Page 37 of Tough Justice

“You’re not coming in the field with me again,” he said in an emotionless voice, although inside, his guts were still churning with fear. “Ever.”

Tori jerked her head up. “Why not?”

He shook his head in total disbelief. “What about nearly getting shot don’t you understand? It’s too dangerous.”

Where only moments ago, she’d been trembling and unsteady, she shot to her feet, steady as a rock. “I need to be out there with you. It’s given me purpose. Instead of waiting on the sidelines for another DOA, I finally feel like I’m being proactive, doing something out there to help you.”

“Help me?” He pulled his hands from his pockets. “How does it help me if you get killed?” Not for the first time, the thought of her with a bullet hole in her head gutted him. He stared into her clear green eyes, thinking how incredibly beautiful they were when it struck him. “The answer is no.”

“Don’t you think I should have a say in this? Maybe we can figure something out.” Ignoring his slowly shaking head, she continued, “I can take my own car. I can park down the street. I can still be in the vicinity if anything goes wrong. I can—”

“No,” he repeated, crossing his arms. She must be out of her mind. No way would he risk losing her again. “You can still feed me information if another OD comes into the hospital and wants to talk, but that’s it.”

“There must be some kind of workaround we can come up with.”

“There isn’t.”

When she stomped her foot, it was so adorable he wanted to take her in his arms. When she pressed her lips together, all he wanted was to kiss the annoyance off of them. That urge to kiss her rose steadily until he could barely concentrate on anything else.

“What’s really the issue here?”

The issue? The issue was he couldn’t take it if anything happened to her. The issue was that he wanted to keep her safe. The issue, dammit, was—

He took another step toward her, invading her personal space and giving in to the craving obliterating all rational thought. “This is.” Gently, he cupped her face. Her eyes rounded with shock as he leaned in…and kissed her.

“Deck,” she said against his lips.

“Don’t talk,” he whispered then angled her head to cover her mouth with his, slipping his tongue inside and uttering a throaty groan.

Kissing her hadn’t been in the ops plan, yet something about it seemed…right. She ran her hands up his chest. When she reached his neck, she touched one finger to the part of his neck that was thumping wildly.

The taste of her was like nectar on his tongue, and it was all he could do not to lap her up like a honey bee and beg for more. But she was more than a quickie on the counter, and he didn’t have time for relationships. Nor did he want one. If only she didn’t feel so good in his arms, all soft and curvy, so incredibly warm and sexy.

He dragged himself away from her lips. How could he be so attracted to someone he argued with so much? She drove him straight up the wall, but he’d rather fight with her than make small talk with anyone else.

Her lips glistened from his kiss, and it took every ounce of strength not to do a one-eighty and dive right back in there. He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t you get it?” he asked hoarsely. “I care about what happens to you. I couldn’t take it if anything did.”

Gently, he kissed her one last time on the forehead then backed away. The expression on her face mimicked the way he felt. Shell shocked.

“Thor.” Drawing on every ounce of strength left in his body, he headed for the door. “You can still go with me to the rehab center,” he said over his shoulder, adding, “I’ll pick you up at noon.” Then he opened the door and walked out.

At the Interceptor, he opened the door for Thor, waiting for him to jump into the kennel. He slid onto the passenger seat and started the engine. Silently, he swore.

He’d nearly lost it, given in to his physical urges like some out-of-control teenager. That’s all they were. Urges. She’d taken him completely off guard. No, he’d taken himself completely off guard and come a heartbeat from giving in to his dick.

Getting involved with Tori was too complicated. First, she was a doctor, one whose help he needed at the hospital, not in his bed. Maintaining a clear head and keeping their temporary truce going had to be his priority. This investigation was too important to fuck up.

He put the gearshift in drive. What had just happened between them was the result of latent adrenaline from the warrant.

But as he headed onto the main road, he knew it was more than that. The problem was that he couldn’t risk exploring exactly whatever it was.

Chapter Thirteen

“Shoot.” Tori dug through her bag for something to tie her hair up with. She could swear she’d left her usual stash of black elastic ties in the tiny zippered compartment.

“Something wrong?” Deck asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

“No, not really.” Other than the fact that since the moment he and Thor had picked her up at her house, there’d been no mention of their kiss the night before.