Shot in the Dark

by Jennifer Conner

  “I thought you’d left. I told you to leave.”

  “I only follow orders from my captain. Besides, it takes me awhile to get my leg moving. I was taking my time.” The corner of his lip quirked up in a smile. “Good thing.”

  She would have made it though, she always did, but she was an emotional wreck. She probably would have sat in the corner of the shower all night.

  Luci looked at Devan as if it were the first time.

  From her perch at the drive-thru window of the espresso stand, she’d thought he was nice, but never noticed how handsome he was… in a gruff, bulldog kind of way.

  He looked like he preferred combing his jet-black, unruly hair with his fingers instead of a comb. His short dark sideburns gave him a bad-boy appearance.

  He smelled so good— not like the guy who’d attacked her. Devan smelled like fresh air, trees and musk. That was the first thing she’d pieced together after the attack. She’d known it was him before she opened her eyes. No one smelled like the detective.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you tonight.” There was a tremor in his normally strong voice.

  “There’s no way you could have known. You ordered your coffee and left like you do every night. If you’d known there was someone waiting, you would have been there.”

  “It happened so fast, the guy had to be watching you. I should have seen him.”

  “Devan.”

  He closed his eyes. She could hear his breathing. “I could have…”

  Luci placed a hand on either side of his face and covered his mouth with hers. She hoped kissing him would somehow erase the events of the night from both their minds.

  She continued the long, slow pressure against his lips.

  Devan’s hands were still cupped to her elbows and his fingers flexed against her skin. She felt he wanted to touch her, but didn’t. Now that she’d started the kiss, she didn’t want it to end. Everything melted away but the feel of his mouth.

  When she finally broke the kiss, he appeared dazed. “Why’d you do that?” he asked as he rubbed the back of his hand across his lips.

  “I need you to stop thinking about all the what ifs. I have plenty of experience with what ifs. They never get anyone anywhere.” She placed the palm of her hand on his chest, feeling the muscles jump from her touch. “Listen, I didn’t bring you to my apartment for sex tonight, though that kiss was nice, and having sex with you did cross my mind. I know it’s a good stress reliever.” Luci straightened her robe. “I’m not very good at this. I’m a spontaneous, but in control, kind of girl… which explains what I just did. But tonight, everything’s so completely out of control.”

  Darkness flashed across his face. His brows furrowed. “I’m not who or what you need.”

  “I know exactly what I need. Even if it’s just for tonight, I need you to be strong for both of us. Because for once, I’m not. Please.”

  He nodded.

  ****

  Dev glanced at his reflection in her bathroom mirror. He looked like crap. It must have been a momentary lapse in sanity offering to take Luci home and then coming in.

  Why was Mac dealing with a bust? Couldn’t he have been there once when Dev needed him? Luci was asking more of him than he was ready to give.

  He splashed cold water across his face and then dried off with a hand towel. He reluctantly headed back to the living room.

  I’ll say my goodbyes, and be gone.

  Luci looked up as he entered the room. “I made you a turkey and Havarti sandwich. I wasn’t sure if you like mayo or mustard,” she said as she arranged the sandwich on the plate. “I can put on more condiments if you want. I put lettuce and tomato on it already. You were on your way home when you got the robbery call, which means you probably missed dinner. It’s the least I can do. Please, sit down. I bet your leg hurts.”

  Dev grunted and dropped down onto the couch. Luci had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt with a community college emblem emblazoned on the front. Even that looked good on her.

  The lights in the room were dimmed and a fragrant cinnamon-scented candle burned on the mantle. Luci sat beside him and tried to carry on a conversation, but in less than five minutes her eyes drooped and her head lolled against her arm.

  He chewed another bite of the sandwich and watched her long dark lashes fan the edges of her closed eyes. Her skin was perfect, flawless.

  God, she’s beautiful.

  She woke for a second, opened her eyes and said groggily, “Just tonight. Stay here. Please… don’t leave.” Turning, she settled in and dropped her head on his thigh. She curled her legs beneath her. In seconds, her breathing became heavy. Without disturbing her, Dev leaned forward and placed the empty plate on the table.

  When his hand returned, he lifted a lock of hair and tucked it behind her ear. It was so incredibly soft and silky. In her sleep, she frowned. She didn’t deserve to live with the fear she’d experienced tonight. She deserved love—something he wasn’t capable of giving.

  Luci had an effect on him he didn’t want, and sure as hell didn’t need. He’d made a huge mistake coming here tonight, and she’d made even a bigger mistake when she’d kissed him. She’d awakened something inside him he thought was dead.

  When her lips pressed to his, they tasted like honey. Usually kisses he’d experienced with women in the past were heated and demanding. He and the woman-of-the-night had a shared goal— getting to the next round for sex.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared such a gentle kiss with a woman.

  Maybe never.

  Luci wasn’t in her right mind. The kiss was a release for the emotional roller coaster she was on. Nothing more.

  The pain in his thigh flowed through his body, but with Luci’s head lying gently on him, he didn’t care. He needed sleep, but there would be time for that later.

  Stroking his fingers through her blonde hair, Dev listened to the wind outside and the sound of her breathing. She was at peace. She was safe. That was what mattered.

  ****

  The hard slap snapped Ivan’s head back and made his teeth crack shut. He tried not to fall against the wall. His vision swam gray as he tasted his own blood.

  “Chyort voz’mi! What were you doing? You said that you were going to stop.” His brother’s eyes were rimmed red with fury and his lip quivered with rage. “If father was here, he would kill you!”

  Ivan glared at Vlad, and rubbed at the spot still stinging from the slap on his cheek. “Fuck you, for bringing father into this.”

  “Me?” The tone of his brother’s voice rose. “You will fuck all of us with your ways.” Vlad pulled his hand back to strike again, but Ivan didn’t give him the satisfaction of flinching as the blow struck him. “We have a business. A successful business. I have not fought and killed these past four years to have you ruin it.”

  “I don’t understand why you are so angry.” Ivan was still shocked that his brother found out about the robberies. Vlad seemed to know everything and was always watching him.

  Their family had been in the country long enough to speak fluent English, but both men had thick accents. “The bitch was no different than anyone else we steal credit from. I just took it from her personally.” Smiling thinly, he watched Vlad’s eyes flare.

  Ivan partied most of the night with two women. Of course he paid for their company, but after losing the blonde in the espresso bar, his dick had been so hard it was misery.

  As the blonde cried and struggled, he’d felt her breath on the front of his pants and been so close to release. That only fueled the dragon inside him. It was worth the three-hundred dollars. Hookers or not, they’d finished the job.

  “Did she see you?” His brother’s words were tight.

  “No, of course not. How stupid do you think I am?” />
  A cold glare was his answer.

  “You wore a mask then?”

  “I wore a mask,” he lied, as he rubbed his chin with his fingers and crossed an alligator skin boot over one knee.

  It wasn’t as much fun if you couldn’t see their fear. Masks blocked his vision and cramped his style. That was one thing he had tons of —style.

  He’d worn masks before, but not this time. He’d made sure her head had been pushed away from him. He doubted she ever got a clear look at his features after he’d flicked the lights off. This time it had been for more than just the cash.

  This was the third espresso bar he’d robbed in the past month. Ivan would need to move on to another part of LA, for fear of being caught.

  He wanted the money. It provided him the extra pocket change his brother never allowed. He’d done the other robberies at the drive-thru window, but last night was different. All evening he’d watched the girl with the blonde hair and tight pink bikini from across the street.

  He’d bound her wrists, cut off her top and was ready to rip her shorts off. He’d dreamed all evening of pounding himself into all that luscious, helpless flesh when that oyobuk in a pick-up banged on the window, ruining everything.

  He had a gun. He could have just shot the guy in the head. Then he could have gotten down to business without any interruptions. Ivan reached for the cup of strong black coffee on the table and took a long, slow drink.

  “This is the last time.” Vlad twisted his large square hands making the gold rings on his fingers clink like coins. “Do I make myself clear?”

  Ivan tried to push down the anger boiling inside him. Did his brother think he was in charge? Ivan was younger by eight years, but he’d paid his dues to the family. Inna, his sister, would help him if he was ever in trouble. He didn’t need Vlad.

  It would soon be his turn to rise and take what was his by birth.

  He had the blonde’s bag and her wallet which he’d gone through once back at the house. He would have to make a visit to see Luci Lombart at 6445 Peacock Drive, just to make sure things between them stayed clear.

  His brother had been right about one thing: Ivan couldn’t take the chance she could identify him. He assumed she’d given a statement and vague description of him to the cops, but without having clearly seen him he was safe.

  He would add her credit cards to the system, but what he wanted most had been withheld by that interfering stranger.

  He’d take her body… then possibly her life.

  Chapter Five

  When Luci opened her eyes, she saw the sun was already up and her head was still pressed against a heavily muscled thigh. Gingerly untangling herself, she pulled out from under the large hand resting protectively across her shoulder.

  Devan’s head was tipped to the side, his mouth slightly parted, and his breathing deep.

  Hey, he does actually sleep.

  Tucking her feet underneath her, she watched him. In sleep, the hard scowling lines of his face softened, she hoped along with the pain he appeared to always be in.

  With his dark brooding eyes closed, his chiseled and rugged face transformed. When he was awake he always looked angry —not at her—at the world. A dark lock of black hair tumbled in a curl over his forehead as her eyes lingered on his sensual mouth.

  She should be terrified of a man touching her after what happened last night, but for some strange reason she wanted Devan to touch her, kiss her.

  It had been over six months since she’d broken down and had a one-night fling. What was his name? Bob? Rob? The sex had been forgettable and he’d been in and out of her, and her apartment, in less than two hours. Pre-med occupied Luci’s mind with a different kind of anatomy than she’d get at the nightclubs with her girlfriends.

  Every day she was busy with homework assignments. Nothing was more important to her right now. Education was her only path out. Her career as an acupuncturist would allow her a better life than the one her mother had felt chained to.

  Luci wondered why she’d never asked this cute detective out? Maybe because he never seemed approachable.

  Maybe he has a girlfriend… or worse, a wife.

  Geeze, and I asked him to spend the night? She’d kissed him before she knew anything about him. Her gaze dropped to his left hand.

  No ring, and no indent where a ring had been. Maybe he didn’t have a significant other. That was good because she was getting overheated just watching the man sleep.

  Devan filled a good section of the couch with his slumbering form. The once dark blue T-shirt he wore was washed to a faded blue and accentuated his broad chest. The leather holster holding his gun rested against his side.

  A muscle in the bicep of his arm twitched. She liked strong, solid arms. Devan had great arms. If he looked this good with clothes on, what would he look like naked? Was he this big all over? Did his skin taste as good as his lips?

  All male. Luci swallowed.

  Leaning forward, she reached out and traced a finger along his lower lip. Instantly, he jumped back, startling both of them and reached for his side-arm.

  “Hey!” Luci’s heart pounded in her chest. “Don’t shoot.” She raised her hands in defense.

  Devan rubbed a hand roughly over his face. “What are you doing? Dammit… don’t do that.”

  “You’re a little jumpy, aren’t you? I told you to lay off the coffee.” She couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh. “In the morning it’s good to know that you reach for your gun when there’s a woman next to you. I’ll heed the warning.”

  “I don’t usually ‘wake up’ with a woman next to me. I leave the night before.” Straightening, he cracked his neck to the side.

  “Well that’s good to know too. Are you the kind of guy that makes coffee before he leaves, or are you out the door as quickly as possible?”

  “You’re the barista, why should I make the coffee?” he grumbled and unbent his knee with a grimace.

  His comment made Luci laugh out loud. “Hey, you made a joke. I didn’t think you had it in you. Is there a comical side that you keep in the closet?”

  He glared at her. “What time is it?”

  “Eight.” She reached for his hand. “Thanks for staying here last night,” she said sincerely.

  “Yeah… well. Someone has to take you back to your car. Then I’ll follow you into the station and do a follow-up report.”

  Luci paused and bit her lip. “Do I need to call the owner of the espresso stand, and tell him what happened?”

  “I’m sure Brady or Wallace did that last night, but I’ll check.” Devan leaned forward and groaned. “I know this sounds strange, but could you give me a minute—alone?”

  Luci nodded, feeling confused as she headed toward the kitchen. Pulling the tea kettle from the back of the stove she filled it with water and lit the burner. From the living room she heard Devan grunt, swear, and then the echo from the metallic click of the cane on the floor as he headed for the bathroom.

  Was he embarrassed for her to see him struggle to stand? Why would he be embarrassed about that, after the big blubbering mess she’d been last night?

  He was a guy, and most guys hated showing any signs of weakness, but so did she.

  We make quite a pair, don’t we?

  The idea of being linked with Devan as a couple seemed odd, but there was a strange appeal to it. It had been a long time since Luci sensed that kind of magnetism with a man. Guys hit on her every night at the stand, but it was never a mutual attraction. She liked Devan, and looked forward to seeing him night after night.

  The male customers were there for breasts and caffeine. Why would Devan be any different? But he genuinely seemed to like her company and carried on an intelligent nightly conversation that consisted of more than, hey baby, you want some of what
I got to offer? The answer, of course was a hell no, but she could never say it out loud.

  Besides being handsome and brooding, Devan appeared to be a bad boy. Luci avoided bad boys like the plague. She didn’t need a verbally or possibly physically abusive man like her stepfather.

  But that was just it. Devan frowned most of the time, but that didn’t make him a ‘bad’ guy. He was a smartass like her. He was sharp-witted and had a troubled side which drew her to him like moths to a flame. He’d proved by staying with her that he was a nice guy… whether he’d admit it or not.

  How had he been injured? All those months of seeing him through the window of his car at the espresso bar, she hadn’t realized he walked with a cane. She guessed that was the last thing he wanted people to know.

  There was a story behind his injury. What happened to him not only crippled his body, it poisoned his mind. The more times he avoided her questions, the more things she wanted to know.

  She was just that kind of a girl.

  The body’s just bone and muscle, veins and organs. She knew better than most that sometimes you needed to look out of the box of Western medicine. Dev’s lines were drawn in bold black and white. He was as straight an arrow as they came. She doubted he’d sought out any recovery methods for his injury other than what the doctors at the clinics told him.

  There was a reason she was in her third year at the University of Chinese Culture and Health Studies. Maybe she could help with his pain.

  Devan came around the corner of the kitchen and leaned against the arched doorway. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll take you to your car and then follow you to the station.”

  “Did the tea I brewed last night help any with your leg?” Luci asked, putting a dish in the bottom of the sink and spraying water over it.