Ofhersituation, my brain corrected.
“The moment he confessed to shooting the judge,” I said, “that can’t be undone. He took the life you had away from you. And it might not mean much now, but when you testify, you can do the same to him.”
She stopped looking at me then. Her gaze went vacant as she succumbed to the overwhelming realization.
“I’ve spent my entire life working to get where I am.” Her voice was so small, it was heartbreaking. “How the hell am I supposed to just give that up?”
I didn’t have any answers for her.
An unfamiliar ache banded across my chest.
She stood, moving slowly and measured as if she were trying very hard not to fall apart, and it drew me to my feet as well. It was so much easier when the witnesses weren’t innocent. Easier when they’d partly brought their bad situation on themselves, placing themselves in an opportunistic position to witness a crime.
And it was so much easier when the witness wasn’t Laurel Hayward.
She’d be transferred out of my detail soon, maybe faster now since she’d identified Frey.
That . . . bothered me.
It bothered me so much more than it should, this thought that she’d be gone in another day. I tried to convince myself it was only because of her link to Frey, but I was fooling myself. Shit, I had to get a handle on my inappropriate feelings about her.
And then out of nowhere, she stepped forward and buried her face into my chest. My arms folded around her like this was a familiar action we’d performed countless times before. Shetrembled, shaking from the emotions flooding through her, and she grabbed a fistful of the shirt I’d thrown on this morning.
Was it taking everything she had to keep herself from breaking down?
I wanted to tell her she was strong. Tough. Brave.
But I couldn’t do anything. I’d gone on autopilot when she launched herself into my arms, and my brain was in turmoil. Ilikedthe feeling of her in my arms.
Her body was warm and fit perfectly against mine. One of her hands hooked up around my neck, pulling me even closer, tighter, clinging to me as if she were about to be swept away.
I hoped she was too distracted to notice the way my hands had settled on the small of her back in a weird, comfortable feeling that I told myself I didn’t enjoy. I let my presence be overpowering and reassuring, wanting it to make her feel—what?
Safe?
That was the last thing she should feel in my arms.
“I’m sorry,” she said, composing herself. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked up at me, causing the spark between us to crackle with intensity. When she sucked in a sharp breath, I felt it with every cell in my body.
No.The word was loud and angry in my head.
I wanted to kiss her.
Her lips fell open, breathless, as if she were encouraging me. She drew her arm down slowly from my neck to join her other hand that was square on my chest, where she’d be able to feel exactly how it rose and fell.
With anxiety, though.
Definitely not with excitement or anticipation.
I’d gotten pulled from fieldwork for punching a witness. I could only imagine what would happen if Bill found out I’d kissed one. Because it was what I’d wanted to do from themoment I’d set eyes on her. Maybe kissing her would release the strange spell she held over me.
But that wasn’t going to happen. Itcouldn’thappen.
I wasn’t going to lose my job over her. Plus, she’d been through enough. She certainly didn’t need my bullshit on top of it. Yet my body moved without my approval, tilting my head and leaning in to place my mouth over hers.
10
LAUREL
