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I’d imagined. When we’d first started seeing each other I’d had no idea that being with me was going to cause him this kind of trouble. But even if I’d known I wasn’t sure I’d have done anything different. I was pretty sure I was in love with Tom. I sure as hell didn’t want to lose him before I knew for certain. But if some of his pack mates had their way, I just might.
    “We aren’t going to discuss this here.” Tom’s voice was deceptively smooth, but I could sense the anger beneath the calm words. “And we don’t have time to waste if we’re going to make it to the meeting on time.” He turned to me then.
    “I’ll call when I get back.”
    “Do that.”
    I didn’t make any move to kiss him goodbye in front of Jake. Tom gave me a sad little smile to let me know he appreciated the thought, but pulled me close. “I think they already know I kiss you, Katie,” he said teasingly. With that he moved his mouth over mine.
    It wasn’t a gentle kiss. He took my mouth, muscles in his mouth and jaw working with almost bruising force until I opened my lips and let him in, his tongue tangling with mine. I moved my hands to his chest, sliding underneath the jacket. I felt his heart pounding through the thin fabric of his shirt. I forgot where we were; forgot Jake and Rob were watching us. My whole body ached with the need to touch and be touched by this man. When he pulled away, I let out a small involuntary sound of regret. I would’ve staggered if his arm hadn’t been there to steady me. He smiled. It was obvious he was pleased that I still reacted to him this way nearly every time we kissed. Jake growled, and the sound made the hairs all over my body stand on end. Both Rob and Tom put themselves between Jake and me once more.
    “We’d better go.” Tom didn’t look at me when he spoke. His eyes were all for Jake. It wasn’t a friendly look. “I’ll see you after the meeting.”
    “See you then.”
    I watched them go, my body seemingly frozen in place. I’d known I cared about Tom, almost from the beginning. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how much I cared. They say you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. I just hoped I wasn’t about to find out.
    I don’t know how long I stood there. Long enough, at least, for the hallways to clear and the clerks to lock up their offices for the night. The building was nearly empty by the time I started making my way slowly to the elevators in the main hallway. The light shining through the tall windows had taken on the blue and pinkish tint of sunset. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even notice the two men who stood in a shadowed corner beneath the state and federal flags that flank the entrance to the city council chambers until they stepped forward, into the light.
    “Good afternoon Ms. Reilly, I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to meet. I’m P. Douglas Richards.”
    I tensed immediately. He was right, we hadn’t met. But I’d heard of him. Doug Richards was the new queen of the Denver hive. They’d brought him in from New York City. He was short, probably five feet five, but he had a runner’s build: strong and wiry. His face was all sharp angles, with a prominent brow and heavy silver eyebrows over a beakish nose. He wore a heavy wool coat unbuttoned over a suit of expensively tailored silk in a shade of charcoal that exactly matched the color of his eyes and looked great with his salt and pepper hair.
    Standing next to him was a man who needed no introduction—at least not to anybody who’d ever looked at the sports page of the newspaper: Lewis Carlton, former bad boy of the NBA. He stood a solid seven feet two, had a shaved head, and wide expanses of his coffee-colored skin had been tattooed. More to the point, he was built like a brick wall. He wasn’t wearing a coat, or even a warm-up jacket. He stood in the halls of justice in a white tank top and white warm-up pants with navy piping. Every inch of him