The FBI Thrillers Collection Books 6-10 - Catherine Coulter [378]
He nearly fell back against the window with surprise. “You do?”
“Yes, I do. But the only thing is, you’re the best cop I’ve ever met in my life.”
“Maybe, but Sean—”
She nodded. “This was so scary that both of us nearly went round the bend. But, you know, if you just stop to think about it, the solution to this isn’t difficult.”
His head came up. “What solution?” He sounded irritated, and she was pleased. She could just imagine how deep he would dig in his heels if she argued with him, what with the worry and the guilt, worry and guilt that had nearly felled her as well.
She went on her tiptoes and kissed him, and again hugged her boy and her husband tight.
“Dillon, you’re a smart man.”
“Yeah, well, what’s your point? What’s this easy solution?”
She smiled up at him, kissed both him and Sean again, and said, “As I said, you’re smart. But here’s your problem; you’re just too much of a hero, Dillon; you feel too responsible, like you have to fix every bad thing that happens anywhere around you. It’s not just your job, it’s who you are.”
“Yeah, sure, but—”
“No buts. No more. You’re a cop, Dillon, one of the very best. It’s what you are, who you are. What happened in the park—it was scary, that’s for sure, but the fact is there are such things as random shootings. Would you have blamed yourself for being a cop then? I’ll tell you, there have been times when I’ve wanted to take you away to the Poconos, hide you in a cabin, and carry around six guns to protect you.”
“And you don’t think I’ve felt the same way about you?”
She gave him a big smile, reached up her hand and cupped his cheek. “I think we’re both doing exactly what we were meant to do. I plan for Sean to see us both well into old age. Get over it, Dillon. It’s time to move on.”
He kissed her, pulled her hard against him again. Sean burped. “But—”
“I know, there’s always a but. Let’s just work through this one day at a time, all right? You know as well as I do that the time to make a life-altering decision isn’t right after a huge scare.”
Slowly, he nodded.
“We’ve worked through everything else that’s come along and hit us in the chops. This is different because it’s the first time our jobs have come close to Sean, the first time our little tiger here could have been hurt because of what we do. It will be tough, but we’ll do the right thing. Don’t worry, we’ll sort it all out.”
“Sherlock?”
She lightly bit his neck in answer.
“You want to spend some quality time with me?”
She was laughing as she licked where she’d bitten. “Can I strip you naked and kiss you all over?”
He swallowed hard, and nodded, looking at her smiling mouth. Sean burped again.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
THE KETTERING HOME
COLFAX, VIRGINIA
Katie didn’t hurt if she stayed still, and that was a very nice thing. On the other hand, she wasn’t stupid enough to laugh or make any sudden movements. She was seated in Miles’s big comfortable leather chair, wearing sweats with a nice loose fleece top that hid the bandages under the sweats, her feet up on a big ottoman, her legs covered with a ratty afghan Miles’s mother had knitted many years before. She was wearing a pair of thick socks, no shoes.
Cracker had taken Sam and Keely to a children’s movie matinee so they wouldn’t see or hear the cops. Both of them had seemed fine, thank God, neither suspecting that she had something other than the flu. She was thankfully spared enthusiastic hugs that would surely have brought a moan out of her. She smiled over Sherlock and Savich, who’d arrived a few minutes earlier.
Miles brought in coffee and tea, and a plate of scones he’d picked up at Nathan’s Bakery just down on Cartwright Avenue.
Detective Benjamin Raven said the moment he sat down on the comfortable sofa in