Faith woke the following morning to a sense of anticipation.
She lay in bed and stretched. Physically, she felt good. Since the blackout, the first few moments after waking, she always lay still, waiting for the headache. She had to force her lids open, in case the world was blurred. But today she seemed to be functioning perfectly. Perhaps the doctors were wrong and there was no blood vessel slowly swelling in her brain, waiting to burst and this time, finish her off.
As she sat on the train, heading into to work, she tried to tell herself the anticipation was all down to feeling well and nothing to do with the image of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous that kept popping into her mind.
There were so many excellent reasons why she should never see Ash again. For one thing, he wasn’t her type. Not that she had a type. She hadn’t dated since she’d been promoted to detective and that was…Jesus, she hadn’t dated in over two years. No wonder she was feeling horny. But if she did have a type, he wouldn’t be it. She liked nice men who wore smart suits and worked in offices. She was a sucker for a man in a tie and she was betting Ash had never worn one in his life.
No, black leather was more his thing. Tight black leather that molded his thighs and clung to his lean hips.
Crap, he’d been hot. She wouldn’t have been a woman if she hadn’t noticed that. Add with a voice like velvet and barbed wire, he was bound to have an effect on her hormones.
He’d said he wanted to get to know her better.
But that wasn’t going to happen. Because no way was she taking a job with CR International. And Ryan had sort of made it clear that if she didn’t take the job, he would effectively cut her out of his life. He’d actually already done that. If she hadn’t arrived on his doorstep and pretty much demanded to see him, she doubted he would have come in search of her.
He had a new partner now.
But while the perks of the job appeared great—she’d kill for an apartment like that—she didn’t want to work for some big corporation. In fact, she’d never wanted to work for anyone but the police force. Since her mother’s murder case had gone unsolved, it was all Faith had ever wanted to do. Maybe deep down she thought that she might succeed where they’d failed twenty years ago, but in fact, she’d never gone over the evidence. She’d thought about it once or twice but something had always held her back.
She was determined that Julie’s murder would not go unsolved.
And while she believed Ryan would never take a job working for the bad guys, maybe he didn’t know. She could do some background research, find out exactly who they were and try and find a stronger link.
Right now, she’d take any lead she could get, because otherwise the investigation had ground to a halt. Apart from the weirdo brigade, she had no one left to talk to. At least now, she had something proactive she could do. Consequently, she was feeling much more optimistic by the time she sat down at her desk, set her usual breakfast of coffee and a doughnut in front of her, and flicked on her computer.
As she typed Christian Roth’s name into the search box with one hand while she ate the doughnut with her other, she sensed someone come up behind her. She peered over her shoulder.
“Hey, boss, you want something?”
“Yes, you in my office now.”
He didn’t sound happy, but also didn’t give her a chance to ask what this was about as he whirled around and stalked away.
Pete, her boss was pretty much her ideal man. Tall, elegant in a dark business suit and a navy-blue tie, he was the opposite of the stereotypical policeman. He never appeared less than immaculate, and he never ate doughnuts. One of the reasons he was so successful in his career was that he gave the department such a confident image for the public. He was a political animal, and it was generally believed he would go far.
She’d always fancied him rotten, but now she recognized that was because he was safe. She was a normal woman, well vaguely normal, and her hormones needed some outlet. So she could fantasize about him and not worry that it would inconveniently disrupt the smooth running of her solitary life because he would never consider an affair with someone on his team. Even if she wanted to make her crush a reality, he’d probably run a mile if she came on to him.
After a last longing glance at her half-eaten doughnut, she picked up her coffee and followed him back to his office.
“Close the door would you?” Pete said.
It must have been something serious. She hoped they weren’t going to take her off active duty. That would really piss her off. Though there was no reason for them to. They didn’t know about her little problem.