Read Remembering You: Pushing the Boundaries, Prequel for Free Online

forced.
    “Reporters often get in the way of operations. When things are high pressure and tense, they usually only add to the stress, not make it better.”
    She rolled her eyes. “That means you haven’t worked with very good reporters.”
    He barked out a laugh at her response, and even though she knew it sounded cocky, it was true. She never took a risk with anyone else’s life, and she never put more people in danger just to get a story.
    Her own life? Her own self in danger? Sure, plenty of times.
    He shrugged. “I guess.”
    “Maybe you don’t like letting others see you sweat.”
    But he didn’t laugh, and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she’d hit too close to the mark. Reporters were part and parcel of high-profile crimes. If Ben was SWAT and he’d been on the front lines in the past, chances are he’d been under the watchful eye of a journalist or two.
    She wanted to ask him about it. What kind of work he did, exactly. What his specialty was…
    “Can I buy you another drink?”
    His question made her look down at her glass. It was almost empty. Wow, how did that happen?
    She smiled gently. Ben was a nice guy. She was only upset about his being a police officer because she had allowed herself to imagine, for a brief moment this morning, she might be able to act on her attraction with him and ask him out. She hadn’t been on a real date in…oh, ages.
    But then he’d told her what he did for a living, and she couldn’t.
    Sure, intellectually she knew just because Dad had finally come home wounded didn’t mean all police officers were going to get hurt, or even killed. But emotionally, she had a hard time accepting it. Not after all those years of worry over his safety had culminated in such a horrible injury.
    No. Ben Crewes would just be that guy who ran into her twice in one day.
    “Thanks, but one was enough. I needed something to take the edge off this day,” she replied. “Besides, I have to drive home. But why don’t I buy you one to remember me by? I’m about to head out and get some sleep in before another long day at work tomorrow.”
    He chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a woman offer to buy me a drink before. And certainly not as a souvenir of our acquaintance.”
    She winked at him. “I’m not like most women.”
    He laughed loudly this time, drawing a few eyes in their direction, including those of his buddies. She’d forgotten they were there. But the whiskey was already working, and she was relaxed enough that she didn’t rush to leave right away.
    In fact, maybe she was feeling a bit too relaxed. Ben’s lazy smile was making her feel all warm and fuzzy, and her hand itched to reach out and slip her fingers inside his shirt.
    Forget it and go home. You’re lonely. And more alone than you’ve ever been, when it comes down to it. Don’t make a mistake because you’re feeling a bit off kilter.
    Funny. She rarely felt the way she did now, like she was in danger of losing something special in her life. There had been one time, three years ago, when she had finally come home for a few weeks to take care of her house. She had kept the one she grew up in even after Mom had died, hiring a property management company to rent it out. But the renters at the time had apparently done so much damage to one of the bedrooms the management company wanted her to see it to decide whether to repair it or tear out the section completely and rebuild.
    The renters had fled in the night. But Nina hadn’t cared. She’d only stared at the remains of her childhood bedroom, the walls smashed and spray-painted, the hardwood floor buckled with water damage, and felt the stabbing pain in her chest of some deep emotional loss.
    But she’d kept her cool, even when the acute pain moved lower into her abdomen, and all during the walk-through. By the time she’d told the property manager the room should be ripped down and rebuilt, she could barely talk from the pain.
    That was when