“Tomorrow morning at the earliest.”
“Forget it.” As usual, Kendra was not pleased by Griffin’s arbitrary attitude. “I feel fine and it’s my decision what I will or will not do. I don’t take my orders from—”
“Drop it, Kendra,” Lynch said. “We’ve been busted.”
He held up his hand as she whirled on him. “Don’t attack me. I hate to admit it, but Griffin is right. As long as there was any threat at all, I had no right to persuade you to come back here to play with me and the rest of these guys. It just seemed better for you at the time.”
“You didn’t persuade me. It was my decision.”
“True. It’s always your decision. I was just an enabler. So is it okay if we go back and face the music? It would be my worst nightmare to have Griffin all smug and holier than thou if you happened to croak on me.”
There was an element of seriousness beneath the lightness in his tone, she realized. She hesitated. “Oh, what the hell? I can’t imagine anything worse. Okay, I’ll save you if you promise to run interference for me with Homeland in the morning. I’m sure you have someone high up there in your pocket who could get us sprung quickly.”
He smiled. “There’s a possibility.”
“More than a possibility,” Griffin said. “Then it’s settled. I’ll have someone take you back there now.”
“Not necessary,” Lynch said. “My ride’s still here.” He pointed to his Ferrari parked a few yards away. “Hopefully its finish hasn’t been ravaged by your wide-body emergency vehicles.”
Kendra rolled her eyes. “Every time I start to think that you might be the tiniest bit reasonable and courageous, I remember what a wuss you are where this car is concerned.”
“That car and I have been through a lot together.”
“It’s a sad, sick affectation.”
“It’s every man’s dream.”
“I don’t believe that.” Kendra turned to the dream team. “That can’t be true, is it?”
Each member of the dream team nodded without hesitation.
Sheffield toasted Lynch with his coffee. “Pretty much.”
She sighed. “Unbelievable. See you guys tomorrow.”
She and Lynch walked back to his car. “Okay. Tell me … does that dream include paying $3,500 for cup holders?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw an article online that Ferrari charges over $3,500 for those rather ordinary carbon fiber cup holders of yours. I thought of you immediately.”
“Good thoughts I’m sure.”
“Don’t you wish.”
“Hmm. I may have to take a closer look at the factory invoice from now on. Would you like some coffee? It would be a shame to let these pricy cup holders go to waste.”
“No thanks.”
Lynch leaned down and swept his hand across the underside of his car. He pulled out a small magnetized box and showed it to Kendra.
“You keep a spare key under your car? I’m sure no one would ever think to look there,” she said sarcastically.
He slid a small black panel from the box and pressed his thumb against it. The car beeped with approval and unlocked.
“Fingerprint reader,” he said. “It really cost only a little bit more than the cup holder. Nobody but me is getting in here.”
They climbed in the car and Lynch started it. He slowly navigated past the personnel and vehicles on the site. He nodded toward the other investigators still gathered around the Toyota. “I have to say, I believe they’re starting to gel.”
“What do you mean?”
“The dream team is finding a rhythm. And you’re part of it. You found the car, Detective Huston pounded the pavement until he found a witness, and that creepy kid sounds like he’s building a good profile. As afraid as Griffin was of too many cooks in the kitchen, I’ve found that when you get a group of extremely competent people together, good things can happen. They bend toward each other’s strengths, and if they’re lucky, they pull the best from each other.”
“Sounds funny coming from such a notorious loner.”
He smiled as they turned onto the street. “I’m capable of working with people when the situation demands it. I wouldn’t last very long if I couldn’t. And you pride yourself on being a loner yourself, but together you and I have kicked some serious ass over the last couple of years. I’m just saying it’s not bad we have these guys on the case. They’re the ones who know Zachary best.”
Kendra settled back in the leather seat. “You may have a point there. And that creepy kid is sharp as a tack. Trey Suber … I’ll be interested in seeing in what else he comes up with…”
“Me too.” Lynch gave her a sideways glance. “Are we really going back to the hospital now?”
“What?” She gazed at him in surprise. “After that impassioned plea you gave me to save you from Griffin? You even said that you were wrong. Now that’s the only thing that made me give in. You never admit to being wrong. You were conning me?”
“I never con you. Well, almost never, and it’s always for your own good.” He grimaced. “And, unfortunately, Griffin might have been a little bit right. It’s humiliating to even give him that much. It must have been the poison gas that allowed me to tumble even that far from grace.”
“I’m sure that must have been it,” she said solemnly. “But now that you’ve recovered you’ve changed your mind about going back?”
“Not entirely. I’m just thinking about delaying it for a bit.”
“And what else are we going to do?”
“I can think of a few things that might remind us of how lucky we are that Zachary blundered this time.” His gaze moved from her face to her throat and then down to linger on her breasts. “You know, you’re almost as fetching in those scrubs as you were in that hospital gown.”
She felt the muscles of her stomach clench and her breath become shallow. That crazy, erotic moment when he’d come into her bedroom this morning. The feel of his hardness, his hands on her buttocks, lifting. His mouth, taking, giving …
The heat.
The dizzying need that was like no other hunger.
Had it only been this morning?
“You know that you want to do it.” His voice was softly coaxing. “Why not? Because you’re set on not showing Zachary that I mean anything to you?” He suddenly chuckled. “Hell, if we spend enough time in bed there’s a chance that he’ll only think I’m your boy-toy. No importance at all in the scheme of things. I assure you that I wouldn’t mind that. I can think of all kinds of ways to keep you amused. I think we should start right away.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Well, only that I’m no boy. I think you’ll prefer the man I am. But the rest of the concept would work fine.” His smile was warm, amused, and infinitely seductive. “It’s going to happen sometime, Kendra. It might as well be today. You’re going to get very tired of Zachary controlling what you do and who you do it with.”