Playing Dead_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [81]
“Um, a little.” She’d had a scone with her Starbucks coffee at seven, then the muffin and milk at Bill’s.
“Let me take you out.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere right now. I’m beat.” She smiled slyly. “You wore me out last night.”
He laughed, kissed her temple. “That goes both ways, sweetness.” Mitch led her to the couch. “Lie down.”
“I’ll fall asleep, and I have a lot of work to do.”
“It can wait. Lie down.”
He sat at one end and put Claire’s head in his lap. He slowly rubbed her temples, putting an exquisite pressure on them. Her tension began to fade and she was lulled into a half sleep.
Mitch watched Claire as her eyes fluttered closed and she breathed easier. She relaxed so completely, her skin so fair, her hair so dark, he thought of Snow White lying in the glass coffin.
The thought made him shiver involuntarily.
She opened her rich blue eyes. “Something wrong?”
Beautiful and perceptive.
“You’re beautiful, Claire.”
“So are you,” she murmured, eyes closing again.
She trusted him. He saw it for the first time. In bed the night before, she’d trusted him then, too, but this was different. The massage, though fully clothed, was intimate. Comfortable. Easy. She fit here with him.
And he was going to betray her.
He hated himself. It didn’t matter that it was for the right reasons, he was worried about her safety, and worried about losing her. He had no right. He could hardly expect that when she learned he was an FBI agent she would forgive him, but he couldn’t help but hope she’d understand. Eventually.
Where was her private investigation leading? Oliver Maddox had been murdered because he knew something. Mitch wasn’t about to let anything happen to Claire. He ran his fingers through her hair, marveling at how right it felt to be here. He’d been directionless for so long. Most of his life, really. Trying to please his dead father while at the same time despising the man for what he’d been. Mitch was a good cop. One of his instructors had told him he was a natural, that his blood ran blue. But Mitch hadn’t wanted this life. He’d taken it because it was a noble profession, something his father would have been proud of. That he was good at it was beside the point. He hadn’t been truly satisfied or content with his life since he’d joined the military. He’d always felt like he was in limbo, without any clear sense of direction. He lived day by day, preferring fugitive apprehension because he could be out of the office ninety-five percent of the time, walking the streets, talking to people, catching bad guys. Criminals who were evading punishment. Who were clearly bad guys.
Until Tom O’Brien, who shouldn’t have been one of them. And who reminded Mitch of the unaddressed crimes of his father.
Anyone can prosecute a guilty man.
“Mitch?” Claire whispered.
He looked at her. She was studying him. He leaned over and kissed her on her red, red lips. She tasted like home and hearth and everything he thought he never wanted until he met her. He couldn’t help but smile. Claire was the last woman who would be content cooking and cleaning. That was one of the reasons he loved her. She could hold her own on the racquetball court, the gun range, and in bed, while still looking like a sexy siren dancing at a club, or beautiful and sweet lying here in his lap.
“What are you smiling about? One minute serious, the next like you heard a dirty joke.”
“It wasn’t a dirty joke,” he said. “I was thinking about you and how much I enjoy having you here like this.” He smoothed back her hair, needing the connection with her now, knowing what was about to come.
“My life is a mess.”
“Why would you say that?”
“It’s true. I haven’t been truly happy in years. Except when I’m with you. You make me put aside everything else. You make me want a happily-ever-after I never believed I deserved.”
“How can you say that? You deserve happiness. Maybe more than most.”
“You make me believe that.” She reached up and touched his face. So gently, so lightly, but it ignited a deep passion inside. A turning point.
She brought his head down to hers, kissed