Riggs narrowed his eyes as Kate hung up the phone. Her face had gone pasty white. “What’s wrong, Kate?”
She sank onto her sofa and dropped her head into her hands.
Riggs gritted his teeth, walked over and joined her. She looked so upset that he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her. “Who was on the phone?”
“I don’t know.” She raked a trembling hand through her hair and looked up at him with a mixture of fear and confusion.
Riggs couldn’t resist. He rubbed her back in slow circles to comfort her. “Talk to me, Kate. What exactly did he say?”
“The voice was muffled, so I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. But whoever it was said, ‘Back off, Kate, or next time your fireman boyfriend won’t be able to save you.’”
Riggs went cold inside. He didn’t mind being called her boyfriend, but the fact that the caller knew he was there meant he was watching Kate. That he wanted to do more than scare her. And that she’d been the target of that fire.
“Did he say anything else?”
“No.” Her chin quivered. “But he must be nearby, watching me.”
Riggs muttered a curse as he rushed to the sliders overlooking the back yard. Shoulders rigid, he stepped outside and searched the darkness. Shadows flitted like dark soldiers in the night through the woods as the trees rustled and moved in the wind.
The caller implied he’d set that fire to get to Kate. That meant the same person who’d set it had tampered with her SUV.
Through the faint sliver of moonlight fighting its way through the fog and smoke, he searched the darkness for her stalker, but he didn’t see anyone in the yard. Although a pair of binoculars could allow the perp to watch from afar.
Pulse jumping, Riggs raced to the front of the house. Through the window, he scanned the yard and street, searching for movement. A car, a match striking, or a cigarette glowing in the dark.
Kate moved up behind him. “Do you see anyone?”
The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end. “No. But he’s out there somewhere.” He sensed it.
His hand went to his belt. “I’ll call Stone. He can put a trace on your phone. If this bastard calls back, maybe he can catch him and stop this madness.”
Kate ran her fingers through her hair, untangling the strands as she sighed.
His heart stuttered with tenderness for her, and he cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t worry, Kate. He’s not going to get to you.”
Her eyes searched his, emotions flaring. “You don’t owe my mother, Riggs. She helped you because she cared. That’s who she was.”
Yes, he did owe her. Other than his own mother, she was the first person who’d believed he wasn’t stupid.
Still, he had to be honest with himself. He wasn’t just there to repay a debt to Elaine McKendrick. He liked Kate.
Need and desire leaped inside him, and he leaned closer to her. Her breath quickened, a seed of longing in her expressive eyes.
He threaded his fingers through the soft tresses of her hair, hunger consuming him. “I’m not doing this for your mother.”
Then he did what he’d been wanting to do forever. He closed his mouth over hers and kissed her.
KATE’S SELF-PROTECTIVE instincts whispered for her to run. That Riggs had the power to break her heart.
You’re a fool to let him get close.
But at the moment, she didn’t care. Ever since she was fifteen, she’d wondered what it would be like to taste him. To have him look at her the way he just had.
To feel his lips on hers and his arms around her.
Riggs didn’t disappoint.
He swept her hair back with his fingers and deepened the kiss, teasing her lips apart with his tongue and delving inside as if he craved her taste just as she did his.
She lifted her hands, tunneled one into his thick hair, and pulled him to her. He teased and explored, taking and giving, until she felt her knees go weak.
Then he caught her around her waist and cradled her against his body. His muscles pressed against her soft curves, teasing her with his masculinity. He mumbled her name on a throaty sigh and unbuttoned her blouse as he walked her backward toward the sofa.
Caught up in the moment, Kate clung to him and fell onto the plush cushions. Her head hit the pillow, her breathing ragged, and he caressed her cheek with his thumb again. Then he dipped his head and pressed tender kisses along her throat, lighting a trail of fire though her body.
That need suddenly sent a streak of terror through her.
“You’re beautiful, Kate,” he murmured.
Tears pricked her eyes as another memory surfaced. Another man, her college boyfriend, telling her she was beautiful and then laughing as he’d walked away after he’d screwed her.
She couldn’t do this. Give in to this raging need for Riggs.
The passion in his eyes turned into a question. “Kate?”
“Stop,” she whispered. “Please.”
He searched her face, her eyes. Then he lifted his body from hers, pushed away from the sofa, and walked over to the sliding glass doors.
The sound of the doors opening made her regret her request, but she’d be foolish to ask him to come back.
Kate McKendrick was a practical kind of girl, not a love-struck teenager.
She quickly buttoned her blouse, humiliation climbing her neck as she realized how close she’d come to letting Riggs strip her naked on the couch.
Outside on the deck, he stood with his back to her, looking out into the woods, his body rigid, hands curled around the railing.
Fighting the urge to go to him and beg him to finish what they’d begun, she hurried into her bedroom and shut the door.
Riggs had promised not to let anyone hurt her.
But he could hurt her if she let down her defenses again.
RIGGS GRIPPED THE railing so tightly he thought the wood might splinter. What the hell had just happened?
He’d kissed Kate, that was what had happened. He’d kissed her and that kiss had been so damn hot he hadn’t been able to stop himself. No, he could have stopped himself—he just hadn’t wanted to.
So he’d kept going and one taste of her neck had made him crave more. And then, for God’s sake, he’d unbuttoned her blouse, seen that scrap of red lace, and thought he’d die if he didn’t have her.
Who knew sweet, tough, levelheaded Kate liked decadent underwear?
Her breasts...they were every bit as luscious-looking as he’d imagined.
And he had fantasized about them. When he was in high school. When he’d seen her around town. In his sleep. After all, he was a red-blooded male.
And she was...exquisite.
You’re a bastard, man. Kate was scared and you came onto her.
Of course she’d told him to stop. He’d practically mauled her.
Although, for a brief second, he’d felt passion between them as if it wasn’t one-sided. As if Kate wanted him.
He hadn’t imagined it, had he?
Forcing himself to take long, deep breaths, he wrangled his libido under control. The wind picked up, stirring the acrid scent of smoke and burned wood, a reminder of the reason he was at Kate’s.
And of the phone call.
Dammit, he had to update Stone. Should have alerted him the minute Kate had told him about the threat.
He snagged his phone from his belt and punched Stone’s number. “I came back to Kate’s after I left the fire,” Riggs said. “Where are you?”
“Just left the mayor’s house. I stopped by to see if Don Gaines was home.”
Riggs’s pulse quickened. “Was he?”
“He’d just gotten in,” Riggs said. “Mayor didn’t like my questions, but Don smelled like smoke, and had mud on his sneakers.”
“Where did he say he’d been?”
“Out with some buddies. I’ll call them and verify his story when I return to the station. Mr. Gaines refused to let Don give me a DNA sample or his prints, so I’m requesting a warrant.”
“While you’re at it, get one for his cell phone.”
“What’s up?” Stone asked.
Riggs explained about the phone call. “This bastard is stalking her, Stone.”
Stone mumbled a curse. “Poor Kate. I bet she’s completely unraveled.”
Kate unraveled? He was the one coming unraveled. “She was shaken,” Riggs admitted. “She gave permission for you to put a trace on her cell in case the caller phones again.”
“On it.” He hunched his shoulders. “Macy’s been reviewing Dad’s old files. She plans to connect with our former classmates at the picnic tomorrow. Maybe time has mellowed everyone and, if someone did know something, he or she is ready to talk.”
Kate would probably be front and center at the picnic. So might the person threatening her.
He bit back a curse. He wanted her tucked away safe and sound.
In his bed.
Not going to happen, man.
“Maybe Billy will show up,” Stone said.
“Maybe.” Twigs snapped from somewhere in the distance and a tree branch splintered and sailed to the ground. Riggs craned his neck to search the area again. “He may be lurking nearby.” That would be Billy’s style.
Stone nodded. “If he’s escalating, he might make a mistake and tip his hand in public.”
“We can hope.”
Stone hung up, then the slider doors squeaked open. Riggs steeled himself against reacting...or reaching for Kate again.
The scent of her lavender bodywash wafted to him, aromatic and feminine in contrast to the thick, cloying, smoky odor.
“Riggs, I—”
“Go to bed, Kate.”
Her raspy breath punctuated the air, torturing him. “W-we should talk,” she said in a low whisper.
Hell, no. Not with her standing in the fading moonlight with her hair spilling around her shoulders and the image of that red lacy bra fresh in his mind. “There’s nothing to talk about. You wanted to stop and we did. You can lock the door if you’re afraid of me.”
She took a step toward him. “I’m not afraid,” Kate breathed.
But she was. Fear glittered in her eyes.
That hurt more than if she’d physically hit him. “I told you I’d protect you, and I will. I’ll sleep on the couch and I won’t bother you again.”
“Riggs—”
“Please, Kate. Go. To. Bed.”
His gruff voice must have gotten to her because she turned and disappeared inside the house. A minute later, he heard her bedroom door close.
Good, she was out of sight. Safe.
Riggs was the one in danger of losing himself in her sweet body and eyes.
But he needed to stop any fantasies of having Kate. He had to stay focused and protect her.
He’d lost a friend in the shooting and two more in a fire last year. The sound of that warehouse collapsing, trapping two of his partners who’d gone in to save innocents, haunted him every night. Tony Almono and Will Elrod, both over six feet and strong as oxen. But not strong enough to survive an inferno or the burning rubble that had covered them in flames and hot gas.
Hell, he used to be fun-loving and cocky. But he’d seen too many good people get killed to forget that death came for everybody at some time.
Kate was too good a person for it to come for her just yet.
KATE WAS AS shaken by the kiss with Riggs as she was the fire. His comment about Macy reviewing the original case files from the shooting investigation played through her head as she readied for bed.
Why had Macy left town without saying goodbye?
Why did you let the distance between you two go on for so long...? You could have tried harder to reach out to her. Harder to get her to forgive you. Harder to keep her in your life.
But Kate had been too embroiled in her own grief to think about anyone except herself.
She punched her pillow in frustration. As a member of the planning committee, Amy had kept a list of all the addresses and phone numbers for the alumni. Kate rose from bed, booted up her computer and searched the list until she found Macy’s.
Even if her former best friend didn’t want to reconcile, she at least owed her an apology for how she’d acted fifteen years ago. Macy had never known how to reach out for help, and if she’d needed it, would have tried to handle things on her own, just as she had as a kid.
With the new school, Kate hoped for a new beginning. Maybe she needed a new one with Macy.
Still, her hand trembled slightly as she crawled back into bed and pressed Macy’s number.
The phone rang four times then her voice mail picked up. “This is Special Agent Macy Stark. Please leave a message with your number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
Kate tensed. What she had to say needed to be said in person, not on a message machine. Macy knew where she lived and could come by, but she hadn’t. Maybe she was screening her calls and didn’t want to talk.
Biting her lip, she pressed End Call without leaving a message. She’d try again later. Or maybe she’d see Macy at one of the reunion events and they could talk.
But worry knotted her stomach as Kate closed her eyes, and memories of the shooting returned to haunt her....
THE BELL HAD RUNG, signaling time to change to third period, when Ned had flown into a rage. Kate and Macy and Brynn had just met at their lockers, chatting about nothing, when the first bullet was fired.
Their lockers were directly across from Kate’s mother’s classroom. Riggs had just come out, and she and Macy turned to head into English class while Brynn had Trig. But screams erupted as the bullets began to ping off the lockers and victims began to fall.
Kate’s mother stepped out and raised a hand to try to convince Ned to put down the gun. Just as she did, Ned waved the gun. Macy froze, her eyes wide with terror, then Kate heard the sound of the gun going off.
Shock immobilized her as she watched Riggs get hit and fall, blood spurting from his leg as he doubled over in pain. Brynn and the others began to run into classrooms, some kids pushing and shoving to get out of the line of fire.
Ned looked straight at Kate then aimed his weapon at Macy. Then it all happened so quickly that Kate forgot the sequence of events. All she remembered was Macy’s scream, the sound of the bullet and then her mother collapsing onto the floor, blood soaking her blouse.