Seduction's Dance (McKingley Series) (10 page)

I know him.
He was the one who partnered with the youngest sister of Dimitri Wright. Sure enough, she appeared as well, snapping on some gloves.

“Let’s get you looked at,” she said then looked up and paused. “Hey, Shannon.”

“Lis.”

“Come on.”

She went to the back of the ambulance to sit on the stretcher while Lis helped her out of the uniform shirt and stared at the injury.

“How’d you do this?”

“Chasing some little bastard.”

“Looks like you got caught on some metal. You also have some rash marks from like gravel.”

“Figures, I took him down hard in a lot.”

“I can clean it, but you need to get it stitched up.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“Well, yeah, I could.”

“Do it. Just give me a local.”

“You know they’re going to want you checked out by a doctor.”

Damn it, she was right. Especially since three other officers saw the injury. “Can’t you do it quick and I can just say I cut myself a little bit?”

Lis held up the shirt. “That’s a lot of blood for just a little cut.” A short pause. “Come on, you know it’s the smart thing.”

She did know—problem was, she didn’t like hospitals. A shadow blocked out the sun and they both looked up to find Leo there.

“What the hell happened? I got a call saying one of my deputies was bleeding badly and in the back of an ambulance.”

“She’s fine, Leo. Got cut, but we’re on our way to the hospital.” Lis spoke in an unhurried and unruffled way.

“You got her to go to the hospital?”

“Just make sure her car gets there. Let’s go, Thom!” she added as she put a new gauze pad against the bleeding.

Shannon watched as her overly stubborn boss got shoved out of the way much like someone brushes away a gnat. The doors shut and Lis winked at her.

“He can be a bit over the top sometimes. I figured it would be nice to not have to listen to one of his famous lectures.”

Shannon laughed and in the next moment sucked in a breath at the sharp pain.

“Lie back.”

So she did. The trip flew by quickly and soon she was being helped out of the ambulance and walking inside with Thom. Lis waved goodbye from the back, where she immediately began stripping the cover off where she’d lain. Thom turned her over to a hospital staff member and left as well. A short time after that and she was getting her injury sewn up. Shannon was itchy, wanting out of there. She didn’t like being in these places.

Later she entered the waiting room and spotted Leo leaning against a wall, watching the goings on in the emergency room. She figured he was waiting for her to finally be released. Shannon approached him and he straightened as she came to stand by his side.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Good as new.”

The flare of his nose told her he didn’t believe that.

“Honest. They wouldn’t have let me go had I not been.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to get Lis to sew you up in the lot back there. I know you don’t like hospitals.”

There was no sense in telling him she had done so. She shrugged, then together they headed outside, her ruined and bloodied shirt balled up in one hand, leaving her clad in a black undershirt with a tear in the side.

“Mario took your guy back and booked him for you.”

“Good. I have to head back anyway and change.”

Leo moved to her passenger door and tossed her the keys. She looked at him, one eyebrow higher than the other in silent question.

“What? I drove your car here. I don’t have a way back.”

Great
. Thankfully, he didn’t press her on what had happened or on the issue with Mario. Of course, when he’d showed up unexpectedly at her house, he’d done enough pressing.

“Deyon wants to have another get-together,” he said as she stopped at a light.

“When?”

“She was thinking next weekend. She wants it to be you and Dimitri, us and Arissa. Oh yeah, and Jackson.”

She nodded and drove on. “Sure thing. I don’t think I work.”

“Thanks by the way for riding along with Nick.”

“He’s a good cop. Bright and learns quick.”

“Yes, he is.”

She pulled into the station and they got out before walking inside.

“I’ll let Deyon know then that we’re on.”

“Sounds good.”

Shannon headed to the ladies’ locker room while Leo went wherever he had to go. She winced a bit while changing into her spare uniform. Next stop was to put in another shirt order. Once that was done, she made her way up to the squad room to see if she could locate her wayward prisoner.

Work ran over that night and normally she didn’t mind but right now, she was tired. She wanted to just go home and put her feet up. All the work she’d been doing on the ranch had made her sore. Her recent injury compounded that but, since she was here, she figured she’d look in on her perp.

She and James had wanted to get a lot done before winter arrived and they’d been working hard and long hours to get their goals accomplished. Although her cousin was acting a bit stranger than normal. Which really said a lot.

Walking to her car, she pulled out her phone then dialed a number.

“Good evening, sexy.”

Dimitri’s baritone made her smile. “Evening.”

“You coming over?”

“I’m sorry, I have to cancel. I’m on my way home now. I just need to crash right now.”

“Everything okay?”

“Just been a long day.” She knew he would have heard about her being injured but didn’t mention it.

“Need me to come over?”

Part of her wanted to say yes. She didn’t. Time alone had become a luxury. It seemed she and Dimitri were always together and for someone who had mostly been alone, it was tiring. Great, but tiring.

“No. I’m going to just get home and sleep.”

“Oh.” The one word was laced with disappointment.

“I’ll see you this weekend at Deyon’s thing. Good night, Dimitri.” She hung up and got in her jeep.

‘I’ll see you this weekend’.
Dimitri stared at his phone after she hung up.
Really? Not until this weekend?

He’d become so accustomed to seeing her almost daily, a week seemed like an eternity. She’d sounded exhausted. He got to his feet and walked to the door. There, he hesitated before toeing off his shoes and making his way back to the couch, where he plopped down. She didn’t want him over there.

The frustration that hit him at that revelation caused him a great deal of disgruntlement. He paced and rubbed his hand over his head. Had something happened that she needed a bit of distance from him now? And there was the fact she’d never even mentioned being cut today.

She confused him. For so long he’d wanted a woman who wasn’t clingy or needy. Now he had one and damn it, he wished she would cling a bit more. Or need him to come over after stressful days to help relax her. But no. His woman was perfectly content to keep him in the dark.

He got up and went for a beer. Standing in the kitchen, he drank about half of it before he moved again.
Who said being in a relationship was supposed to be easy?
Okay, so the logical side didn’t help anything. He wanted it easy. He liked easy.

More than that, he liked things to work how he wished them to. And he would like a bit more from Shannon now. But this most recent call made him wonder if she was on the same page as he was.

Hell, he didn’t even know what page he was on himself. All he knew is he wanted to have her living with him. Fall asleep with her in his arms and wake in the morning, with their bodies curled together.

He finished off his beer then disposed of the container. Cripes, he had it bad. Pining over a woman. He went to the fridge and pulled out some leftovers to heat for dinner.

After he’d finished, he worked on a case then called it a night much earlier than usual. Come morning, he rolled over, reaching for Shannon before he remembered he was alone. He flopped onto his back with a muttered curse.

His cock was hard and with a frustrated groan, he sat up and climbed from the bed. He didn’t want to find release alone and by himself, he longed to find release deep inside Shannon’s body.

Instead, Dimitri worked out then took a short, cold shower. Padding around his house in his pants, he eventually went to fix some breakfast before going back to finish dressing. His phone rang as he was tying his shoes.

“Wright,” he said into the receiver.

“Sorry to bother you, Dimitri. But there’s been a fire and they want you out there to investigate.”

Hell, he hadn’t even been listening to the scanner. “Where?”

“The Oasis.”

Shit!
That was his sister Katiya’s place. His heart plummeted. “On my way.”

He dashed from the house then jumped into his sports car. He drove fast and after he arrived, he screeched to a halt by the numerous emergency response vehicles. Running toward the yellow tape, he flashed his badge then ducked under.

“Katiya!” he called out as he spied her.

She stood wrapped in her fiancé’s arms. Warwick had a fierce scowl and Katiya’s face was tearstained. Rhianna De’clare, the second in charge of the center, was also there. She looked composed, but Dimitri could see anger in her pale-gray gaze.

“Dimitri,” Katiya said, moving to him for a hug before retreating to Warwick’s arms.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” Katiya said between sniffles.

He frowned—she wasn’t usually this emotional. Although it wasn’t everyday one saw their pride and joy go up in flames.

“I closed the center today. There is nothing I could of think that could cause this.” Rhianna shook her head. “We had to cancel our usual late classes for tonight.”

“Dimitri!”

He turned at the muffled sound and sighed then hurried to the person who’d yelled for him. “Carmen. What the hell is going on?”

She took off her helmet and shook her head, which remained clad in her Nomex flash hood and facemask. “Not sure, Chief’s in the back looking for you though.”

“How bad is it?”

“It will take a bit to repair, luckily there wasn’t anyone inside. From what I remember last time I was here for the breakfast thing, it was empty rooms that went up.”

“Thanks.”

She nodded then slapped the heavy helmet back on her head after fixing the flash hood. With a single touch to her helmet as a salute, she jogged back in to where the flames had begun to fall under control.

“I’ll be back,” he told his sister before jogging around to where Carmen had said Chief wanted to see him.

He had to wait a while since the flames were much stronger in the back. Finally, the man approached him. He looked tired and more than a bit stressed.

“What’s up, Chief?”

He coughed then reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Lighting it, he sighed then crossed his arms. “Damn, I needed that.”

“Carmen said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes.” Chief took another puff. “You can’t run this investigation.”

“Excuse me?”

“This is your sister’s place. You know how this is.”

“Fuck that. I’m not being pulled from this case, Chief. You’re right, it’s my sister. And I’ll work damn hard to make sure whoever did this is brought to light.”

“See, you’re already assuming it was arson. It may not have been.”

Dimitri blew out a breath and tried to control himself. Nope, it wasn’t working. “I’m on this case.”

“There’s no way I can keep you from looking into this, is there?”

“Nope. You may as well allow me to stick with it. Even if you pull me, we both know I’ll be looking into it and following up my own leads.”

“I was afraid of that.”

He waited. Chief was correct—he was assuming it was arson. Mainly because he knew how strict his sister was and to what extent she vetted the contractors who came in and worked on her building.

“Very well, this is what’s going to happen then. And this, Dimitri, isn’t up for negotiation. You will do it this way or you will be barred from all information.”

“You can’t…”

“I can and I will. You’re too close to this and if something turns up, I know damn well the DA isn’t going to want your connection to the victim as a potential problem for their case.”

“What’s the stipulation?”

“You’ll be working with another investigator.”

All his instincts rebelled and he had to forcibly keep the refusal inside his mouth. Chief must have been waiting for it—his eyebrows rose as he watched.

“Who?”

“Someone from the FBI field office.”

Great. Someone who worked a desk. Not what he needed. He needed a person who worked fires. Understood them and how people who set them thought. “Why the feds?”

“Because they’re really not doing anything else on this case yet it has finally
occurred
to them you may be onto something with a serial arsonist and offered to help out. It’s not like it was a secret who’s building this was, you know. Your family knows some big people.”

“Wonderful. Do I get to meet this person?”

“Right now,” Chief said, gesturing with his chin. “Meet Agent Gahlau.”

The name sounded familiar to him. He turned to find himself looking at a tall woman. She was beautiful—her black hair was drawn back in a severe, no nonsense bun, her golden skin shined healthily and she had vibrant green eyes. Nope, he’d never met her before—he would have remembered.

“Inspector Wright,” she said, holding out her hand. “I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

He took her hand, surprised by the strength in her grip. “Dimitri.”

“Shayla.”

“And how much experience do you have investigating actual fires, Shayla, versus sitting behind a desk at the local FBI office?” He knew his tone was sharp, but damn it all, he didn’t want some rookie trying to figure this out.

Her green eyes narrowed slightly. She spoke, but, her tone had none of the welcoming warmth from before. Hell, it should have put out all the flames here and in hell.

“I get that I’m encroaching on you. We just thought you’d appreciate the help in ensuring this went smoothly and you didn’t have any results tossed out in court because of your relationship with the victim. And as for your question, I’ve been in the FBI for all of six months. Before that, I worked in Los Angeles since I was eighteen as a fire fighter. So I’m very confident in my skills as I’ve been learning about fire and reading its signatures since I could walk. More than that, though, my father was the top arson investigator in two major cities before we moved to the West Coast.” She turned and walked off, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be at your office at six.”