“Who’s this?”

Renee’s partner had followed her to stand in front of Rafe, who rose to his full height, which was distinctively taller than her partner’s.

“Rafe DaSilva,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Her partner ignored the gesture and it ratcheted up Rafe’s suspicion of a romantic entanglement. Was he jealous? He turned to Renee. “I’m sorry, but it couldn’t be helped. Remember our meeting? It’s been moved up. We have to be there within the next half hour.”

“Our meeting?” Renee said blankly.

“With the committee.”

Renee’s cloud of confusion lifted and she immediately grew tense. “Oh. That meeting. Well, I still have some things to do here…” she hedged.

“What committee?” her partner asked. He was trying to come off as if he didn’t really care if they told him or not, but it was clear he was eaten up with curiosity. And suspicion.

“Oh, well…um…” Renee stammered.

“It’s for a charity foundation that I run. We help the homeless in the city. We asked Renee to give us her perspective, as a cop, on how better to serve the homeless in the area.”

“What areas are you serving?”

“Oh, we are all over the city.”

“But what shelters in particular? Most of the shelters are church run or city run.”

“We make donations to those organizations but we are curious if we are best spending our money that way or if there are better ways. That’s why we want to hear from city workers who deal with the homeless every day.”

“But what—”

“Jimmy, geez, what’s with the twenty questions?” Renee broke in. She wedged herself between the two men, who had moved closer to one another as they spoke. “Rafe, I just have to jot down a few notes then I’ll be ready to come with you.”

“I’ll keep DaSilva company while you do that,” Jimmy offered, giving Rafe a cool smile.

“No. You won’t. He’s a friend, not a suspect, Jimmy. Go write notes of your own. Rafe, come with me. You can sit with me at my desk.”

Rafe followed Renee. Jimmy trailed after them and took the desk across from hers. Rafe noted that their desks weren’t in cubicles, instead they were butted up against each other off to the side along a wall. The desks were old and heavy wood. Practically antiques.

“Why don’t you have cubicles like everyone else?” Rafe asked.

“Just luck of the draw. When these two detectives retired their desks came up and it was just as I was coming in. Jimmy was already here, but they moved us over here together. But we get to stay here because we have a ninety-one-percent solve rate. We don’t let many murderers go free.”

“Wow. That’s impressive.”

Renee pulled out a chair and indicated he should take it. Then she drew up another from an empty desk and sat in it herself. She put down her binder, which she had been holding all along, and opened it. She began to write in it, her attention fully on what she was doing. Rafe was satisfied to just watch her. She was really quite beautiful. Her face was so soft and round, her skin dusted with freckles. Her brows were drawn as she focused on what she wrote, her lips plump and pouty as she held them pressed together.

He wanted to kiss those lips. The desire hit him so powerfully that it felt like it had come with a hurricane blast. He wanted to hold her to him, keep her safe and close. He wanted to be inside of her, feel her around him, her legs clutching him tightly to her. He grew hard just thinking about it. Then he thought about what it would be like to take her energy at the peak of their climax.

He shifted in his chair and crossed his legs. It took all he had to keep a calm exterior. This wasn’t like him. He was a man of great control. He kept his appetites in check at all times. His position in the vampire world did not allow for passionate behaviors. Just look at where it had gotten him these past few hours, acting with his heart and not his head.

After a few minutes she tucked her pen into her binder and zippered it shut.

“Done?” he asked, trying not to exude impatience.

“Yes. I can’t work with you staring at me like that,” she said softly. “So we might as well go.”

He didn’t bother to deny that he had been staring. They both knew he had. He just wondered how much she had seen into him. Did she know how much he wanted her right then?

“I’m leaving, Jimmy. We’ll pick up tomorrow.”

“Don’t do anything I would do,” Jimmy said with a genuine grin for Renee. But when he looked at Rafe the grin faded. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Good night, Jimmy” was all she said as she grabbed her purse from her bottom desk drawer and snatched her coat from the back of her chair.

“No locker?” Rafe asked.

“Oh, they have them but I don’t really use them except for holding a change of clothes. Let’s go.”

Chapter 15

They left the homicide department and headed for the elevator. They got on just as a couple of cops were getting off, leaving the car with just the two of them. Rafe pressed the button for the parking structure. The minute the doors closed, he reached for her. He clamped two hands on her upper arms and dragged her forward until their bodies collided. She let out a little sound of surprise just as he covered her mouth with his and kissed her.

Rafe groaned at the pure pleasure of the feel of her. He felt as though he had been craving her forever. She resisted him at first, pulling away a fraction of an inch to protest, “Not here!” but then she closed the distance between them again and reached for his mouth. He kissed her as if his soul were on fire and she was the only way to quench the burning rage of it. But instead she made the fire burn all the hotter. The kiss went on and on, leading from one to another to another.

They turned as one and her back struck the wall of the elevator car. She reached out blindly, her hand slapping at elevator buttons until she hit the kill switch that stopped the elevator in its tracks. It jolted to a stop just as he was dragging his hands down the sides of her body and then curving them over her backside. Renee moaned as his tongue glided over her lips and slid into her mouth with silky eroticism, with deadly hunger. He cupped her rear in his hands, dragging her up into his body until her feet lifted from the floor. It was a matter of instinct that had her wrapping her legs about his waist, her thighs holding tightly to his hips and her calves clutching at his backside. She drew him in tightly and she could immediately feel how hard he was beneath the soft material of his pants. He surged up against her, using the wall to keep her in place as his hands slid up her sides and around to cup her breasts. She was a very curvy woman, had very full breasts, and they were very sensitive as well. His hands were burning hot through the silk of her blouse and she squirmed with pleasure.