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disappeared.
    His statement made her curious. “Why do you say that?”
    “All that stuff that happened—the shooting in my apartment, I
mean. There are a handful of cops on the force right now that aren’t honest,
good cops. The lieutenant is doing her best to clear out the corruption, but
it’s not easy. One bad cop is catastrophic. You get several working together,
and the entire department is compromised.”
    “Your friend Logan?”
    “As trustworthy as they come.”
    “I thought so.” Yesterday, while she’d fretted, waiting to see
if Reese would be okay, Logan Riske had pulled up with his brother and Pepper
Yates. Alice had studied him for a short time, long enough to recognize in him
the same attitude that Reese had.
    In a leap of faith, she’d explained to Detective Riske about
the intruders with Reese in his apartment.
    “More of your intuition, huh?” He drank half his orange juice.
“I gotta say, Alice, I’d love to know how you do it. How do you sift the good
from the bad with little more than a glance?”
    It grew so quiet after that, they could hear Cash snoring under
the table. Alice finished off a slice of bacon, wondered where to start and
decided it didn’t really matter when it all ended the same way.
    “I was taken.”
    Everything about Reese sharpened; his attention, his posture.
His warm concern. And something more, something like rage.
    Because he’s a good man, as well as a good
cop, and he cares about others.
    He set aside his utensils. “You were kidnapped?”
    Oh, God, she hated hearing it said aloud. “And held
captive.”
    “When?” He leaned toward her. “For how long?”
    Unwilling—even unable—to elaborate, she shook her head. “The
only important detail is that I got away. And now that I’m free, I don’t take
chances. That’s all I can say.”
    “I need more.”
    “I’m sorry, no.”
    Abruptly, he sat back. “Stop apologizing, damn it!”
    She smiled at his show of temper. “Honestly, Reese, I didn’t
expect to ever tell anyone any of it. I don’t like to think about it. I
definitely don’t want to talk about it.” Mired in confusion and conflicts, she
reached a hand down to Cash and put her fingers in his fur. Contact with the dog
always brought her composure. And oddly enough, exposure to Reese brought her
that and other elusive emotions. Ones she’d feared she’d never again feel. That
had to mean something, but what? Finding the right words wasn’t easy. “The thing
is, I like you, when for the longest time I didn’t like anyone or anything, not
even myself.”
    Reese held himself still and silent.
    “I’d gotten used to feeling...” She didn’t want to sound
dramatic, but only one word would do. “Ugly.” Inside and out.
    With stark conviction, he stated, “You’re not.”
    He was the type of nice guy that would do his best to reassure
her, only she didn’t need that from him. “Then I decided I was just plain.”
    Folding his brawny arms on the tabletop, he leaned closer
again. “Far from it.”
    Her breath came faster, deeper. “The way you look at me, I know
you must not think so.”
    “Tell me why you think it.”
    No, she couldn’t go there. For many, many reasons, not all of
them her own, elaborating was impossible. “I can’t.”
    “Can’t, or won’t?”
    “Both, I guess.” Shoring up her courage, she met his piercing
green eyes and saw the sympathy there. But she knew she didn’t deserve sympathy.
She didn’t really deserve anything.
    Not after what she’d done, what she’d let happen.
    How cowardly she’d been. But not
anymore.
    She’d been given a second chance, and by God, she would grab it
with both hands.
    Reese had mentioned love. Love him, love his dog.
    Easy enough, since she’d lost her heart to Cash the second
she’d met him. That Reese came with the dog, or vice versa...well, that could be
a wonderful bonus.
    Her throat tightened. She’d come to accept that love was well
out of reach. She hadn’t