’d done to her.
“Cole.” Her voice was solemn and a little husky from the passion they’d shared minutes earlier. Still, she looked him in the eye, wanting him to sense her sincerity. “I forgive you.”
The stone weighing on her heart dissolved with those words, and she no longer mourned for a part of herself that she’d worried was lost forever.
Instead, a sweet hope pierced through her sorrow, carrying with it the luminous possibility that she would reclaim the woman she’d once been. Forgiving Cole was easier than she’d anticipated. She
could feel his remorse at the damage he’d caused, and what more could she ask from him than a willingness to atone for past mistakes?
“Just like that?” he asked, incredulous. “You don’t have to placate me,” he said, frowning. “I’ll earn your forgiveness. You don’t have to give it away after only a few weeks.”
She arched a brow. “I wasn’t aware forgiveness had a specific time horizon,” she tilted her head up at him. “Why don’t you tell me how long I should wait, and what hoops you’d like to jump through to earn my absolution, and I’ll schedule some time for us to do this whole thing again.”
His eyes widened. “Smart-ass.” A pause. “I didn’t expect you to forgive me.” His expression was grave.
She needed to see him smile again. “I am nothing if not a deliverer of miracles and hope,” she offered, and was rewarded with a warm chuckle. “Look, I didn’t expect to either, but then it happened. I can’t explain it.” She felt a wicked impulse, went with it. “Then again, you’re really good at apologizing.” She was delighted to see a faint hint of crimson on his cheeks. “You’re blushing, Detective.” She smirked. Had she really made Cole blush?
“You’ll pay for that,” he threatened, stepping closer to her again, a hungry gleam in his eyes. She knew the signs of a man intent on payback. She felt her heart kick in her chest, the desire they’d managed to bank fanning back to life.
“Is our truce of forgiveness over already? And here I was basking in the feelings of peace and goodwill,” she backed away holding her hands up in front of her to ward him off.
“I’ll give you something better to bask in,” he growled, and grabbed her, pulling her to him. Laughter died in her throat, replaced by a deep and passionate kiss that rocked her to the core.
When he let her go, she stared at him, her pulse still racing. “Well,” she said, “that sure beat peace and goodwill.” If this was the price she would pay for her transgressions she would quickly develop an appetite for breaking the law. She resisted the urge to fan herself. Barely.
“I guess we’re even,” he said, male smugness dripping from his tone, a man confident in his seduction abilities. She couldn’t begrudge him his confidence; if seeing cross-eyed was any indication, he deserved it.
They walked back upstairs to the kitchen, Naomi sitting at the counter while Cole filled up two large glasses of water. She drank the cool liquid, letting it quench her parched throat, calm her overheated nervous system.
“How was it?” Cole leaned back against the wall. “Being back at your old place, I mean.”
“It’s not so much the place as much as my life. I miss my job. I miss my friends. I miss going out and attending author events.” She smiled. “It sounds so silly, but I even miss the drama and gossip of the Boston fund-raising scene.”
“What was the craziest thing you saw at a party?”
“Well, there was this one literary gala a few years ago where the winner accidentally thanked his mistress instead of his wife during his acceptance speech.” She shook her head. “His mistress happened to be another well-to-do lady, who was supposedly friends with his wife. There was the worst awkward pause you can imagine, and people didn’t know whether to start clapping or not. It was awful.” She cringed remembering it.
Cole couldn’t imagine it turned out well for the man. “I guess his wife wasn’t too amused.”
“She wasn’t!” Naomi exclaimed. “In fact, she moved in philanthropic circles, and I heard that she used her position on the organizing committee of the Yacht Club to ban the mistress from attending the Mayor’s Regatta fund-raiser the following year. My boss used to buy a table for our company, and we saw her being turned away at the door. It was a huge scandal.” Naomi was still embarrassed for the woman. “Can you imagine?”
Cole shook his head. “Sounds horrifying,” he said infusing his voice with a fake British upper-crust accent. “Would you want the same job again?”
“I don’t belong there anymore.” She took another sip of water, considering her words. “You can’t go home again. A part of me was holding on to the idea that I would eventually come back, and pick up where I left off. That’s not realistic. It’s why I’m going to San Diego, I’m tired of waiting. I need to put this whole thing behind me.”
He cleared his throat. “If you want to go back to your apartment or anywhere else . . .” He paused as if suddenly embarrassed. “I can go with you. If you want. You don’t have to go alone.”
She smiled, touched. “I think it’s ok. It wasn’t all bad,” she told him. “I wondered if I’d be able to come back to Boston, and now I know that’s possible. I guess it’s time to build some new dreams.”
Chapter Twenty-One
As he drove to the station a few days later, Cole turned Naomi’s words over in his head. Build some new dreams. She was going to San Diego, and the inevitability of her departure hung over him like a cloud. Even as they got closer, the fact that she was leaving was an added pressure.
Naomi would create new dreams and he hated the idea that he wouldn’t be a part of them. There was no denying their chemistry. The way her soft lips had felt under his had nearly sent him up in flames. He gripped the steering wheel, his body hard.
He looked down at his lap and winced. He hadn’t been this horny since he was a teenager. That little breathy moan she’d made had nearly driven him over the edge. He’d pushed her away before he completely lost his head and took her right there in his gym, responsibilities be damned.
Despite the way she seemed to burn at his touch, it was her forgiveness that had staggered him. His own heart had lurched when he’d felt her arms come around him, understanding that she was trying to offer him a measure of comfort.
That she would try to soothe him when he was the cause of her pain had humbled him. She was seducing him with her kindness and mouthy comebacks, her vulnerability and her courage. He was falling for her, he realized with a start, becoming tied up in all the facets of her personality and the ones he had yet to uncover.
He pulled into his parking spot and turned off the ignition. This couldn’t come at a worse time. They were racing after a madman who was about to strike again, uncovering a potentially corrupt cop, and he was putting his entire career on the line by contacting Naomi when he’d been expressly forbidden to do so. And, despite all that, here he was thinking about how he would devour her if he got the chance and worrying about whether the future she envisioned included him. Pathetic.
Walking into the precinct, he spotted Owen and Leah talking to Leah’s brother. Eli Goldberg was an attractive man with short chestnut-colored hair and dark blue eyes. He and Leah shared the same aristocratic nose, high cheekbones, and deep-set eyes. You could tell at a glance they were related.
He walked up to them. “Eli.” Cole clapped him on the back. “Good to see you, man.”
“Cole.” Eli turned, and the two exchanged a quick male hug. “It’s been too long. How’ve you been?”
“You know how it goes, same crime, different perp,” he joked. “Sorry I couldn’t meet you for drinks last time.”
“It’s not me you have to worry about. Leah wrote your name down in her little black notebook,” Eli said, laughing as his sister raised a brow. “You’ll need to make it up to her. You don’t want to get on her bad side.”
Leah smiled and batted her eyelashes. “I wasn’t aware I had a bad side, brother dearest.” Her face was the epitome of innocence. Cole wasn’t fooled. Any man who didn’t take Leah seriously was putting his own life at risk. “Eli’s company closed a new round of funding,” she explained. “He’s bidding to build a new facility here in the city to help expand their research labs.”
“I have a meeting at City Hall, so I thought I’d drop by and say hello since it’s on the way.”
“Will the research facility be focused on nano-medicine?” Cole asked. He had always been fascinated by Eli’s scientific ventures, especially nano-biotechnology. The idea that scientists could build microscopic robot
s that could help do everything from clear arteries to synthesize medicine was amazing to Cole.
If being locked up in a lab all day wouldn’t drive him insane, he often thought he would have enjoyed pursuing a similar line of work. It might be fun to uncover the mysteries of the human body. A different type of detective work, he thought, and one that was much less dangerous.
Eli nodded. “Yeah, we’re submitting our bid to the city at the end of the month. We’re partnering with Greylock Real Estate. The mayor’s been given access to some serious funds by the state, and I’m hoping we’ll qualify for some of it. That funding, plus our new investors, will really help our case. But”— his expression turned serious—“I’m actually here on a much more important matter.”
“What is it?” Cole asked, concerned.
“Leah’s birthday,” he replied, putting him at ease. “I’m throwing her a birthday party next Saturday. You guys are invited.” He turned to Owen. “Will I finally get to meet this genius sister of yours? I’ve heard so much about her. Her research is very aligned with what my company is doing.”
“Maybe you’ll finally have met your match,” Leah added. “She’s smart enough to keep you on your toes.”
Eli’s eyes glinted with male interest. “Well, now I’m doubly intrigued. I insist you guys bring her.”
Owen looked offended. “Hey, you ass, wipe that lecherous grin off your face. That’s my baby sister you’re talking about.”
“Well, you do have a very fine sister,” Cole commented, goading Owen. “That’s a scientific fact.” His partner deserved some payback after all the razzing about Naomi for the past couple of weeks.
“One must respect science,” Eli added without skipping a beat. “And if her research and expertise can help the company, I have a legal obligation to my shareholders to explore every possibility of how we could work together.”
Cole tried to keep from laughing. He glanced over at Leah, who winked at him.
“Maybe you should invite her to your labs before the dinner,” Leah suggested. “Just to give you the time to review her work.”
