Page 27 of Burning Justice

Chapter Seven

Brett parked in front of the courthouse, in Denver this time. Since Colorado Springs had no full-time magistrates, Gavin Aldrich’s proceedings had been transferred from Colorado Springs to Denver.

As soon as they’d gotten into Brett’s SUV, Blaze devoured the bacon Gemma gave him. During the twenty-minute drive to the courthouse, she’d been on her cell phone and still was, making inquiries with the fire and police departments where the two latest fires had taken place. She might prefer working alone, but judging by what he could hear of the conversation, she was good at getting information out of people.

Just not me.

At the deli, she’d come close. She’d known there was more to his story than he’d told her, but he didn’t dare tell her the truth. Not all of it.

Every time her parents had tried hooking Gemma and him up, they’d pointed to her photo on the wall, one he now knew didn’t do justice to her natural beauty. Knowing his disastrous relationship history, he’d always politely declined their offers, making up one excuse after another. He liked the Great Scott Bagel Deli, and at the time, he’d worried about alienating the Scott family and missing out on his favorite everything bagel with scallion cream cheese and that amazing coffee.

Now, he’d never consider dating Gemma for a completely different reason.

He liked and respected her too much to risk hurting her, and hurt her he would. Not intentionally, but that was what always happened.

Still, when he’d seen Gemma outside the deli, it had been on the tip of his tongue to tell her how great she looked, all dressed up, even without makeup. When her face flushed, that was all the natural makeup she’d needed. Gemma Scott might not be classically beautiful, but she didn’t need fancy finishes like expensive clothes and jewelry or dolled-up hair and makeup. She was like a good pizza. No toppings needed. Gemma was the proverbial “girl next door.” She took pretty to a whole new level.

When down and loose, as it was now, her wavy hair looked like a turbulent red waterfall. Slightly wide-set eyes narrowed, and the tip of her straight, patrician nose twitched, as if she didn’t like what she was hearing on the phone.

There was depth to the woman, a core of steel that probably made her aces at her job but would scare a lot of men away. What most women weren’t aware of, because it was a well-kept secret, was that most men were insecure. They just hid it behind a lot of macho bravado. Anything threatening that bravado was a hard pass. Ironically, he found Gemma’s steel core and competency attractive as hell. That and how easy she was to be with.

He wondered what had happened in her life that she’d needed to erect all that steely armor in the first place. To him, it made her seem more vulnerable, more easily hurt than people who wore their hearts on their sleeves. Stupid thought, but it made him want to protect her. From what, he didn’t know. From him?

Maybe.

Brett shook it off. Theirs was strictly a working relationship and always would be. Didn’t help that he was more attracted to her with every moment they spent together.

He dug into the console and pulled out a navy-blue tie, slipping it under his collar and adjusting the rearview mirror to see what he was doing. Ties were something he avoided more than tofu. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to torture himself by putting one on. Or eating tofu.

“I’ll be there,” Gemma said, then slipped her phone into a pocket inside her portfolio.

“You’ll be there?” He struggled to get the damn tie up and through the bunny hole or however that tie-tying phrase went. “What about me?”

“Tomorrow, you’ll be going to Leadville, and I’ll be going to Burlington.”

“Not happening. We’re both going to both sites.” If she was trying to ditch him, he’d kick her off this case faster than she could say toasted everything bagel with scallion cream cheese. He yanked on the tie to start over.

“That’s a ridiculous waste of time. It’s more efficient if we split up and each take one of the fires.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt, then shifted to face him. “Here.” She swatted his hands away. “Let me do that or we’ll be late. Didn’t your father ever teach you how to tie a tie?”

“Yeah, and I try never to wear them. I’m a little rusty.” When her fingers grazed his neck, a shiver ran up his spine, and for a brief moment, his brain totally blanked out. Man, he really needed to keep more distance between them. Risking the success of their investigation to satisfy his libido wasn’t something he was willing to do.

“Imagine the skinny end of the tie is a tree, and the fox is chasing the rabbit around the tree.” He glanced down to see her wrap the fat end of the tie around the other end. “Once around the tree. Twice around the tree.” She repeated the same move, then pushed the blade end under the loop and pulled it through. “See that?” She patted his chest, her full lips pressing together as she smirked up at him. “The bunny dove right into the safety of his cool, dark hole. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Something was. Hard. Getting there, anyway.

Their gazes met and held, their faces only inches apart. Brett couldn’t recall a single word she’d said. The only thing penetrating his lizard brain was her warm milk-and-honey scent. Involuntarily, or so he told himself, he glanced down at the tiny blue stone on the gold chain hanging around her neck just above the gentle swell of her breasts. He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“Um, sure. No problem.” She sucked in her lower lip, averting her eyes as she shifted away and reached for her portfolio.

“We’ll hit Leadville first,” he said when his brain came back online. “We’ll go to the site, get copies of reports, and talk to the fire marshal and police department. We’ll stay there overnight, then trek east to Burlington.”

Pretty hazel eyes widened. “At a hotel?”

“Unless you want to sleep in the kennel with Blaze.” At the sound of his name, Blaze snorted and got to his feet, huffing and swinging his head left and right, as if worried he’d missed out on something. “Let’s do this.”

As he let Blaze out of the kennel and snapped the leash onto his collar, he wondered if staying at a hotel with Gemma was such a stellar idea. Even in separate rooms. Now that it was out in the open that her parents had been trying to set them up, suddenly, that was all he could think about.