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She nodded and talked to Joel. They were holding hands. No, that wasn’t right. Ben forced his vision to clear—Joel was checking her arm. Squeezing and asking questions, then waiting for an answer. Ben had been through that routine a few times himself.
The images of the past half hour clicked together in his head. He’d pinned her under him against the floor, ignoring his weight advantage. He recalled the way he’d shoved her down to keep her out of the line of fire. Rough, but necessary. He hoped she understood, but that didn’t stop the guilt from the thought of her being hurt without him even noticing.
He shot up straight and stalked across the room. He got three feet away when her face fell. Man, she looked a second away from crying and his heart stammered in response.
“Jocelyn?”
She launched her body at him. Despite the raw pain radiating from his shoulder and the fatigue pulling at his muscles, he caught her and held her close. His mouth went to the side of her head and then her cheek.
That wasn’t enough. Turning, he held her face in his hands and kissed her. Right there in front of everyone with bodies on the floor and policemen whispering around them.
When he came up for air, he felt whole again. Somehow this woman had wormed her way into his soul and now he couldn’t breathe without her near him. The realization of how far gone he was had him leaning against her.
“Are you okay?” She whispered the question.
With his body wrapped around hers, he almost didn’t hear it. “Yes.” He held her away from him, careful not to hit her arm.
“I’m fine,” she said before he could ask.
“But Joel was—”
“My wrist is sore.” She twirled it around as if to assure him it wasn’t broken. “And that doesn’t matter.”
The security chief, or whatever his title was—Ben couldn’t remember—came up beside them. In his tenuous mood, Ben wanted to push him away. But this was the guy who’d made the final shot to bring down the guy on the balcony. Ben owed him something.
“Ms. Raine?”
She slipped out of Ben’s arms and gave Ed a smile. “You doing okay?”
“That was a heck of a shot,” Ben said, wondering what kind of skills this guy had. Until now, he’d never thought of security guards as expert marksmen.
The shot was within normal range, but emotions had been running high and tension had flooded over everything like an oil slick. Still, the guy had maintained his composure and hit a moving target above him. Any way you sliced that, it was impressive.
“I had him clear in my sights.” Ed glanced up at the spot where he took the attacker down. “I’m just happy that was as bad as it got. You’re all lucky you weren’t killed.”
Jocelyn patted the man’s arm before stepping back beside Ben again. “And you, too.”
Ed shook his head. “Weirdest robbery I’ve ever seen.”
Not quite the comment Ben expected. It wasn’t what the other man said. It was what he left out and the steady tone. For a guy who’d come through a crazy situation, Ed seemed ready to head back to work without missing a step.
That made one of them.
“Was this your first?” Ben asked.
“No, but the robbers usually get in and out.” Ed frowned. “What was your name again?”
“Ben Tanner.” He waited for a response, but nothing came. People usually reacted. Very few gave him the blank stare like the one Ed left for him.
There were those who supported Ben and the NCIS outcome and offered something akin to praise. Those who didn’t tended not to need words because their expressions or dismissals were clear, though Ben sometimes heard some awful things from them, too. Amazing how vocal the “anti” crowd always turned out to be.
But this guy showed no reaction. Could mean he skipped the news. That was the most likely scenario, but nothing about this case had fit into a reasonable pattern so far, so Ben filed the information away to chew on later. When he analyzed everything else, he’d look at that, too.
“Nice to meet you.” Ed gave a quick nod and left.
He passed the bigger problem on the way in. “I hate to break this up, but I need to speak with Ms. Raine.”
“Detective Willoughby.” At this point Ben had his own nickname for the guy but he refrained from saying it because he’d probably get arrested.
The detective kept his attention focused solely on Jocelyn. “I would have bet money you were in the middle of this.”
“I came in to pay a bill,” she said.
“There are checks for things like that.”
Ben had had enough of the macho act. Willoughby liked to stand too close and pin people with a dead stare. Two days ago Ben had found the whole routine annoying. Now he was done with all of it.
