He dropped a glance at her hand on his tense thigh before lifting his gaze to give her a level look.“Who are you, Yolanda?”
She blinked at him.“I am your new partner.”
“No.I meanwhoare you?And the shit about transferring from Sydney West because your Area Command wanted to screw you doesn’t cut it.I find it far too convenient my old partner breaks his shoulder on the very day my sister is abducted.And, apart from making my dick stand at attention with just a look, all you’ve done since we’ve met is ask questions about her.”
A horn suddenly blasted.And again.Followed by a venomous shout from behind,“Pull your fuckin’ finger out, mate!”
“The traffic is moving, Detective.”Yolanda pointed at the growing space on the road before them, a languid smirk playing with her lips.
Peter turned his attention to his rearview mirror, scowling at the bird-flipping teenager in the lowered hatch behind him.The urge to open his door, walk back to the youth, flash his badge and teach the unsocial lout a painful lesson in patience was strong.But he couldn’t.His cock—that traitorous, fervent organ—was growing stiffer with each passing second.He wasn’t teaching anyone anything with a bulge in his pants.
Self-disgust curdled in his mouth and he pressed his foot to the accelerator, stomach lurching as his car roared forward.“I’m taking you back to Command.”
“Why?Where are you going?”
The irritation in her voice made him want to smile.It was about time he got to her the way she was getting to him.“I have work to do.”
“Without your partner?”
He pushed the car into a narrow gap.“Yes.”
“You think I am involved with your sister’s abduction, yes?”Yolanda’s soft question filled the terse silence in the car.“You think I somehow had your partner injured so I could take his place?That I am using you to get to her?”
Peter turned his head, giving her a steady, silent look.
“And I am seducing you for the same reasons?”
He clenched his fists around the steering wheel.Refusing to answer.
For a split second, Yolanda’s eyes seemed to shine with something dark and painful, before it disappeared behind a coolly poised glare.She lifted her chin.“You can not believe I find you attractive, even though I know partners should never feel that way about each other?”
“No.I can’t.”
She removed her hand from his thigh.“Very well.What if I tell you my life has been one bad choice after another?One shattered dream to the next?What if I tell you, the first time I met you, I thought maybe, just maybe, you were a man governed by his heart, not his fists, seeing the caring way you scratched the lizard perched on your shoulder?What if I tell you every time I see the worry in your eyes when you talk about your sister, I fill with hope?Hope fate has finally dealt me a hand I might win with?Can you believe that?”She tilted her chin.“Or am I playing you for a fool?”
Peter felt his heart hammer in his chest.Christ.What the fuck did he think now?
Yolanda scowled at his silence and turned to look out the window.“You have been a cop too long, Detective.”
Unease twisted in his gut.Something didn’t ring true.Didn’t feel right.He’d listened to his instincts his whole life.Why was he not doing so now?What was it about Yolanda Vischka that threw him so far for a loop?“So, it’s all a coincidence?”he asked, unable to keep the skepticism from his voice.
She turned back to him, eyes direct.“Yes.”
“Prove it.Call your old Command.”
“Now?”
Peter nodded.
Wordlessly, Yolanda removed her cell phone from her jacket pocket, dialed in a number and handed it to Peter.“Penrith Local Area Command,” an indifferent voice said on the other end, the familiar sounds of a busy police station humming in the background.
“This is Detective Peter Thomas from Sydney City Homicide.Can I speak to your Chief Inspector, please?”
There was a slight clunk, followed by: “This is Inspector Wallis, Detective Thomas.How can I help you?”
“I just wanted to ask you a question about one of your detectives, Inspector.Yolanda Vischka.She was transferred?—”
“To your command area,” Wallis cut in.“And I’m bloody pissed off about it.Told her months ago I wasn’t going to let her go.Too bloody good at her job to lose her.Pisses me off.I shoulda tore up the transfer papers when she put them on my desk.She started yet?”
