Page 267 of A Matter of Time

I was overwhelmed suddenly with sadness. This really was goodbye, and I was ending forever yet another failed relationship. My track record was total shit.

“Jory.” Aaron whispered my name, trying to step in close to me, reaching for my shoulder.

I stepped back, turned around, and ran. He yelled my name more than once.

I wasn’t ready to go home. I really needed to just sit somewhere, have a drink, and clear my head. Someplace quiet where no one would bother me. And I knew exactly where.

It turned out that I was reaping some serious karma for God knew what. Or maybe it was someone else’s karma and I was just caught in the crossfire. There was a drug raid at my favorite piano bar, due to the fact that the owner of the club had apparently been moving quite a bit of cocaine in and out of his place for some time. And vice detectives had picked tonight, Wednesday night, to bust him.

So I was sitting on the curb in a long row with everyone else who had been inside when the police came swarming through the front door. There was a barricade of black-and-white cars blocking us from the other side of the street, where a crowd had formed. It was the cherry on the cake of my day. When someone gently kicked my foot, I let my head roll back so I could look up. Turned out I had been wrong: here was the cake topper.

“Hi.” Sam Kage smirked down at me. “What brings you to this den of iniquity, J?”

I groaned, and his smirk changed into a full-blown evil grin. He was enjoying this to no end.

“Since when do you do drugs?”

“I don’t and you know it.” I shot him a look. “Don’t be an ass.”

“Better watch how you talk to me,” he said, crouching down in front of me. “You could be in a lot of trouble here.”

I stared into his eyes. “What are you even doing here? You don’t work vice anymore. You’re a homicide detective now.”

He didn’t answer me.

“Sam?”

“Get up.”

As soon as I was on my feet, he grabbed me hard, fingers digging into my shoulder before he walked me away from the others, down the street, and around the corner to his car. I pulled free of his grasp and turned to face him, but before I could say a word, he shoved me up against the back passenger-side door and pinned me there. He held me still with just one hand on my chest.

“Jesus, Sam,” I barked at him. “What the hell are you⁠—”

“Shut up.” He stepped forward so we were only inches apart.

The heat radiating off the man was amazing. I caught my breath; I couldn’t help it. He made a noise in the back of his throat.

“Some things never change, huh, J?”

I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of speaking to him. I stared at the sidewalk.

“Look at me.”

I lifted my head to look up into his eyes and found that he had bent toward me at the same time. When he spoke, I felt his warm breath on my face.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to sit and relax a little before I went home.”

He nodded, dipping his head lower, inhaling me. “You’re shaking, you know.”

I knew. Nothing I could do about it.

“Maybe I should search you for illegal substances.”

I swallowed hard, trying to get my body to calm down.

“Or maybe I’ll just put you in the back of my car and fuck you till you pass out.”