Read Bare It All for Free Online Page B

her. He touched her
chin, lifted her face. “Whenever an officer is involved in a shooting, he gets
mandatory paid time off, usually three days.”
    Hope bloomed in her breast. “So you’ll be off for the next
three days?”
    “Not if I can help it, but maybe.”
    Oh. Unlike her, he wasn’t rattled by the violence. He was ready
to get back to work, and she only worried about being alone with her
thoughts.
    And her memories.
    It felt far too uncomfortable to be sitting while he towered
over her. She eased out of her chair and stood behind it. “You don’t want the
time off?”
    “I want to follow up some leads. One bastard died but not
before telling us...”
    When he trailed off, Alice filled in for him. “About his human
trafficking venture.” Her hands tightened on the back of the chair. “That’s what
you were going to say.”
    He rubbed the back of his neck. “It burned my ass to have
divided loyalties yesterday.”
    How she would love to put her hands around his bulging biceps;
the skin there looked so smooth and taut. She could maybe trail her fingers over
the solid muscles in his shoulders, too, and down through his crisp chest
hair....
    “Alice,” he warned.
    “Divided how?”
    He took a step closer but didn’t touch her. “Logan was shot,
Rowdy was in a fury and Pepper was all emotional.”
    Sorting out the people involved would take some doing. “You
said Pepper and Rowdy are siblings.”
    “The reason Rowdy was so furious. The guy that died? He’d
planned to give Pepper to the traffickers.”
    Sickness churned in her stomach, burned in her throat. “That’s
why you and Detective Riske were after him?”
    “Not entirely, no. Morton Andrews was guilty of many things,
all of them worthy of death.”
    So many awful people in the world. Too many. She swallowed back
the distaste of evil. “I’m glad he’s dead.”
    Reese gave her a long look. “Pepper wasn’t emotional over that,
though, and it wasn’t just fear for her brother.”
    “No?”
    “Mostly it was Logan getting shot. She went all girly over it,
which was a shocker because before that, she’d been stoic to the point of being
stony. Especially around me.”
    “She didn’t trust you?”
    “Apparently not. But seeing her at the hospital...I think she
softened some once she realized I wasn’t in cahoots with the bad guys.”
    That ludicrous idea struck her funny. “She must not be very
perceptive if she ever thought that.”
    “Actually, she’s sharp as a tack, and since I’d been keeping
secrets, she had her reasons for doubting me.” He shook his head, averting her
many questions. “No, don’t ask. When you share, so will I.”
    Unfair. “I have valid reasons for keeping some things to
myself.”
    “Yeah? Me, too.” He went around her toward the living room.
“Anyway, while I was at the hospital to check on Logan and keep an eye on
Pepper, other detectives followed up our lead.”
    “You wanted to be there when that happened?”
    “Damn straight. But policy is that any cop involved in a
shooting has that mandatory time off I mentioned.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.
They had it covered, and that meant I could stay at the hospital with
Logan.”
    “You’re a good friend.” Cash walked away to lounge in the
sunshine pouring through the patio doors.
    “While I was otherwise involved, Lieutenant Peterson finagled a
group bust, and last I heard officers were en route to intercept a transfer...of
women.”
    Panic closed in on her, trying to suffocate her, compressing
her lungs and stinging her eyes.
    That sickness roiled again, but Alice swallowed several times
and willed away the awfulness by focusing on Reese, watching him lift his
clothes, dig out his keys...
    His keys. New panic exploded.
“You’re leaving?”
    He took one look at her and dropped the clothes again. In three
long strides he reached her. “I’ll only be gone long enough to shower and get
clean clothes.” He held her shoulders, hesitated