Page 13 of Blood Money

Yeah, he definitely wanted her in his bed. What man wouldn’t? She was lovely. Stunning, even.

Alex had all the makings of a Scandinavian princess. She was fairly tall, at about five foot six, and with thick blond hair and eyes as blue as the Caribbean. When he wrapped his arms around her it was all he could do not to run his hands over every one of her enticing feminine curves. But he hadn’t been bullshitting when he’d said how much he enjoyed sitting and talking with her.

Much to his chagrin, the break-room gossip Alex had alluded to was accurate. He didn’t have any problem getting a date, but thus far he’d never really connected with a woman. Until tonight. Alex was the total package. Not only was he royally turned on by her, he just plain liked being with her. Conversation between them was comfortable and exciting at the same time.

His brain still couldn’t completely wrap itself around what exactly it was he felt for Alex. The only thing he was damn certain of was that he wanted to see her again. And tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. The evening had been perfect. Almost.

Gray jammed a hand into his pocket. No way was he wrong about the panic that flitted across her face when he’d said he wanted to talk about her instead of him. Most women loved talking about themselves. Not Alex.

A yellow taxi screeched to a halt at the curb in front of him and he got in. “One Police Plaza,” he said to the cabbie. He needed to pick up his car where he’d left it parked.

As the cab gathered speed and headed downtown to One PP, Gray recalled another aspect of their conversation that had seemed odd and evasive. When he’d asked Alex about Nicky’s father, she’d shut down. She’d instantly averted her gaze and stalled for time before answering by taking one long-ass sip of wine. Alex had exhibited classic signs of lying. The detective in him had wanted to latch on like a rabid dog to a piece of steak and interrogate her until she told the truth.

Yeah, that would have made for a fabulous first date.

But she’d definitely been lying about something. He’d bet his paycheck on it.

As the cab darted through lower Manhattan, Gray considered the irony. Here he was criticizing Alex for lying, when he’d done the exact same thing. When he said he’d been waiting to ask her out because he sensed she wasn’t ready and that she needed time to get to know him, he’d been lying his ass off. He was the one who’d needed more time to get to know her.

The scars of mistrust he’d brought back with him from Afghanistan nearly fifteen years ago were still gouged deeply in his skin, like ravines of the Grand Canyon. Until tonight, he’d thought they were permanent.

It was time to let go of the past. It was time to let go of Marina and the unspeakable things she’d done. To him. To Dom and Anika. Hell, to his entire unit. But most of all, what she’d done to those children. He would never forget how Marina had used him to set them all up for a deadly fall, but he had to let go of his mistrust or he’d always be alone.

“Pull over here,” Gray said as the cab was about to zoom past where he’d parked his car. When the cabbie stopped, he handed a twenty through the plexiglass opening. “Keep the change.”

Gray got out and headed to his car. Once inside, he pulled the door shut. He paused before turning the key. Any good detective worth his salt was suspicious by nature, and he was no exception. But he had to stop applying his professional life to his personal one. Everyone has secrets. In time, if things went the way he hoped, maybe he’d tell Alex his, and she’d reciprocate.

He laughed to himself and started his car. He was already looking forward to spending hours kissing the truth out of her.

Chapter Four

For a Friday, the squad room was buzzing with activity. Alex sat at her desk, trying unsuccessfully to type a memo for Lt. Frye. Everything seemed to interrupt her concentration.

The phone rang constantly, followed by conversations Alex could hear from across the room. Even the copier spewing out documents echoed in her ears. Probably because she’d barely gotten a few hours sleep last night.

She smiled at the memories. Exhausted though she was, last night had been wonderful. She and Gray had stayed out far longer than intended, talking until the restaurant began shutting down. By the time she’d finally fallen into bed, sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. Her body had still been tingling with excitement from Gray’s kisses and the memory of him pressed against her. It had been years since she’d been with a man, but she knew when a man wanted her, and Gray definitely wanted her.

She closed her eyes, and her belly tightened as images of the two of them kissing came vividly to mind.

Gray’s mouth lowered to hers, his breath warm on her face. Her heart beat faster in her chest, and she opened her mouth to his and—

Alex snapped open her eyes and inhaled a sharp breath. Get. A. Grip. She really, really needed to finish that memo, but concentration was impossible.

On the far side of the squad room, Gray was signing for a box delivered by UPS. It was almost noon. Time for their lunch date.

After tearing open the box and pulling out two stacks of paper, he sat and began reading them. He flipped through page after page, and she inherently understood that he might very well cancel their lunch date. In her time at One PP she’d learned that when Gray put his mind into a case, he focused on it completely—and there was no one better at the job.

Alex intended to get back to work, but her gaze instead focused on the blue-framed photo perched on her desk. The dimpled, dark-haired, brown-eyed little boy staring back at her had been strong and healthy when that picture had been taken two years ago in Central Park. Before he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia that was resistant to virtually all known remedies.

After months of expensive treatment, the prognosis for Nicky was finally promising, but it was far from over. Pricier treatments, more pain and suffering, and an ever-growing stack of specialists and hospital bills to be paid. They’d barely been getting by before Nicky’s diagnosis. Now they were scraping rock bottom. Only her best friend, Daisy, knew of her dire financial straits.

Daisy owned a highly successful flower shop and hounded Alex on a weekly basis to accept a loan. The only reason she hadn’t taken Daisy up on her offer was that she feared she’d never be able to pay it back. It had taken Alex years to get a fresh start, and owing people made her uncomfortable. Things had gotten so bad recently that she’d finally been on the verge of accepting Daisy’s offer. Until the bizarre happened.

Three weeks ago, twenty thousand dollars was deposited into Alex’s bank account, and she had no idea where it came from. After verifying that it was a legitimate transaction and not just a weird typo, Alex requested depositor information identifying the source of the cash. The bank informed her there was a glitch in the system and the source record was permanently gone.

The money was a gift from Heaven, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Nicky’s condition was changing, and he’d needed another treatment sooner than expected. Most of her salary went toward rent, utilities, food, and buying Nicky toys to help him get through the discomfort and nausea of the treatments, and her bank account was nearly tapped out. In a moment of desperation she’d done the unthinkable and spent half the money. Ten thousand dollars.

Sooner or later, whoever that money belonged to would want it back. The day Alex made the withdrawal, she vowed to replace it as quickly as possible. She didn’t want it hanging over her head for a moment longer than necessary.