The Reckoning (15 page)

Mike pulled her closer. “She’s going to have to wait.” He placed a kiss on her lips. “I can think of something else I’d much rather be doing.”

Elizabeth
shook her head and stepped out of his embrace. “Why don’t you call her back while I put breakfast on the table?”

Mike stuck out his bottom lip. “You’re no fun.”

Elizabeth
felt a smile form on her lips. “If you’re a good boy, I just might have to give you a reward tonight.” She’d prepared herself all morning for an awkward morning after. She’d never been as impulsive and forward as she’d been the night before. Her actions should have shamed her and embarrassed her, but they didn’t. Nothing felt more right than being in this man’s arms.

Mike stepped in front of her again and pulled her back into his arms. “Please tell me I don’t have to wait all day.”

Elizabeth
swatted at his arm. “You’re insatiable, and your food is getting cold.”

Mike grabbed the phone and stepped out of the room. She walked to the counter, grabbed their breakfast, and then set it on the table as she called out. “Oh, I forgot to tell you; they know we had sex last night.”

Mike peeked around the entryway and grinned, causing
Elizabeth
to shake her head. He disappeared again. She set the table and had just pulled out a chair when he returned. “Looks like we’re heading to the office in a bit.”

Elizabeth
picked up her fork. “I can’t. I have plans.”

Mike lips tilted down in a frown. “No you don’t. I’m keeping you by my side; that’s the only way I can keep you safe.”

Elizabeth
grabbed her fork from the table and gestured to Mike’s plate. “Eat up.” She smiled. “I have to go by my house and get a change of clothes and then I’m meeting your sisters at the café.”

Elizabeth
took a bite of her cheese omelet, savoring the taste. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until she took her first bite. She was starving and not just for the food in front of her, but for the man that she was about to upset.

“Absolutely not,” Mike growled.

Elizabeth
swallowed and grabbed her coffee, taking a nice long sip. “The girls can play babysitter while you go to the office. Don’t worry. We all know how to shoot a gun, and they can look after me if it will make you feel better.”

Mike picked up his bacon. “What’s so special about meeting my sisters? Can’t you do it another time?”

Elizabeth
crossed her arms over her chest, daring Mike to argue with her. “Michael Bennett, I made a promise, and I intend to keep it, with or without your permission.”

Mike pushed himself up from the table and left the room, returning moments later with a watch in his hand. He rounded the table and pulled out the chair next to hers. Dangling between his fingers was the most exquisite watch she’d ever seen. “I want you to wear this.”

Elizabeth
took the watch and ran her fingers over the rough face. The diamonds were rough under her thumb. She glanced up to meet Mike’s gaze. “Are these real?”

Mike grinned and nodded. He took her hand, sliding the watch on her wrist. The innocent brush of his fingers on her pulse sent heat rushing to her core.

“It’s a tracking device,” he confessed as he secured it to her wrist. Tipping her palm over, he placed a gentle kiss on her hand. “Please don’t take it off.”

Elizabeth
’s heart sank. It wasn’t as if she’d wanted it to be just a nice gesture or the fact that he’d known her long enough or intimately enough to give her jewelry. She just hadn’t been expecting it to be a tracking device, yet another way to ensure she stayed safe. It was an unspoken reminder of the reason she needed to get as far away from Mike as possible. The professor wasn’t going to leave her alone, and Mike didn’t need to be caught in the crosshairs.
Elizabeth
gave him a smile she knew didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s lovely. I’ll take good care of it until this is all over.”

****

Mike wanted her to be safe, and the watch was the only way he could he could think of to keep tabs on her.
Elizabeth
’s insistence to go the café didn’t faze him. She was strong willed just like his sisters, and as long as they were around to keep an eye on her, he’d feel better about her being away from him. If she were going to stick around in his life like he hoped, he’d feel better if she wore the watch just in case. His job wasn’t the safest, and their recent troubles were living proof that criminals targeted the ones he loved for vengeance.

He’d jumped in feet first with the doctor, and he didn’t have any plans of letting her go anytime soon. If he had any hope of keeping her around after the threat was gone, she was going to have to come to terms with what it meant to date a cop.

Elizabeth
pulled her hand out of his and placed it in her lap. “Why don’t you finish eating? I’m going to go get dressed.”

Elizabeth
stood from the table, and Mike stood with her. “What’s wrong,
Elizabeth
? What did I do?”

Mike racked his brain trying to remember what he’d said that might have offended her and came up short.

Elizabeth
glanced down at her feet. “Nothing. I’m just ready to go home and get cleaned up. Besides, I still need to check in with my dad.”

Mike kissed her cheek before releasing her and watched her walk out of the room. All of the fight he’d seen in her eyes only days before had vanished.

Elizabeth
emerged ten minutes later with wet hair, wearing the same clothes that she’d worn the day before. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She walked to the fridge and pulled out a soda. 

Mike wanted to pull her into his arms but knew it would be a mistake. He turned on his heels and left the room. How was he going to tell her that he was falling in love with her? Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she assumed she was just another notch on his bedpost, but she wasn’t. Mike wanted
Elizabeth
around for a long time. Mentally he’d already had a vested interest to see where a relationship with her might lead. She was strong and funny and sexy as hell. He’d be stupid to let her walk out his door without her knowing just where she stood.

Mike emerged from the bedroom fifteen minutes later to find
Elizabeth
perched on the edge of the couch, sitting stiff as a board. She had just closed her phone.

“Who were you talking to?”

“I was just checking in with Gracie. She’s still worried about me.”

Mike nodded. In times like this, he wished he had Claire’s gift and was able to read her mind. He’d have thought growing up with three sisters he might have some insight as to what was going on in
Elizabeth
’s head, but he didn’t have a clue. She stood. “Are you ready?”

Mike shook his head, trying to clear his mind to figure out a way to tell the little doctor he was falling for her. He grabbed his keys, hoping beyond anything that an answer would come to him as he drove
Elizabeth
to her house, yet none did, so he kept his mouth shut.

Elizabeth
was quick. She’d packed a bag, and they were back in the SUV in less than ten minutes. “Can you drop me off at the café?”

Mike pulled out of her driveway and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his mouth and placing a kiss on her palm before he entwined his fingers with hers. “Sure. You can hang out with Abby until I get finished at the office.”

Elizabeth
nodded. “Thanks.”

Mike cleared his throat as he pulled up at the café. “You know,
Elizabeth
…”

Elizabeth
jumped out of the SUV before Mike threw the vehicle into park. Her quick exit left Mike stunned. He would have thought all women would want to hear a man confess his feelings for them. Her quick departure stunned him. She was running, maybe she didn’t have the same feelings back. He shook his head. He’d never understand women.

Mike jumped from the SUV in an effort to catch her before she went into the cafe. “
Elizabeth
.”

Elizabeth
glanced over her shoulder as she pulled the door open. Her wide-eyed glance in his direction sent apprehension down his spine. “Keep up, Bennett.”

Mike stomped in her direction, gaining on her as she crossed the threshold.

****

Elizabeth
strolled up to the counter where Abby and Claire stood sipping their coffee. “You girls ready to solve the riddles of the universe?”

Emma glanced at her. Confusion crossed her face. “Huh?”

Elizabeth
waved her hand through the air. “Oh never mind. Just tell the big brute that you’re reporting for duty, so he can leave already.”

Mike walked up behind her, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her back against his muscular chest. He whispered in her ear, “Next time wait for me, baby.” His hot breath on her neck caused a shiver to run the length of her body.

She turned in his arms, running her fingers up his chest and into his hair. This might be the last time she ever saw her detective. There were things she wanted to say but couldn’t. There were things she wanted to do but wouldn’t. She’d tied her own hands when she’d made up her mind, and it was too late to turn back now. Her sister would be expecting her, and she had every intention on being there.

Elizabeth
drew his face closer to hers. She reached up on tiptoes and whispered, “I’m sorry” before planting her lips to his. He wouldn’t understand her apology until she was gone, but she’d said it just the same.

Mike pulled her closer to his rock-hard chest and his hands caressed her back when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss.
Elizabeth
thought her legs might give out. She wanted him more than she’d ever thought possible. Leaving him was going to kill her, but she’d do it just the same because it would keep him safe.

Mike pulled back from the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, stroking her arms. “I’ll take those type of apologizes anytime, Doc.”

Abby cleared her throat, making Mike turn his head toward his sister. “We’re busy here.”

“I can see that, big brother, but don’t you have someplace you’ve got to be? I’m sure the doc has better things she could be doing.” The grin on Abby’s face contradicted her words. Emma and Claire grinned like fools, clutching their coffees to their chest. If their grins were anything to go by. She figured she had their approval.

Mike turned back to
Elizabeth
and kissed her on the cheek; his expression turned serious. “Be good, Doc, and don’t let my sisters talk you into getting into trouble.”

CHAPTER 13

Abby linked her arm through her brothers and walked him to the door, only stopping for a second to exchange words that
Elizabeth
couldn’t here. Only the glances her way let her know she’d been the topic of discussion.

Mike left Abby with once last glance and a wink in
Elizabeth
’s direction. A smile creased his lips when he reached up and rubbed Abby’s hair.

Abby slid up next to her. “Doc, I don’t know how you did it, but if I had to guess, I would say my big brother is smitten with you.”

Elizabeth
ordered her coffee. “Your brother doesn’t even know what smitten means; besides, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Elizabeth
shook her head. “Enough about us. Where are we at with the security tapes?”

Elizabeth
wanted to talk about anything other than the man whom she was about to piss off. She paid and grabbed her coffee, lifting it to her lips.

Emma gestured toward the hall. “The monitors are in my office, and I have it cued for the day my gifts went haywire.”

Elizabeth
followed the girls down the hall. “Where’s John? Doesn’t he need to be here?”

“He should be here in just a minute,” Abby said, bring up the rear.

They walked into Emma’s office. She’d never been in the room before.  Old brown leather chairs sat across from her desk, devoid of papers and as neat as Mike’s apartment. She’d expected the room to be small but was pleasantly surprised that all of them could not only fit but had room to spare. Two big monitors spanned the white wall. On the other stood a bookshelf full of hardback books and a small refrigerator with shelves above it containing wine glasses.

Abby grinned and pointed to the wall. “Let me guess, Jake’s handiwork?”

Emma’s voice was tinged with love for her husband. “I can’t help it. I can’t tell him no, and besides, he’d just get all of the guys to gang up on me.”

Elizabeth
took a seat on the small couch. It was nice to see that, as strong as the Bennett women were, they all had their own issues to deal with when it came to their men, making her feel less like a fish out of water.