CHAPTER Fifteen
Lora had just stepped into the fire station when she heard Kenton’s voice behind her. She turned around and saw him. The drumming of Lora’s heart echoed in her ears even as she shoved her way past the guys who wanted to make sure she was all right.
“Lora, damn, woman,” Garrison called out, “just slow—”
She almost slammed into Kenton.
He caught her, and his hands rose to lock around her arms. A furrow pulled down his brows. “Lora—”
“We need to talk.” Right then.
But he shook his head. “I’m here to see Malone.”
Malone? Pete?
“He’s not here,” Jon told him. “Garrison said the guy cut out before word came to detain him.”
Lora’s eyes widened. “Why do you want to detain Pete?”
Kenton leveled a stare at Jon. “Malone’s father was a firefighter.”
“Saul Malone wasn’t just a firefighter,” Lora said, blinking. “He was a damn great firefighter. He died in the line of duty while he was saving some kids back in the eighties.”
But Jon’s lips thinned, and his gaze didn’t stray from Kenton. “Was he now?”
“When you call the station, talk to Monica,” Kenton ordered. “Get her to bring you up to speed. And make sure the cops are searching this town for Detective Malone.”
Kenton pushed Lora into the conference room, then slammed the door behind her. The little speech she’d prepared for him flew right out of her mind. “Pete? Are you suggesting Pete had something to do with this? Because, Kent, you’re wrong. He—”
“How well do you know Peter Malone?”
Ah… she licked her lips and managed to hold his stare. “Well enough.”
His eyes bored into hers. The air got real thick. “Shit. You’ve slept with him.” His hand ran through his hair. “That was what Seth meant.”
Seth? Great, so he’d been spreading gossip, but so what? She had a past. Big deal. “Before us, yeah, I did. He’s a good guy.”
“Fuck! Now I understand why you weren’t worried about going over his head. You could do pretty much any damn thing, and he wouldn’t get mad, right?”
She pulled back, stumbling away from him. “Whatever happened between me and Pete, it’s over. I don’t need to explain this to you.”
“Oh, yeah, sweetheart, you do.” He stalked forward. The back of her thighs bumped into the conference table.
Her chin lifted. “Have I asked you for a list of ex-lovers? Huh?”
“My lovers might not be involved in murders. Murders.”
“Pete isn’t involved. He’s the cop investigating the case, for God’s sake. Not some—”
“The guy investigating,” he repeated, and she could hear the banked fury in the words. “The guy who happens to know about every single piece of evidence we’ve got. You think cops don’t go bad?”
Pete wasn’t just a cop, though. He was her friend.
“Did you sleep with him before Carter?” He fired the question at her. “Or after?”
She swallowed. What did this matter? “After.” Three months after. The three-month anniversary. They’d just had one night.
“Who else?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Someone you work with? You—”
She shoved him back and used enough force that he staggered. “Watch it, GQ.”
His hands snaked out. He grabbed her and pulled her close. “Am I just another in a line for you? Never good enough, because I’m not him?”
The question blasted between them, and she sucked in a breath. Then…
Silence.
His eyes squeezed shut. “Christ, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re damn right you shouldn’t have.”
Kenton’s eyelids lifted, and he stared at her. “I can’t think when it comes to you. I’m not like this. I—” He took a breath. “From the beginning, I was lost when it came to you.”
Her own breath rasped out. “And you think I wasn’t?” Was the man blind? “I wasn’t ready for you. Hell, I still don’t think I am, but when we’re together… lost, yeah, that pretty much sums up the way I feel.”
“Lora.” No man had ever said her name like that. Like it was breath. Life.
“You’re not a stand-in for anyone.” That first night… “I wanted to forget. I tried with Pete.” She’d be brutally honest because he deserved that. “It didn’t work. The next day, I just felt…” Dirty. Ashamed. “Empty. Then I met you. From that first moment…” Jeez, she’d punched him. The heat had surrounded them, and she’d struggled to get him out of that fire. “You got to me.”
His gaze seemed to bore into her, and there was so much heat and intensity in his eyes.
“The more I’m with you…” This was what she’d needed to tell him. “The more I want you, Kent.” Stark truth. “I’m not using you to forget anyone or anything, because when I’m with you, I can’t remember anything else.” And that was her shame. That was why she’d gone to the cemetery.
To say good-bye.
“This isn’t me. I’m not the jealous type, not possessive, not—” His head lowered toward her. “I can’t even think of the case. Just you.” His lips skated over hers. “Just you, and when I think of you with someone else…” His breath blew over her cheek. “This isn’t me.”
Maybe it was just him without all the fancy trappings.
“Carter was my best friend for seven years. I worked with him, day in and day out. He saved my ass. I saved his.” As she spoke, Kenton watched her. “Then we became lovers, and I loved him.”
His body was so still.
“Everything with him was so simple. Dating, becoming involved.” No fear. No uncertainty. Not with easygoing Carter. She’d always known how he felt and always known that he was there for her.
Then he’d been gone.
“You’re not easy,” she told him and meant it. “You drive me crazy. You make me want you so much that I want to scream.” Her fingers wrapped around his shoulders. “But it’s not easy. It’s scary and wild, and I don’t know what to expect next.”
He caught her hips and lifted her up. Kenton set her down on the edge of that long table. “You’re the kind of woman who can make a man beg.”