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“Erin?”
Her head jerked. “Uh, thanks, Pat.” She pointed toward the stairwell. “This way, Jude.” Vince would be on duty. He was always on the day shift. He’d run the search for her, and they’d see what turned up.
* * *
The stairwell door slammed behind Jude, echoing hollowly. “Who is Ben?”
Her right foot came down too hard on the step.
“I saw your face when the cop mentioned him.” A pause. “He’s...something to you.”
She turned to face him, slowly. “You caught any other shifter scents while you’ve been in the station?”
His brow wrinkled.
“Didn’t think so.” Her arms crossed. “You won’t. The city’s too small. Full of humans. Humans like Detective Ben Greer. Humans who don’t realize what’s really happening in this world.”
“Ah...like that, is it?” But there was still something in his eyes and in the lines bracketing his mouth. Anger.
“The bastard after me—he shot Ben.” Her left foot was tapping. With an effort, she managed to still its fast beat. “Cops on the scene thought it was a robbery gone wrong, but Iknewit wasn’t. The freak left me one of his notes.”
Always the damn notes.
“This Ben—you were seeing him, weren’t you?”
Seeing him. Hoping to live a normal life with him. Even thinking about the brick house and the stupid picket fence with him. “I was, until I realized that being with me wasn’t safe for him.” Not safe for many guys. But it had been easier with Ben. He’d been a good lover. She’d held tight to her control with him. So tight. He’d always been patient, and if he sensed she’d held back, he hadn’t said anything.
Jude caged her with his body. The stairs put them at eye level. “I’m not real worried about beingsafe.” His gaze searched hers.
Her stomach knotted. “Maybe you should be. You know this guy could set his sights on you, too.”
The tiger’s smile. “That’s what I’m counting on, sweetheart. That’s what I’m counting on.”
And why he had kissed her so hard and passionately back at her house.Thought I heard something.“You’re playing a dangerous game.”
He shrugged. “I know the rules and the risks—and I’ve always liked to play.”
Yes, she just bet he did.
His hand lifted and cupped her cheek. “Something I need to know, though.”
His touch jolted her. Callused fingers should never have been so gentle. And his claws, just waiting below the surface.I can do soft and easy.“Wh-what’s that?”
“You carrying a torch for the cop?”
The grated question had her mind going blank.
His eyes narrowed. “I won’t be a stand-in, not for any damn one.”
As if he could ever be. No, Jude was too strong, toodominant, for something like that. “I wanted to be with Ben.” Wanted to fit in. To be loved. “But?—”
“But what?” His thumb brushed over her mouth. Her eyes closed at that touch and heat streaked through her.
“But I knew, even before the attack, that we weren’t going to make it.” She’d broken it off with him just days before the attack, but the bastard out there had still gone after him. Her eyes opened, and she found Jude watching her with a predatory stare. “Ben had no clue about me.” She swallowed. “Our relationship wasn’t fair to him or to me. So I ended it.” He’d wanted her to be someone that she wasn’t. Someone that she could never be.
Someone normal.
“You got regrets about him?”
