“Count up all the laws you just broke and ask yourself if this is really a choice.”
Point.
Jamey made one last stop at her desk to grab the three things she wanted to take with her before she left HQ: her research on Grayson, a framed picture of her and Reece as kids, and the Wonder Woman figurine Liam had given her after their second date.
But as she grabbed the items, she heard familiar footsteps coming down the hall.
“Jamey!”
She looked up to see Liam. He’d shed the tie and undone the top buttons of his shirt, the closest to casual she’d ever seen him get at work.
“Jamey,” he said again, and he sounded pissed. “I just heard the news. I’m so sorry, are you okay?”
“I—” But to her surprise, the words stuck in her throat, unable to get past the sudden lump.I don’t have a job, my brother’s in danger, the Dead Man wants to hide him, and I might never see him again—
Something must have shown on her face, though, because Liam grabbed her hand. “My office.”
The few people milling around the station this late were staring at them. They were always careful not to reveal their relationship at work—
But they weren’t coworkers anymore.
She let him tow her down the hall. “You shouldn’t talk to me here,” she said as he shut the door to his office, trying to focus on words she could say. “No one nice or normal should be hurt by this, I’m toxic to your reputation now.”
“Fuck your suspension. After all you’ve done for this city, the cowards are selling you out to save their own image.” He let go of her hand, which immediately felt colder without his. “I heard what Reece did tonight. And I heard they sent that guy after him, the Dead Man.”
She leaned against the wall, next to a framed picture of Juneau’s Mendenhall Glacier Liam had taken himself. “Grayson wants to put Reece in a safe house.”
Liam frowned. “Are you going to let him?”
She let out a breath. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “When I think about it, my ears start to ring, but I don’t know if I can protect Reece by myself—and I’m having all these, thesefeelingsabout it, and Liam, I amno goodat feelings—”
“You don’t have to have all the feelings by yourself,” Liam said. “You know I’m here.”
He was here. Reece had broken the law, she was off the force, they were dealing with a hostile press and inexplicable empathy and a guy called the Dead Man, but Liam was still here.
“You’re working late,” she noticed out loud, because she didn’t know how to say all the emotions jumbled in her heart.
“The SPD needed to issue a statement about this mess,” Liam said. “I didn’t trust anyone else to get this one right.”
She furrowed her brow and stepped across the room to his desk. He let her, watching as she moved his mouse to brighten his screen and the document he’d been working on. “What do you—oh.”
Her eyes read the last line of the press release.
The SPD stands behind Detective St. James and her brother as valued members of our team.
She took in the rest of the screen, his email sent box. “You released this already.” She stared at the statement. “You told all the press in Seattle that the SPD stands behind us.Bothof us.” She looked up in shock. “Parson’s going to fire you.”
“Then he can fire me,” said Liam. “You’re the bravest, most selfless person I’ve ever met. I’m not writing some cowardly shit against you, not tonight, not ever—”
Jamey threw her arms around Liam’s neck and hugged him tight. “Thank you,” she whispered, turning her mouth toward his ear, their cheeks brushing. “I—thanks.”
“You’re—oof—welcome.”
Oops. “Sorry,” she said, as she quickly loosened her hold.
Except he tightened his. His arms had gone around her waist, under her coat, and she could feel the warmth of his hands against the small of her back through her T-shirt. She could still smell the last trace of the morning’s cologne on his neck.
“You’ve got to show me your weight-lifting routine sometime,” he said lightly. “I swear you might also be the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
