Her eyes narrowed, and the sight stirred my gut. Without thinking, I pressed a finger to her lips. It took everything in me to ignore the jolt of electricity that pulsed through me at the touch of my finger to her soft lips.
“Don’t, Jocelyn. We’ll work together on this where possible, and I’ll keep you updated, but this isn’t your battle to fight. Let me do my job.”
Let me protect you from this.
She stepped back. Her next breath came out shaky. “Where do we start?”
“Charlie’s. I’m doing a walkthrough within the next few days.”
“When? I’ll meet you there.”
I let out a grumble but gave in. “As soon as I get the all-clear from the department that it’s safe to enter.”
“I’ll be there.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that her ass wasn’t allowed to be anywhere near this, but I kept it to myself.
She turned and started for the door, and I let my eyes travel down the length of her back to her backside. My eyes settled on the flare of her hips, perfectly outlined by her jeans, and my chest tightened. Maybe keeping her close to me during this case wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.
Chapter 8
Jocelyn
“Damn.”
I stared at the burned building in front of me. The fire had occurred two days earlier, and from what I could make out from the outside, it didn’t look like Don and I would be able to find any evidence in the charred mess inside. Much of the building had been destroyed in the fire, the front windows were blown out, and I could easily see inside to the burnt tables and bar.
“It’s a mess, isn’t it?”
I jumped, startled by Don’s deep voice behind me. I could feel the goosebumps rise along my arms before I even turned to face him. When I did, I caught him watching me even though he’d asked about the building. I didn’t say anything for the first few seconds. Neither did he.
We stood there, silent, on that sidewalk in front of Charlie’s watching one another. The slight breeze from the wind was the only movement around us, save for cars passing on the street. Looking into his eyes had a way of suspending space and time for me.
The memory of that damn hug in the hospital came to mind. I couldn’t shake the warmth that enveloped me whenever I thought about that hug. It’d been a long time since I’d felt the comfort of being in his arms. I wanted that feeling again.
Don approached, so close that when he exhaled, the warmth of his breath brushed across my lips.
I slowly closed my eyes and swallowed.
“Are you ready?” There was a deep rumble in his voice, and I briefly suspected he wasn’t only talking about Charlie’s.
Clearing my throat, I turned to face the building again. “Sure am. Though, I don’t know what you could find in there that’ll be helpful to the investigation.” With a frown, I gave the building another once over.
He let out a chuckle that lacked humor and held up the yellow caution tape, allowing me to step underneath it. “I’m betting there’s a lot we’ll be able to find out,” he said.
The odor of burnt wood and smoke permeated the air inside.
“Be careful.” He took my hand to help me step over a charred barstool. “The department made sure of the structural integrity of the building, but there’s all types of glass and nails and sharp edges from the damage.”
I avoided his stare and tried to ignore the heat that seared my skin from his touch.
“How can you find anything out in all of this?” My voice came out little huskier than I’d intended.
I felt Don’s eyes on me, even though I still didn’t look at him. He still held onto my hand and I felt little need to pull away from his hold.
I surveyed our surroundings. A sense of hopelessness came over me. First off, we were in a bar that served hundreds of people throughout the week. I had little hope of finding any credible fingerprints or DNA to link to a suspect. It didn’t seem likely that any form of evidence had survived the fire.
“It’s like most other investigations, really,” Don said. He squeezed my hand before releasing it and headed toward the back of the bar.
