“Sure.” She took his leash and ran with him into the house.
Riley watched the girl bound into the house full of all the joy and happiness a girl her age should feel. She looked up at Bowman and found him staring at her. Her heartbeat skipped. “That’s pretty amazing.”
He carefully folded his sunglasses and tucked them in his pocket. He moved to within inches of her. Energy snapped between them. “You’re amazing.”
After Bowman had killed Duke and the Shark, the cops had been called and Agent Sharp and his team arrived at the scene. There’d been lots of questions not only from state police but the FBI. In the end, Riley’s past was laid bare. And she discovered being open about her own life had been very freeing and had helped Hanna, who was more at peace with her own past.
Bowman had been by her side in the first weeks, but she’d not seen him in the past ten days. They’d spoken on the phone a couple of times, but their conversations had had more to do about the case than it did them.
She wanted him to pull her into his arms. “I figured we scared you off.”
“You had your hands full with the FBI and the Shark case, and after I gave my statements, Shield sent me to Texas to look into another set of cases that might have been related to the Shark. We think we can now link Duncan to over two dozen killings in twenty different cities.”
“Two dozen.” The number was staggering when she tried to picture all those young girls.
“How’s Maria doing?”
“Duke’s funeral was hard. There must have been a hundred people there. He touched so many lives.” It would be a long time before the pain of Duke’s betrayal eased. “I guess you heard the forensic data linked him to Jax’s and Darla’s deaths.”
“I did hear that.”
“All these years I saw him as some kind of savior. And he really was. He was good to me. He did help so many kids off the street. I believe there was goodness in him. It scares me that there was also so much darkness.” How had she not been able to see it?
“Jo-Jo still with Maria?” he asked.
He’d not been around, but he was keeping tabs. “Jo-Jo and Maria seem to be good for each other. Hanna and I were over there last night. Maria’s still crying a lot, and Jo-Jo is actually stepping up and taking care of her. Maria had no idea about the Shark or how Duke really found me. Maria wants to keep the restaurant and the shelter open. In her good moments, she’s refusing to let Duke shatter what they built. In her bad moments, well, I hope I can be there for her.”
He ran his hand up her arm, sending a shiver through her body. “How’re you? How is your department handling this?”
“Paid administrative leave, but I’ll be back on the job in a couple of weeks. Gave me time to spend with Hanna, and I finalized the adoption.”
“Hanna must be pleased.”
“She is.” She smiled. “She’s been practicing signing her name as Hanna Tatum now.”
“Good for her.” His hand wrapped around hers. “And Sharp?”
“Agent Sharp is the man of the hour. He’s being hailed for leading the investigation that caught a wanted serial killer. He wants to give credit to Shield, but he refuses.”
“That’s the way we like it. No media. No press.”
“You should take the credit.”
“Credit has never mattered to me.” Bowman traced his thumb over her palm. “I’ve missed you.”
A sigh shuddered through her, testing her promise to be cool about this. “I’ve missed you.”
“I don’t want this to be over for us.” He clasped both his hands around hers. “And part of my being away for the last two weeks was about saying good-bye to my own past. I wanted to make sure my head was on straight this time. I never want to hurt you again like I did five years ago.”
“And you can let it all go?”
“Never forgotten, but it’s behind me.”
She closed her eyes, cherishing the words before she forced herself to look at him. “Are you sure?”
There was no hesitation in his expression. “I wasn’t ready for you the first time we met. You were everything I wanted, but I needed more time.”
“You were in a bad place.”
“Not anymore.”
“I’m not in the same place either. I’m not free to pick up and go like I could then. My life is more complicated.”
“Hanna’s not a complication. And I like knowing where you are.” He rubbed the healing scar on her arm. Andrews had removed the chip the day after the Shark was killed. Bowman tugged her closer.
As her breasts touched his chest, her senses jumped as if jolted by electricity. She glanced at the damp tank top that clung to her skin. “I’m covered in sweat.”
He smiled, tracing the outline of her collarbone with his finger. “I like your body when it’s glistening with sweat. Especially when it’s naked.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. “I have a fondness for your naked body as well.”
When her breasts brushed his chest, he grinned. “What do you say I treat Hanna and her friend Julia to pizza and a movie?”
She steadied, needing to make sure he understood that having Hanna in her life was a nonnegotiable fact. “She’s in my life for good, you know. She’ll be around a lot. We’re a package deal.”
He kissed her again, this time allowing the full force of his passion. “That’s fine with me. What about sending them out for pizza?”
She gripped his shirt in her hands, savoring the feel of his chest beneath her palms. Already, she was imagining them alone, naked and in her bed. “That sounds even better.”
THE FORGOTTEN FILES BOOK 2
THE DOLLMAKER
by Mary Burton
Monday, October 4, 3:00 p.m.
The Dollmaker touched his newest creation’s face gently, knowing it was still tender. The redness and swelling had faded, and the skin had shed the damaged cells leaving whole, healthy skin in its place. Still, her face would be sensitive to touch and he didn’t want to hurt her.
Her skin warmed his fingertips as he traced the outline of her thin dark eyebrow, then slowly along high cheekbones dotted with freckles, and finally over bright-red heart-shaped lips.
She was perfect.
A living doll.
Four weeks ago when he’d first taken her, the woman’s face had been lovely in an ordinary sort of way. She was in her late twenties with long limbs, a trim waist, and small round breasts. But she’d reached her full potential, which sadly was destined to fade with time. So he’d intervened, snatched her from her predictable life, renamed her Destiny, and enhanced her beauty by painstakingly tattooing her face.