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"I know," she put her forehead on his chest, closed her eyes, listened to his heartbeat. "I had to try. I care about you, Mac. I care a lot. Let me help you."
"You are."
"Why are you the undercover person for this? They don't usually put in an established detective. You'd be too easily made."
"Because it's plausible that a cop who is really a sexual submissive would choose to indulge it in a heavy security place like The Zone."
"Then why is your sergeant letting you be in there without back up?" She said, frustrated. "This isn't my area of expertise, but shouldn't somebody be watching your back?"
"Somebody is," he said. "She just wasn't aware of it until this moment."
"Not if you're going in there when I'm not around," she said, not mollified. "Don't try charm, Mackenzie. It will only piss me off more."
Patiently he explained the call-in contact arrangement he had with Darla. Violet's eyes widened as he briefly touched on their conversation.
"You told your boss." She shook her head. "I knew you had impressive balls, but they're even larger than they look."
"It wasn't easy," he shifted, obviously uncomfortable with the flattery. "It just had to be done."
She nodded. "I get that. So you're going to do two things for me."
"What?" he asked warily.
She went to her phone table, came back with another card like she'd given him, scrawled her cell phone, pager and home phone on the back. "You give that to your sergeant. Tell her I'll be the inside person watching your back."
"Violet, that means she'll know. I don't want to risk you or your reputation in your department. It was hard enough for me to do it. You know cops work on the streets, close to the hookers and peep shows, and they don't see a big difference between what we do and the criminal side of it."
"You trusted your sergeant enough to tell her. Now I will, too. We both want the same thing. You, alive. If you trust her, I trust her." She held his gaze. "I won't crowd you, I'll defer to your experience, but I won't let you be in there unprotected. This is a smart, smart Dom, Mac. If she figures out you're there for her, I'm willing to bet she won't run. She'll want to stand and fight. And because she's a woman, she'll fight dirty. She'll try to take you down when you're not looking."
"I'm hoping not. I'd like the chance to take her down."
"Then we can do it together. Though I expect to get my department a stroke if I'm right about the gym bag."
"A full month's worth of Krispy Kremes, I promise."
"Arrogant creep," she retorted, but some of the stress eased out of her as he raised his hand, threaded it through her hair and stroked.
"What was the second thing?"
"What--oh." Her eyes crinkled. "You ever call another woman 'sugar' again, other than me, and you won't sit down for a week."
He grinned, the tension leaving his shoulders as well. "Yes, Mistress."
Chapter 17
Mac swore, viciously, as he knelt over the body.
Suarez stared down at the victim. "Might as well get a cookie cutter, the way she picks out exactly the same type of guy."
"Yeah." Only Edward Turner hadn't been a cookie cutout to his family, Mac thought.
"She moved on this one fast," Suarez observed. "They must have broken through that trust barrier fast."
It could happen that way. It was something about which Mac couldn't have claimed firsthand knowledge only a handspan of days before. But he knew he would trust Violet with his life.
"Which may mean they had a prior association, or a mutual friend. Someone will remember her. She's getting bloodthirsty, and that means she's getting careless. Or she's playing more than one at a time."
"She's also getting bolder." Consuela squatted next to him. "She wanted to see the parent arrive on the scene this time. Body was still warm when we got here."
