Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest)

Seventeen



Cara’s doorbell rang. And rang. And rang. Then the pounding started. She’d taken the week off from work to pull herself together…and yes, maybe wallow a little. She had the sick time owed to her and figured she deserved to indulge herself, so here it was Thursday, and someone was banging on her door. At eight in the morning.

She grabbed her fuzzy robe, pulled it on over the tank top she slept in, and stormed to her front door. She whipped it open, prepared to give whoever was there a piece of her mind.

She found Sam, who had been calling her twice daily to make sure she was okay. “Can’t a girl take time off without you checking on me constantly?” she snapped at him, leaving her door open for him to follow her inside.

“You’re not sick, you’re depressed, and though you have good reason to be, it’s enough. He may be my brother, but he’s an ass. He doesn’t deserve you, and he sure as hell doesn’t deserve for you to be sitting around sulking over him, so let’s go. Shower and get dressed. We’re going shopping.”

Cara wrinkled her nose. Neither one of them loved hitting a mall. “For what?”

“It’s my mother’s birthday this weekend and I need to buy her a present.”

“Fine. For Ella, I’ll pull myself together. Besides, I want to buy Daniella a little motivational gift. She’s signed up for paralegal courses online, and she’s interviewing with some firms who are willing to wait until she can work. Belinda’s got some great contacts,” Cara said of Havensbridge’s founder.

Sam smiled. “That’s great. One less person to worry about,” he said. “Has her ex gotten a court date yet?”

Cara shrugged. “I’m not sure. Daniella said he’s been quiet, but sometimes she gets that eerie feeling she’s being followed. I reminded her not to go out alone, and she said she knows.”

“That’s all you can do. Now go. Get ready.” He prodded her on the back.

Cara headed for the stairs. Pausing, she turned to her partner. “Thanks, Sam.”

“That’s what friends are for. Hey, have I told you that you look like hell?”

She frowned at him. “Gee, thanks.”

“Just calling it like I see it.” He tipped his head toward the stairs.

“I’m going.” But she paused. “Sam, have you…” She trailed off, wanting to ask how his brother was doing.

Had Sam spoken to him? Was he suffering like she was? Or had he gone back to his lifestyle, and women like Lauren, as if the interlude in Serendipity and with Cara had never happened?

“I haven’t spoken to him,” Sam said, reading her mind. Because that was what a good partner did. And really, what else would Cara possibly want to know? “He’s not answering when I call. I’m sorry.”

Cara nodded, the lump in her throat that she’d been fighting all week returning as big as ever.

“He spoke to the mayor before he left town,” Sam said, surprising her. “He laid out everything about the cold case and the money in the evidence room.”

Cara stared, stunned. She’d been so wrapped up in her personal drama, she’d completely forgotten about the case. “What did she say?”

“According to my father, because I didn’t hear it from Mike, the mayor uttered a few choice words that her voters wouldn’t be too happy to hear. Especially when she found out the extent of the people involved.”

“Is Simon in trouble?” Cara asked.

“I’ve gotta hand it to my brother. He managed to make it a burden for the mayor if she went public with the information.”

“How?”

“By reminding her that many of those who were mentioned in that black book, who’d visited the Winkler place, and who had been involved in the cover-up, were also her biggest campaign supporters,” Sam said with a grin.

Cara pulled her robe tighter, unable to hold back a smile of her own. “Brilliant.”

Sam nodded. “Added to that, the Winkler place had been shut down for years, so there was no point in bringing that up again. Everyone who was once involved appeared to be clean now, and the only person still in public office was retiring.” Sam spread his hands wide. “So really, what good would it do to air the dirty laundry except to tarnish her loyal supporters?”

Cara leaned on the banister. “Case closed, huh?”

“Appears that way.”

“What about Rex?” Cara hadn’t seen him or heard about him since his near arrest. “Did he go back to Vegas?”

“He checked out of the hotel he was staying in after Mike made sure he knew his presence wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere in Serendipity.”

Cara exhaled slowly, surprised Mike had a one-on-one confrontation with his father. “At least he had closure,” she said, knowing how much Mike needed that to move forward in his life.

“Do you want some advice?” Sam asked.

Cara shrugged, knowing she couldn’t stop him. “Go for it.”

Sam met her gaze, his expression sincere and full of compassion. “Stop caring about him.”

Cara shook her head and laughed. “Do you think I haven’t tried?” she asked, storming up the stairs so she could shower. And then do her least favorite thing in the world: shopping.

Could her life get any more exciting than this?

The walls were closing in and this damned apartment didn’t feel a thing like home. Mike’s small place over Joe’s was more welcoming, and that was because he had more waiting for him when he walked outside than he had in New York City. A week had gone by and he hadn’t put out feelers at his old station or with the feds because he wasn’t ready to think about remaining in Manhattan.

But just a short week ago, he hadn’t been able to think about settling in Serendipity either. So he’d turned to his same M.O. and done what he did best.

He ran away.

Mike hadn’t been able to look himself in the mirror since. He hadn’t answered his brother’s or sister’s calls. He’d come back here for breathing space and thinking time, but it hadn’t taken long for him to wonder why the hell he had thought he needed either one.

Everything he wanted had been staring him in the face in Serendipity. A woman who understood him, accepted him, completed him in a way he’d never believed possible. He missed Cara, her smile, her laugh, and most of all, he missed the way she called out his full name when he was deep inside her. Hell, he even missed the dingy office at the station and how he could hear Cara’s laugh when his door was left open. But every time he thought about going back, he remembered her face when she realized his suitcase was open and half-packed in his apartment.

Destroyed.

That was the only word he could think of. He’d destroyed—not her, Cara was too strong to let him defeat her—but he’d trashed whatever faith she’d had in him. And though he’d given her no reason and even discouraged it, she’d believed in him enough to invest her heart.

What had he done? He’d thrown that gift away.

His cell rang, and he glanced down. For the first time all week, he answered a call from home. “Hey, Sam.”

“I’m on my way up the stairs to your apartment. Open the damned door and let me in. We need to talk.”

Mike heard his brother’s voice in the hall and opened his door as Sam finished his sentence. “Come on in,” Mike muttered.

Sam walked inside and looked Mike over. “Thank God you look like shit too.”

Mike drew his shoulders back, Sam’s words hitting him hard. “Cara’s in bad shape?”

“What do you think, a*shole?”

His heart hurt at that, and he expelled a long breath. “I deserved that.”

“You’re lucky I don’t haul off and hit you.” Sam headed to his brother’s fridge and pulled out a soda. “Are you that damned selfish that you couldn’t see what you had? Or are you that stupid that you really don’t want her?”

Mike sat on the couch and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I f*cked up. I’m not going to go into all the crap in my past, or why I did it. Suffice it to say that everything was coming at me at once, and when I left, I thought I needed time and space to think.”

Sam flung himself into the nearest chair. “And now that you’ve had it?”

He shook his head, disgusted. “I know how badly I screwed up. Everything I want is what I left behind.”

“Then why are we sitting here?” Sam patted the arm of the chair.

He leaned forward and met his brother’s gaze. “Because Cara made it clear that with my actions, she can trust me to keep my word, at least when it comes to leaving.”

“So you’ve got some work to do. Since when are you afraid of hard work?”

He was afraid of many things, but work wasn’t one of them. “Never. But I’ve done nothing but prove to her that I don’t want commitment. Why the hell would she believe I feel differently now?” He studied his younger brother’s serious expression, wondering what words of wisdom Sam could possibly offer.

“Are you coming back?” Sam asked, point-blank.

Mike swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“For good?”

He nodded. “I’m going to get my girl.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

Mike stiffened. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means, what happens if you can’t convince Cara to take you back? What if she’s too battle-scarred from her mother staying in a relationship that hurts her?”

His gut cramped at the too-real possibility.

Sam leaned in close. “If Cara doesn’t come around, are you still taking the job as chief? Will you stay?”

Mike already knew his choices. Remain in Serendipity without Cara beside him, or return to this lonely apartment in a city he couldn’t care less about and a job he hadn’t checked in on once.

Easy answer.

His family was in Serendipity. The people he loved, even if he didn’t always show it.

As his mother had already pointed out to him, Mike had spent the last half dozen or more years in one place. He knew how to stick, he just hadn’t wanted to believe it. Panic had been second nature to him. Something expected. Comforting, even. He refused to take the coward’s way out by blaming his parentage or Rex. Mike had dug into his own way of thinking and screwed up all on his own.

“I’m staying,” Mike muttered. Though losing Cara would kill him, it wouldn’t change his plans.

Sam grinned, slapping his hands on his thighs. “All right then.”

The relief on his brother’s face would have been comical if this weren’t Mike’s life.

“So here’s what you’re going to do,” Sam said. “Go big or go home. Show the lady you mean business. What happens next may be up to her, but at least you’ll know you did everything possible to win her back.”

“Thanks,” Mike said, looking at his brother in a new light.

With that, Sam leaned back and finished his soda, while Mike gave thought to his brother’s advice. Sam was right. He’d have to put it all on the line to win Cara back—and he had to do it knowing there was still a chance he’d end up alone in the end.

He shivered, the chill taking him off guard. He couldn’t let that happen. No matter what, he had to convince her that he loved her and wanted her beside him for the rest of their lives. There was no other acceptable alternative.

“Hey, Mike?” Sam asked.

“Yeah?”

“You ready to go home?”

Saturday night at Joe’s—minus the owner and his new bride, who were on their honeymoon. Cara was here under duress from her friends, her good mood forced. But even she knew it was time to get back to living, and tonight was as good a time as any to start. She’d just concentrate on her friends and pretend she was having a good time. Eventually, she’d feel the corresponding emotions. She wouldn’t feel so numb.

“I feel like dancing,” Alexa said.

Cara nodded, wanting to get moving and maybe stop thinking so much.

“Liza?” Alexa asked, since she’d also joined them.

Liza smiled, rocking her hips in time to the beat. “Why not? I could use some letting go.”

Katy Perry’s music set the tempo, and Cara let go in a way she hadn’t done in way too long. The crowd seemed to grow, the buzzing in the room grew stronger, and soon the floor was full.

As the steady beat pulsed through her veins, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the flow of the music and the camaraderie of good friends.

As she refocused on the room, she realized that they had company. Liza had paired up with her husband, Dare, and to Cara’s surprise, both Erin and Alexa were doing some seductive dancing of their own with two good-looking guys Cara had never seen before.

For Alexa, a woman who preferred work to even her friends’ company, this was an unusual state of affairs. Cara was curious and knew she’d be grilling her friend later. As for Erin, Sam was eyeing his sister’s moves with a scowl on his face.

When strong arms slid around Cara’s waist, she jolted in surprise, assuming it was one of her fellow cop friends joining her. Willing to have a partner on the dance floor, she leaned back into the strong masculine body, allowing him to lead from behind.

Hands on her hips, he pulled her tight against him, until the swell of his erection pressed into her behind.

That was going too far and Cara broke his hold.

“What are you doing?” she asked, spinning around and coming face-to-face with familiar brown eyes. “Mike!?” Her knees went weak and her breath caught.

“Hey, baby.”

Everything inside her warmed at the endearment, and what a kick in the ass that was, considering how hard she’d fought against his using it.

She folded her arms across her chest in the most defensive gesture she could think of. Anything to help keep her distance. “What are you doing here?”

After the longest, most painful week of her life, his sudden reappearance was a shock, to say the least. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, fear warring with panic at seeing him again.

“I’m back.” His searing gaze never left hers.

She didn’t know if he meant for a visit or what, but she refused to let herself care. “Good for you. And you thought you could wrap your arms around me and pick up where we left off?” she asked, her voice rising.

Alexa tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” her friend asked.

“Yeah.” She set her jaw. Well, she would be once she got herself away from him.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Mike asked.

She looked at him in shock. “Seriously?”

After the way he’d sidled up to her on the dance floor, she doubted he had talking in mind. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t know why you’re here or for how long, and I don’t care. But I will not be your booty call every time you come back to town.”

“That’s not what I meant. Just give me a chance to explain,” he said, reaching for her.

“No.” She shoved at his shoulder and stepped out of reach.

The pain in his eyes reached into her soul, and it took all her restraint not to let him back in.

Alexa moved closer to Cara’s side. “Let’s go,” she whispered in her ear. “I’m going to the ladies’ room,” she said next, loud enough for Mike to hear. She tipped her head toward the back of the bar.

Mike stepped closer to Cara.

“Stay,” his voice rumbled in her ear.

Cara shook her head, and before he could ask again, she turned away and followed Alexa across the room, feeling the heat of his gaze on her back as she walked away.

“God.” Cara realized she was trembling and wrapped her arms around herself, waiting for the small powder room area to clear.

Once they had the room to themselves, Alexa touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Cara swallowed hard, shaking her head. She wasn’t okay. Not by a long shot. “I can’t talk about this without falling apart. So let’s discuss you. What was that dancing all about?”

Alexa, cheeks flushed, shrugged and glanced away. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Cara asked incredulously. “This is you. And some stranger. Bodies a little too close, you know?”

Alexa glanced in the mirror and swiped at some liner that had smudged beneath her eyes. “It’s just flirting.” She bit her bottom lip, unwilling to meet Cara’s gaze because they both knew it had looked like more.

“Do you like this guy? I mean that way?”

Alexa shook her head. “I don’t know him. But he’s sexy.” She managed a shrug.

“I get that, but are you leading him on? Because a lot of guys don’t like that,” Cara said pointedly.

“I’m lonely, okay?” Alexa gripped the counter with one hand, her knuckles turning white. “He’s cute. He’s attentive. When was the last time I took something just for me?”

Cara covered her friend’s hand with her own. She couldn’t ever remember seeing Dr. Alexa Collins looking vulnerable, and Cara hurt for her. “You know I understand. But he’s a stranger, and I can’t help worrying.”

Alexa’s normally bright eyes weren’t sparkling. “I know. But I don’t have time for a relationship. All I do is work and go home to an empty bed. I can’t keep this up. I don’t know whether I’m exhausted or in need of companionship or both.”

Cara sighed, feeling her friend’s pain. She met Alexa’s gaze. “It’s time to change something in your life.”

Alexa’s shoulders deflated. “You’re right. Something needs to give.” She sniffed and reached for a paper towel to blot her eyes. “I just need time to think.”

Cara nodded. “Fair enough.” She kissed her friend’s cheek. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Pathetic but okay.”

“You’re normal. If anyone’s pathetic, it’s me.” Cara glanced in the mirror and made a face.

Alexa shook her head. “You handled him well. You stood up for yourself, and I was proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Cara didn’t feel all that proud. As much as she’d turned him away, she still wanted him. Not that she’d let herself give in, but she hated the weakness those feelings inspired.

“Are you ready to go back in there?” Alexa asked.

Cara straightened her shoulders. “No, but I’m not going to let him run me off, either.” She studied her reflection and sighed. “I would like some lip gloss, first.”

“Body armor. I like it,” Alexa said with a grin.

“Yeah, but I left my purse in the car. I’ll run out and be back in a few minutes. I’ll meet you back out by the bar.”

“Want me to go with you?” Alexa offered.

“Nah. Why should both of us freeze?” They’d parked their cars out back and left their coats to make things easier once inside the bar.

A group of women practically fell into the ladies’ room, giggling and laughing loudly.

Cara and Alexa stepped toward the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Cara promised, and headed outside.

The freezing cold air rushed over her skin and chilled her to her bones. Still, she appreciated the reprieve, not ready to deal with Mike again so soon. Shivering, she rushed past the brick wall behind the bar, her car a few feet away, when someone grabbed her around the neck.

“What the hell?”

Cara attempted to pivot, but the big body and surprise attack prevented her from using any means of self-defense, leaving her with one alternative. She screamed loudly before the arm strengthened, cutting off her air.

“Shut up, bitch,” a deep male baritone said, too close to her ear.

Cara recognized the voice. Bob Francone, Daniella’s ex. Shit. Before she could act, Bob yanked her against him, his beefy arm strong and thick around her neck. The harder she struggled, the tighter he held on.

She coughed and would have driven her fingernails into his arms, but the heavy jacket he wore prevented her from hitting skin. And her gun was in her ankle holster, out of reach.

“You convinced my woman to leave me,” he raged, and though Cara couldn’t see his face, she’d bet it was red with anger.

He squeezed her neck harder, and Cara desperately pulled at his arm. “Can’t breathe.” She didn’t know if the words came out of her mouth or were merely inside her head. White spots floated in front of her eyes from lack of air.

He eased his hold on her throat, but the pain that remained was excruciating and she hacked out a cough.

“Are you insane, attacking a cop?” she asked.

“You convinced her to leave me. Both times. You screwed up my life, and now you’re going to fix it,” Bob demanded.

Cara concentrated on inhaling gulps of air and planning on how to reach for her gun.

“Well? Do you hear me?”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t.

So he slammed her against the wall, his hands at her throat.

Jesus, could the man not find another way to subdue women? “What do you want?” Again, Cara wasn’t sure whether her words came out.

He’d cut off her breath and her ears had begun to ring.

Bob got up close, his cigarette-tinged breath in her face. “You’re going to tell Daniella to come home.” He enunciated each word as if she were a moron. “Got it?” He loosened his grip so she could answer.

“When should I do that? While she’s looking at the bruises on my throat?” Cara asked, her voice gravelly and painful.

Bob slapped her across the face and she blinked hard, her vision fading. Dizziness assaulted her, and she had very little time to break his grip before she blacked out.

Grasping at a last-ditch effort, she rammed her knee into his groin.

“You bitch!” he yelled, releasing her as he doubled over, clutching the family jewels.

Cara fell forward, her head hitting the pavement as she landed.

“What the f*ck?” Mike’s voice drifted toward her.

Gentle hands turned her face up. “Cara?” Mike sounded hoarse and petrified.

She’d have liked to reassure him, but she was barely breathing, the spots in her vision rushing at her from all sides.

“Cara?”

Alexa’s voice, this time. And Alexa’s soft hands on her face. Peeling back her eyelids.

The wailing of a siren.

“I hurt.” Cara reached for her neck as everything around her went black.