Sure Bet
Page 21
"What was for the best?"
"Our going separate ways when the assignment ended."
Her mouth tightened. "Why don't you explain how you came to that conclusion?"
"We're nothing alike, Morgan. We want different things, have different goals. I went down that road with my ex, and it was a disaster. Hurt like hell, and I swore I would never again hop on a ride like that. It might be great while it lasts, but that's the point—it doesn't. I knew it would be best in the long run if you and I went our separate ways."
"Best for whom?"
"Both of us." He took a long swallow of beer. "I thought that, until the minute you and I were in that basement. I saw you hurt, strung up, manhandled." When his fingers trembled, he clenched his hand into a fist. "I thought I had an idea what it would feel like when you were no longer in my life, but I didn't have a clue. All I knew was if we survived, I couldn't let you go. Not now. Not for a while."
"A while?" Her eyes sharpened, narrowed. "Are you saying you want us to have some sort of short-term affair?"
"I want more from you than just a body in the night, Morgan. The morning after we made love, you told me you cared about me, more than you should. I don't know how deep your feelings go, but I want everything you're willing to give. For as long as you'll stay."
"For as long as I'll…" She shook her head. "You're willing to enter into a relationship with me that you have no expectation will last?"
He slid her a look. "I'm not saying I'll like it. I'm saying I'll do it."
"How do you know it won't last?"
"Like I said, I've been down that road before. You won't stay with me, Morgan. Right now you can't see that. You think we'll work. It doesn't bother you at this point I'm content to stay a sergeant, that I have no desire to move up. But once you start getting promoted, once you outrank me, it will matter. A lot."
"So, this is the reason for the regret." She pressed her fingertips to her eyes. "Since the night we made love, every time you looked at me I saw regret. Even tonight in the basement when it was all over…" She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "While I was sitting in the emergency room, I forced myself to accept you'd been playing a role with me, too. Your job demands that you not let anyone get close enough to touch you emotionally, so why should I be any different from anyone else? I convinced myself you didn't care."
"I love you," he said with sudden fury. "How am I supposed to look at you when I know from the start you'll someday decide I'm not good enough? That I no longer meet your expectations. Hell, yes, I regret that."
She gave a short, explicit curse, snagged her crutches and levered up.
He shoved the beer can onto the mantel. "Where are you going?"
"To get what I want," she said, crutching across the room to stand in front of him. "Now that I know what's going on in your head, it's time you know what's in mine."
Dread tightened his stomach. He had no idea how she felt. All he knew was he wasn't going to let her walk away now. He couldn't let her walk away. "I'm listening."
"My junior year of college, I went nuts over a guy who made my heart pound just by walking into the same room. His only goal in life was to have a good time. Since I was gaga over him, I jumped along with him into the party scene. My grades dropped through the floor, but I didn't care. All I cared about was him. One night he wrapped his car around a tree. He was okay, but I wound up in a coma. I woke up to find he'd taken a hike, and so had my full-ride scholarship. It took me three years to climb out of the hole I'd dug for myself."
"Sounds like we've both got reason to be skittish about getting involved."
"Where you're concerned, Blade, I've been skittish from the start. That's because when you showed up at the academy to check me out, my heart flipped the same way it had for party boy. That scared the hell out of me. All my life I've wanted to be a cop. No way did I intend to let another man who could make my hormones stand up and salute mess me up. The last thing I wanted was to work with you, be anywhere near you. And there I was, living with you." Emotion swam into her eyes. "I didn't want to, but I fell in love with you. I—"
"Hold on." He framed her face with his palms. "You love me?"
"Unfortunately," she said, jerking from his touch. "I trusted in you—in us—enough to stop playing it safe and work without a net. Now, here you are, telling me you'll settle for our having an affair, that you don't trust me enough to stay with you for the long run."
"Trust isn't the point. Being realistic is. I know what it's like to get tangled up with someone who wants different things out of life."
"Has it ever occurred to you that our relationship might be different from the one you had with your ex?"
"I'm talking human nature. When people no longer fit together, they move on. Period."
"Did your ex-wife ever work undercover with you?"
He frowned. "She wasn't a cop."
"Then she had no way of knowing how good you are. No real understanding that you work every day in a world where a deal gone wrong can blow your cover, and staying in one spot too long might get you killed. That someone walking into the same room with you can turn into a life-and-death situation, like it did tonight. No concept of what kind of ice-cold nerve, fast thinking, and off-the-chart courage it takes to do your job."
He shoved a hand through his hair. She was making him into something he wasn't. "I'm just a cop doing my job."
"From where I'm standing, you're a hero. It wasn't one of my charts or spreadsheets that kept us alive during our assignment. It was your skill, your knowledge, the things you taught me about working undercover." Her eyes started to soften. "I've been in the trenches with you, Alex. After this, do you truly believe I could ever look down on the work you do? That I might think some cop who sits behind a desk and shuffles paper is to be admired more than you?"
The sudden shaft of hope for a future together was almost too painful. "How can you possibly think I'm what you're looking for?"
"You weren't what I was looking for when this started," she answered. "But you're what I found." Shifting her weight onto one crutch, she placed a palm against his cheek. "I don't just love you. I admire and respect the man you are. You grew up on the streets and you kept yourself alive by your wits. You're still doing that. I don't care about your credentials. I care about you. Will care, for the rest of my life." She angled her chin. "If you don't like the sound of that, tell me now. I'm not willing to settle. I want all or nothing."
Her words put a pressure in his chest. She was willing to take him just as he was. Love him just as he was. All he had to do was trust. Have the same faith in her she had in him.
He spent a moment simply looking into her eyes. He could see the love there. It was real. As real as his for her.
He chose his next words carefully. "It suddenly occurs to me that, deep down where it counts, we've got a lot in common."
"So, you're saying you like the sound of our spending the rest of our lives together?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
Her expression lightened. "Now that we've got that settled, Blade, what are you going to do about it?"
He gave her a slow grin. "Something that will appeal to your baser instincts, McCall." He used a fingertip to trace the outline of her jaw. "Something—" his finger took a detour down her throat, dipped beneath the neckline of her T-shirt, "…that will get your blood churning like hot lava."
Her lips parted. "Like what?"
He lowered his head, let his mouth hover just above hers. "Develop a plan," he murmured. "Put it in spreadsheet format. Print a copy so you can analyze the hell out of it."
She jerked back. "A plan?"
He raised a brow. "Aren't you the woman who likes to have things mapped out before she acts? A well-ordered, sensible blueprint?"
"Most of the time." She speared him with a look. "However, I'm a big proponent of spontaneity when it comes to certain things."
He wrapped his arms around her. "Such as?"
&
nbsp; "Such as your kissing me," she said. "Right now, Blade. This minute."
"My pleasure." When his mouth settled on hers and he dove in deep, every emotion he was feeling suddenly doubled.
His arms tightened around her. "Are you willing to go for broke, Morgan?" he murmured against her lips. "Willing to take a life-long gamble on us?"
"There's no risk involved." Smiling up at Alex, she pressed her palm against his cheek. "We're a sure bet."
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8105-3
SURE BET
Copyright © 2003 by Margaret Price
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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*Line of Duty
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Table of Contents
MAGGIE PRICE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15