Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 Karen Whiddon (best fiction books to read TXT) 📖

Her whisper shot lust through him, and his arousal had to be apparent to her. He moved his hands to either side of her face. Slow. He had to take this slow. Savor it.

“Patience, babe.”

He delighted at the moan that escaped her lips. He hovered, making her wait, until he couldn’t stand it any longer. She leaned in as he moved in—

A loud buzzer sounded. His doorbell.

“Dang it.” He rested his forehead against hers. They were both out of breath.

“Ignore it.” Her lips moved to his jawline, down his throat. “We’ve waited too long for this.”

The buzzer rang again and he grasped her hands, removed them from behind his neck. Tried to ignore the disappointment in her gaze. It echoed through his being, too.

“It’s Troy. He’s here to take your preliminary statement.” Frustration rang in his every cell, poised to make love to the woman he’d not been able to forget.

You let her go, man.

He forcefully expelled a breath, moved toward the entrance. It was ironic. He was taking the same steps she had, after he’d proposed, and she’d countered with an offer his pride had been too bruised to consider at the time. He fought to bring his arousal under control. The buzzer rang another two times before he felt confident about opening the door to a trusted colleague and relative.

“Troy. Come on in.”

“Hey, man. How have you been?” Troy’s boyish face broke into a grin at the sight of his cousin. They shook hands and gave each other a bro hug as he stepped into the apartment. “You’ve been scarce at the station.”

“I know, we’ve been swamped.” It was true. Colton Protection had such an uptick in clients this past month that all of his staff was overworked. “I had to hire two new agents and their vetting took all of my time.” And now, Dominique was exclusively his twenty-four seven for the foreseeable future. “Let’s go sit down.” When he turned and went back into the living room, Dominique was gone. He knew it was probably to the restroom, but seeing the sofa empty made his heartbeat stutter.

You need to take a pause here, dude.

“Is Dominique still here?” Troy sat in an easy chair opposite of the sofa.

“Yes. It’s been a rough morning for her, but she’s doing okay.”

Troy nodded. “Good to hear.”

“I’m here.” She walked to the kitchen and stood next to the island, helped herself to a tall glass of ice water. “Nice to see you again, Troy. Can I get you something to drink?”

Stanton should have been the one to offer; it was his apartment, no matter how well Dominique knew her way around it. He hadn’t changed it much since the breakup, pouring all of his energy into work. Anything to keep his mind off the memories. He remained in the living room, not wanting to examine how easy it would be to fall back into old routines with her.

“I’m good, thanks.” Troy didn’t seem surprised by any of this, another surprise. Was he like his entire family, who thought he and Dominique weren’t through? He’d never been able to convince his parents, Frank and Italia Colton, that he and Dominique weren’t going to reconcile. Now he wondered if they’d seen the parts of him that this morning had revealed. The factions of his heart that hadn’t let go, not by a long shot.

“Stanton, do you want anything?” Dang it but she sounded as if she’d never left.

“No, thank you.” His teeth ground together.

“Are you sure you’re happy to see me, Dominique? Word on the street is that you’ve got it out for GGPD.” Troy kept his smile but Stanton saw the barb for what it was. He’d thrown the same words at Dominique earlier, yet he had the urge to say something to shut Troy down ASAP. Didn’t his cousin see that she was bruised, had been through hell today?

“You know you can’t trust rumors, Troy.” Dominique walked over to the sofa and sat on the end opposite of Stanton. He noticed she’d taken her athletic shoes off. Her one toe looked swollen and he made a mental note to ask her about it later. “Contrary to what seems to be the scuttlebutt, the Grave Gulch Gazette doesn’t have any issues with GGPD as a whole. Unless you’re covering up the truth. We look for the facts in every story, Troy. You know that.”

Troy shook his head. “I do, Dominique, but when we have reporters snooping about all the time, it’s hard to run a closed investigation. It breeds public distrust, too. Things leak out, factual or not.”

“Then open it up. Tell us what we’re asking for. Is there a corrupt cop on the force? In addition to Randall Bowe’s deliberate mishandling of evidence?”

“You know we can’t do that. And you shouldn’t accuse someone of a crime unless you’re certain.”

Dominique and Troy squared off, staring at one another with open challenge. Stanton opened his mouth to cut through the tension, but Dominique spoke before he had to.

“Why don’t we focus on you taking my statement for now?” She gave him a smile that didn’t meet her dark, troubled eyes. Stanton felt the indecision coming off her. And it got right under his skin. This was why he’d fallen for her years ago.

“Excellent idea. Sorry about goading you, Dominique. But I’m not sorry about sticking up for the good public servants in my department.”

“Nor should you be. Unless they’re corrupt.” Her words and posture remained unshaken but her tone was softer.

“Point taken.” Troy’s cheeks had reddened. He pulled out his phone, a notebook and pen. “Can you go over your entire morning with me, from when you left your house?”

Dominique complied, leaving no detail out. Stanton looked out the window as she spoke, unable to focus on anything but her voice. He needed to refocus on why he was protecting her in the first place, if he hoped to keep his emotions in check. His arms ached to hold her as she recounted