Black Ice (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (6 page)

Blake stared at him dumbfounded. She should have been mad. Normally, she probably would have been. She barely knew him, after all, and rumors about his past painted him as a major part of his partner’s death. His resume didn’t present the perfect formula for a decent houseguest.

“You planned to stay outside all night in your car for me?”

He licked his lips. “Contrary to whatever you’ve heard or opinions you’ve made, I’m not a complete ass. I have about five percent of good inside me that leaks out more than I’d like. It’s why I became a cop in the first place.”

He’d made himself at home, she realized, when he pulled out another mug and went to the pantry to retrieve the chamomile tea. He filled the tea kettle and set it to boil before looking up at her.

“Don’t get me wrong. I can be an ass at any given moment when provoked.”

Blake sat in one of the chairs at her breakfast table. “What happened with your last real partner?”

Ryder gave her his back, watching the tea kettle. “We worked on a case, and he didn’t tell me he went to the main suspect’s house by himself. He got ambushed. The department attacked me for not being there for him, and I haven’t worked with a partner since.”

The shrill of the whistle ended their conversation. Ryder poured her a cup and dipped the tea bag into the steaming-hot water. He sprinkled some sugar inside the cup and brought the mug to her.

“So you have no trust in others?”

Ryder didn’t respond to her question. “Hopefully the tea will help you sleep. Do you have a spare bed for me or am I taking the couch? Considering your reaction to sharing a hotel room with me, I assume I won't be sleeping in your bed.”

Blake ignored his last comment and sipped at her tea. The warm fluid instantly comforted her, heating her body and relaxing her muscles at the same time. “I have a spare bed upstairs. I—”

“You asked me a personal question. Do I get to ask you one as well?”

Blake narrowed her eyes. “My question was hardly personal.”

“Yes or no?”

Trust went both ways, a little voice echoed in her mind. “One. Better make it good.”

“Rumor has it you’re a virgin. Is it true?”

Blake’s lips parted in shock. “Where did you hear that?”

“It’s a rumor.” He shrugged. “Guys talk. Plenty have said you turned them down so you must either be a dike or a virgin.”

Blake blinked at him a few times. “What’s it to you if I was either way?”

Ryder grinned. “Is that a yes?”

“It’s none of your business.” She lifted her mug and swallowed a gulp of tea. “And the guys we work with are scum. They want a one night stand with a willing body and not much else. I don’t care too much for that.”

“What
do
you care for?”

Blake stood and returned her mug to the sink. “Sleep is what I care for right now.”

She led him up the stairs and into the spare bedroom. The small bedroom held a twin-sized bed, with a comfortable mattress. She grabbed extra pillows and blankets from the linen closet and piled them on the bed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Sorry, but it’s this or the couch.”

“A twin? Other than a kid, what human being sleeps in a twin-sized bed?”

Blake smiled. “You, for tonight.”

Ryder groaned. “Fine. But if we’re bunking with each other in the future, we’re going to my place. At least I’d front you with a queen-sized bed.”

She smiled to herself as she left the room. Hopefully, she’d get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed and ready to work on the case.

She settled in her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. It wasn’t the masked man that kept her awake this time, but the luscious man in the next room. Sleep obviously wasn’t coming tonight.

Ryder woke with the blankets tangled around his waist and legs. He opted to sleep in his jeans but decided to take his shirt off before crawling into the small bed. He pulled at the covers, kicking his legs slightly and lost his balance. He missed the edge of the mattress and fell back, landing soundly on the floor with a loud thud.

“Shit!” He jerked the sheet off of him and rubbed his eyes.

“Are you okay in there?” Blake knocked once and entered the room. “What are you doing on the floor?”

“That bed is trying to kill me.” He stood and stretched his tight muscles.

“Do you want to sleep in my bed?” She leaned against the doorframe. “I’m up now and about to start getting ready for work. You can lie down in my bed for an hour or so if you want.”

He stared at her. “You mean it?”

“Sure. I always run in the mornings. You’ll have peace and quiet.”

Ryder rubbed his hands over his face. “I’m not passing the offer up, but is running such a good idea? A guy just attacked you last night.”

“I always pack my gun and a can of mace.” She shrugged. “Besides, things aren’t as scary in the daylight.”

“Fine. Take your cell.” He grabbed a pen from her desk and pulled her hand out, writing his number on the back of it. “Call me if something happens.”

She grinned, a cute little grin that made him think twice about ever agreeing to sign on as her partner. “Yes, dear.”

He moved past her and followed the hallway to the master bedroom at the end, half-groaning when he spotted the feather-soft bed situated in the middle of the room. He walked the necessary steps to reach the side and fell face first, losing consciousness before his body hit the mattress.

The second time Ryder woke, Blake had come out in a towel wrap, with her hair in a turban, singing softly. Droplets of water sprinkled her back from her recent shower. He watched as she entered her closet and grabbed her clothes for the day. He closed his eyes, feigning sleep when she stepped out, waiting to see if she’d drop the towel in front of him.

“You can forget it, hotshot,” she said. “I heard you grumble.”

He smiled. “How was your run?”

“Better than sex, but then again, how would I know since I’m a virgin?”

He pushed up from the mattress. “If a run was better than sex, the guy wasn’t doing his job right. But then again, if you’re a virgin, I guess you need someone to prove to you sex is way more fun.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get ready. I called the station, and we’ve got a lot of tapes to review. Looks like we’re in for a long day.”

* * * *

Blake pressed her fingers in her temples. “Something fishy is going on. I requested the tapes of surveillance and the head of security went directly to the box without so much as even looking at the label. And to beat it all, he had a peppermint candy in his mouth.”

Ryder’s head jerked to the side, his eyes meeting hers. “The guy?”

She shrugged. “It’s awful coincidental, isn’t it?”

He pulled into the police station and parked in his regular spot. “I don’t like the way this is starting to unfold.”

“That makes two of us.”

For the rest of the day, Blake and Ryder spent their time reviewing the tapes. They ordered pizza for dinner and watched nearly six hours of video looking for the one specific shot of the valet and the car. Nothing.

“Look, we should probably head out.” Ryder popped the tape out of the player. “I had Rizzo check your car over, so it should be fine to drive home.”

Blake nodded. Fear didn’t grip her as tightly tonight. Seth Cameron may not be the masked guy that assaulted her, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She took inventory of her weapons. Her standard gun stayed at her hip from the time she dressed to the time she undressed. Her backup stayed at her ankle until she went to bed. She had a can of mace on her keychain and a knife in her nightstand drawer. She would be fine.

“You know, if you want, I can stay with you again tonight. Or you could come back to my place. You don’t have to go home alone.” Ryder cleaned up their mess, throwing the trash away.

“I’ll be okay.”

It’d only been a few days after they arrived in town and the case had her running in circles. After packing up, Blake gathered her things, said her goodbyes, and walked to her car. She searched the area, before inserting the key and unlocked the door. The overhead light blinked on. It didn’t do that when the man waited in her car. She breathed a sigh of relief when she examined the inside of the vehicle.
Nothing out of place.

She glanced back at the department entrance and saw Ryder standing at the door, watching her. Everything was fine. No boogieman to worry about. She gave him a thumbs up and climbed inside, starting the engine with a solid crank. She pushed the locks on the doors for good measure and turned the heat up on high. She would be okay.

Nothing to fear but fear itself.

Ryder crawled in bed with a sigh of relief to his aching muscles. He needed a shower, but didn’t have the energy. He folded his pillow beneath his chin and closed his eyes, welcoming the bliss of sleep.

Instead, the telephone rang.

Groaning, he reached for his cell and glanced at the read-out. It was the lieutenant. “James.”

“He’s attacked again.”

“What?” Ryder came awake, rubbing his eyes, and he jerked up in bed.

“I don’t know how we missed it, but Warren was the target this time. She’s okay right now. If it hadn’t been for a good Samaritan passing by she’d probably be dead.”

Ryder’s heart dropped to his stomach. He swallowed hard. “What happened?”

“He rewired the exhaust system so that it came through the vents inside her car. Naturally, she had the heat on high and blew the toxins inside the vehicle with her. She’s at the hospital being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and some bumps and bruises from the tree she hit. Have you gained any progress on the case?”

Ryder pulled on his pants with the phone resting between his shoulder and ear. “Not much.”

“Get to working on it, James. I’m taking Warren off the case and making this the department’s top priority.” He hung up the phone just as Ryder grabbed his T-shirt.

He knew he should have dragged her ass back to his house instead of leaving her to fend for herself. The attack scared her, even if she didn’t want to admit it. Flashbacks of his partner Tony filled his mind with a sense of history repeating itself. He would protect Blake and solve the case if it was the last thing he ever did.

* * * *

The hospital was crowded with the flu season providing a haven for those that were ill. Ryder never expected it to be so busy in the early morning hours, but he didn’t make it a habit to hang around hospitals either. A brightly lit Christmas tree stood in the corner of the main foyer, and Ryder groaned. He hated the stupid holidays.

After gaining her room number from the nurses’ station—courtesy of his badge—he took a short elevator ride to the fifth floor. Her room sat at the end of the hall, door closed with an armed guard standing at the entrance. After Ryder showed the uniform his badge, he knocked on Blake’s door.

“Blake?” He pushed it open and peeked inside. “It’s Ryder.”

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The room was small with all the hospital necessities, a bathroom on the left with the bed on the right. A rerun of an old sitcom played on the TV.

He reached out to touch her foot, hearing a sniffle as she turned farther away from him. He hated this, the comforting. Women were complicated creatures, and he never knew the words they needed to hear at the time they needed to hear them. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to let her know she was safe and not alone. But that, he imagined, wasn’t what she’d want from him, her partner.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked for lack of a better conversation starter.

She wiped her eyes. “I have to stay for observation. I wrecked my car. I thought I slid on a patch of ice, and the next thing I know, I’m crashing into a tree as I lose consciousness.”

Even though he knew it broke a dozen rules, he crawled in bed beside her, pulling her into his arms. “Shh. You’re okay now.” He kissed the top of her head. “Do you need me to call your family?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

He reached out to touch her arm. Her sniffles dwindled until they stopped completely. Her skin felt so soft beneath his fingers as he ran them along her arm, comfortingly. He didn’t know what brought on the tears.

“Will you stay with me?”

He linked his fingers with hers. “I shouldn’t have ever left you.”

* * * *

“Oh, my. She finally has a man in her bed!”

Blake opened one eye to the loud voice that woke her. A hard male chest pressed against her cheek with arms of steel wrapped around her body. She took a moment to commit it to memory before she commented to her sister, the intruder.

“I have a headache, Lilly. Keep your voice down.”

“But he’s real! And hot…Damn.” She fanned herself. “You didn’t tell me you’d finally done the deed with the hottest guy in Minnesota.”

“No deeds have been done, Lilly.” Blake pushed away from his chest. “I nearly died, and the only thing you’re interested in is my sex life.”