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A soft palm slid into his hand, and it dissolved all the pent-up energy he’d been dealing with since his friends had become the focus of the most intense and significant case of his career.
Noelle pulled at his hand until he yielded and followed. He drove them to the station, and this late at night, the main door was the most comfortable access, but when they were about to turn the corner to cross the bullpen, he discovered it was anything but empty.
Brandon just had time to turn around and signal Noelle to remain silent.
Tense, she held on to his back, but this particular situation wasn’t dangerous, just embarrassing. Brandon winked and just let her peek around him, and he was glad the noise drowned her small gasp. Reinhard Reeker was banging a pale blonde woman. Reeker had only unfastened his pants, but the lady was naked from the waist down, her skirt bunched up, her breasts plastered on Brandon’s desk. With the curtain of hair hiding her face, it was impossible to identify her. Reeker was fucking a woman over his desk! Where was the man he’d known when he was a teenager, playing football and surfing with his son? He didn’t recognize the man he was now.
If he hadn’t been with Noelle, Brandon would’ve made himself known. However, diplomatically speaking, nothing good could come out of a confrontation. If Reeker were indeed the department’s troublemaker, it was ill-advised to let him know he’d been caught.
Instead, they turned their backs from a sight Brandon hoped to never lay eyes on again and took a detour to the lab.
“What was that? What kind of sick game is he playing? Before you use your desk, I’d suggest disinfecting it. Hell, it’s probably better to just burn the thing.”
Brandon was already thinking about trading desks with Callan. “We’re in the middle of the night shift, and countless officers are in the field, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be back. What he’s doing is reckless and unprofessional. Why would he do that? I swear the man I knew in California was a dedicated, professional cop.”
Noelle switched on the lights in the lab. “People change, but I think deep down, they remain the same. I doubt anyone can change their primal essence.”
Brandon shook his head, not convinced. “I swear he wasn’t the man you just saw, the man who bullies you and your friends. He was normal. A normal, single dad.”
Noelle, the scientist, was busy examining the multitude of machines but wasn’t distracted. “Single dad?”
“Yeah, Damian’s mom died from cancer just as he turned eighteen. I remember it well because Damian spent a lot of time at my place. Home became too heavy for him to stay there, so he practically became a permanent feature in our guest bedroom. My parents loved Damian.”
Like every time he thought about his friend, the memories clogged his throat, so much so he didn’t notice Noelle approaching.
“And you loved him. What happened to him? You told me he’s no longer with us but you were pretty vague about the circumstances of his death. You were in the Army together, right?”
Brandon didn’t look up at her face and instead focused on her fingers playing with his. Her hand looked so fair and pale compared to his big paw, but he loved that she initiated the contact, coming to him on her own accord. He knew firsthand how rare and precious a genuine and sincere connection was.
“I was more a surfer than a soldier. Damian was good on the waves, but he loved football more. My dad thought the waves were a distraction, so he told me if I wanted to have time on the water, I’d better make time for school and the game. He believed because of my size, I had a chance at a scholarship if I put my mind into it.”
Her fingers laced with his. “Let me guess, your mind was elsewhere?”
The smile in her voice made him look down and lose himself in the perfect beauty of her face. With his free hand, he twirled a long strand of her hair around his finger. “I was more a man of action than a bookworm, and even if my grades weren’t catastrophic, they were far from worthy of a scholarship. On the other hand, Damien had the brains and a good chance of beingrecruited by the big boys. Me, I was biding my time until I could go to the beach.”
“It’s easy to picture you as a sun god running in the sand with a horde of bikini beauties chasing you at sunset.”
At that, Brandon couldn’t help but chuckle, and that alone lightened his twisted stomach. “No bikini beauties for me. Even though I was tall and blond, I lacked bulk. Football helped a bit, but it was the Army who turned me into a man, both in body and mind.”
“Tell me why you enlisted. From beach bum to soldier, that’s a big step.”
Brandon sighed. He knew he was about to reveal one of the most painful memories of his life. He didn’t know why, but the simple contact, their joined hands, gave him the courage he never thought he had to say the words, to relive a chapter of his life he regretted so damn much. Still, he hesitated. “Don’t you have to check those machines and see if there are any results yet?”
Noelle pressed her other hand flat on his sternum, where his heart ached even more. The way her midnight eyes shone with compassion Brandon knew he couldn’t refuse her anything. How had this woman filled every crack of his soul so fast?
“And you’re stalling. You don’t have to tell me anything, you know? Just don’t stonewall me.” Her nose did this adorable wiggle of disgust as she spoke. All he wanted to do was kiss it. “I come from a family who didn’t care what I did or said, and it hurt to no end. I had to work my ass off over the years to overcome that, and I won’t tolerate it, even if you do have a sexy ass.”
It was tempting to tease her more, but he could see the pain on her face. “It seems I’m not the only one with deep, dark secrets.”
As the corner of her mouth quirked up, he couldn’t help but dip in for a taste. However, even the machines were plottingagainst him when an insistent beeping started from behind them.
At his frustrated groan, Noelle shook her head with a smile and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning away.
“We’ll resume this conversation later. Right, Lieutenant?”
No doubt that they would. Strangely enough, he wanted to tell her, which was terrifying on its own. Before Brandon could ponder that, Noelle shook her head and plopped in front of her computer, typing like fury. Words poured out of her mouth in what he was sure was a mixture of French curses and exclamations.
Curiosity made him slide behind her and look over her shoulder, but the column of numbers didn’t clue him in on what had triggered her. “Care to fill your partner in?”
