“It really sucked hearing it from Shane and not from you,” I whisper, and the vulnerability in my own voice surprises me.
Dom reaches out to place two gentle hands on my hips and pull me closer to him. The bouquet of flowers is still in my hands, but it’s being crushed between our chests. “Hannah, I’m sorry about how it all went down, but I felt like I couldn’t move forward with you until I made things right professionally.”
I search his eyes.
“And the only reason I wouldn’t want to take myself off the case is because I want to protect you,” he continues. “I want to keep you safe. You’re important to me. But I figured it’d be okay because Shane is still on the case, a guy I trust more than anyone.” He squeezes my hips. “Plus, I’m really fucking hoping I’m going to be close to you anyways so ...”
“Close to me anyways?”
“Yeah.” His smile is big and huge and so powerful I actually feel it in my belly. “Isn’t it obvious, Hannah? I like you.A lot.”
I smile. I can’t help it. “I like you too.”
“Well, then, how about you let me take you out tonight?” he questions and reaches out to tuck a rogue piece of my hair behind my ear. “I really want to spend more time with you. I want to explore whatever this is between us.”
“I want that too,” I whisper.
“So ...” His mouth quirks up at the corners. “This is you saying yes?”
“Yeah.” I nod again, my current smile matching his. “This is me saying yes, but I have one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“You need to give me, like, twenty minutes to get ready.”
He grins. “Take all the time you need, Hannah.” He holds out both hands in the air. “I’ll happily wait for you.”
He’ll happily wait for me.
I don’t know why, but that sure does sound good.
31
Dominic
8:00 p.m.
The past forty-eight hours have been long as fuck.
After realizing Shane was right about my involvement with Hannah, I knew I had two options—end things with her or take myself off the case.
It wasn’t a difficult decision, but talking to Captain Leonard about it was the opposite of easy.
He was pissed at me, that much was evident by the prominent vein pulsating on his forehead this morning, but he handled it a hell of a lot better than I thought he would. It’s not necessarily illegal for a detective to get involved with an informant on his case, but it’s not at all ethical. It blurs the lines and causes the kind of complications that could quite literally get someone killed.
And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the reason Shane or Hannah or anyone else I care about gets hurt.
The captain gave me a long-ass lecture about how I fucked up, and even made me get a psych eval from Dr. Henley, the psychologist who works closely with MNPD. But other than some paperwork and hours of scolding and discussion, I got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist.
I felt like a prick for keeping Hannah in the dark, but I had to do shit the right way. I had to make sure we were no longer crossing the professional line. I hate that I’m going to be mostly out of the loop as the team works to track down the CMA killer, but Shane has promised to keep me updated as much as he can. All I can do from here is trust his wordandfinally let myself really explore this thing with Hannah.
And starting right now, I’m the lucky bastard who gets to take this beautiful woman out on a date.
I help her into the passenger seat of my Range Rover and round the hood to hop into the driver’s side, the whole time grinning like an idiot. But the sight of her—stunning, nervous, fiddling with the hem of her top—makes my chest tighten. She’s trying to keep her cool, but her fidgeting gives her away.
I start the engine, but before I pull out of her driveway, I turn to face her. She sits comfortably in the passenger seat in a pair of black jeans that perfectly hug her thighs and ass, and a sheer black top that reveals a black bra beneath it. Her pretty feet are in heels, and her long brown hair hangs down around her shoulders.
If she’s wearing makeup, I can’t even tell. But that’s the thing about Hannah May—she’s always gorgeous, always so fucking beautiful it hurts, no matter what she’s wearing.
