“None of you have to grant his request, of course.” The prosecutor looked stern. “It’s totally up to—”
“I’d like to see him.” Cami pushed to a stand.
“We’ll all go.” LT stood as well, dropping a hand to pull his wife up beside him. Then he winced and added, “Uh, sorry. I don’t mean to speak for everyone.” He looked down the row of chairs at Dana and John. “Blame it on the whole former lieutenant thing. Unilateral decision makin’ is a hard habit to break.”
“No.” Dana stood. “You’re right. We should all go.”
“Okay then. Come this way.” Dixon motioned for them to follow him.
Falling into step in the wake of the others, Dana smiled when John threaded his fingers through hers. His hand was so big and rough and warm.
The memory of how he’d used his hands to make her body sing had her shivering.
My claim to being old-fashioned and needing to be wined and dined went right out the window after the storm passed.
And boy-oh-boy was she lamenting it’d taken herthatlong to give in to John’s considerable charms. Sex with him had been…illuminating. She’d felt things and done things andsaidthings she never had before. Which had forced her to realize she’d spent way,waytoo much of her life sleeping with men who didn’t truly understand—or appreciate—a woman’s body.
Now that shehadbeen with a man who truly understood and appreciated a woman’s body? Well, she wasn’t sure she could ever go back.
Which was a little scary. Because John lived in Key West and she lived in Washington D.C. How were they going to make it work? Better yet, did he evenwantto make it work?
When she’d been ready to step into the chartered float plane the day before, he hadn’t said,“Wait, Dana. What’s next for us?”He hadn’t said,“Let’s talk about what we want outta this before you take off for Miami.”All he’d said was,“I’ll see you tomorrow at the police station.”
“You okay, darlin’?” He leaned in close, making her shiver because his warm breath against her cheek reminded her of all the deliciously naughty things he’d whispered while they were in bed together. John had a rare…ahem…gift with words. Particularly those of the carnal variety. “If you’ve changed your mind about seein’ Will nobody’d blame you.”
She realized he’d mistaken the frown on her face for an expression of trepidation.
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not what—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. They’d come to the end of the hallway and Dixon shoved open the last door on the right.
“You got five minutes,” he said to whomever was inside the room. Then he stood back and nodded for Dana and the others to enter.
She loved how John placed his big hand against the small of her back to usher her in front of him. She loved it more when he took her hand again as soon as they both stepped inside the room.
Love.
It was a big word. Maybe thebiggestof words. And she’d been using it a lot in reference to him. Which didn’t bode well for her since she didn’t know the answers to the questions of how they were going to make it work or if he evenwantedto.
Of course, as soon as Cami moved aside and Dana got a look at Will, all her thoughts ground to a halt.
Will was seated at a table in the center of the room. His injured arm was held in a sling close to his chest but his free hand was wrapped in a silver cuff that was cinched around a metal bar in the middle of the table.
He’d aged ten years in the space of a few days. His face was drawn and haggard. There were deep circles under his eyes. And his skin looked waxy and corpse-like against the garish orange of his prison uniform.
To Dana’s surprise, there was no guard inside the room. No lawyer. Just Will.
His chin wobbled a bit, but he didn’t shy away from looking all of them directly in the eye. It was only after he’d acknowledged each and every one of them that he spoke.
Dana wasn’t sure what she’d expected him to say, but it certainly wasn’t, “Thank you.”
Chapter 31
1:01 PM...
Will had given a lot of thought to what he wanted to tell the people he and his friends had taken hostage. He’d played around with the notion of starting withI’m sorry.
Because he was.
