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“Her pet?” He comes to a screeching stop and furrows his brows. “Shewantsa pet?”
Aubree wrinkles her nose and jerks her head side-to-side. “No. But she rarely knows what she wants. Sometimes, we have to make those decisions for her.” Sticking her foot forward, she twists it and shows off a glittering chain that hits me in the stomach like a feather filled sledgehammer. “That’s how she accepted me as her best friend.”
“Under duress,” he chuckles, turning on his heels and continuing toward the elevator. “Noted. I’ll stay on my floor then, until the cussing dies down.”
“She only cusses when we screw up.” Bringing her sky-blue stare my way, she flashes a wide grin. “Don’t screw up. And definitely don’t leave a live body inside the fridge. Chief Mayet gets real sensitive about that stuff.”
“Doctor Emeri!” Minka charges from her office with her sexy, white coat flapping from the speed that she moves, her phone and keys in hand already. “Tour’s over. We got a case.”
“Oh!” Aubree’s energy spikes, excitement and anticipation as she takes off like a shot. But she swings back, remembering her pet, and grabs my hand. “You can come too. But you can’t touch anything.”
“O-okay!” I ignore the mild discomfort in my thigh when she makes us practically run toward the elevator. It’s easy to do, when exhilaration beats in my veins.
“You don’t need to come.” Mayet smacks the elevator call button and glances up to watch the numbers above the doors light up. “If you can’t touch, you can’t document, you can’t work, and therefore, you become dead weight, then perhaps you could stay here and read over case files.”
“I invited her,” Aubree grumbles. “She has a paper to write, Chief, and a hankering to learn.”
“Ahankering?” Mayet brings her chocolate brown eyes down, but at least she points them at herbest friend, and not at me. “What the hell does hankering even mean? It’s not a real word.”
“It’s totally a word.” Aubree taps the toes of her high tops to the floor,tap-tap-tapas the elevator moves from the lobby floor up past the first, second, third, and fourth. “To hanker, is to have a strong desire for something.”
“Yeah?”Fifth floor. Sixth. Seventh.“Well, I hanker for you to be quiet.”
“I mean…” Grumbling, Aubree casts an eye to the numbers.Eighth floor. “I guess, in the most technical sense, you’ve used the word correctly. Though I’ll note: you make it sound weird.”
The elevator dings on our level and draws my eyes, my heart in my throat at the thought of going to a real-life homicide scene. To a real death where we get to help whoever was left behind.
But when the doors open and reveal a familiar face, I take a step back and gulp.
“Oh, Doctors.” Detective Drake Banks steps out in his usual jeans, button-up shirt, two heavy guns strapped to his chest, and the smile that had my heart from the very first time I saw it. “I was just coming to find you.”
“Yeah?” Minka presses her hand to the center of his chest and pushes him back into the elevator. “Talk while we move. We have a case to get to.”
“I know.” He reaches out and snags my hand, yanking me into the elevator so the fronts of my shoes stop against the toes of his, my chest crashes to his, and my pulse skitters as I look up into perfect, green eyes. “I’m your primary today. Transfer was made official this morning.”
“It was?” My stomach jumps with nerves as the doors shut and we begin our descent. With happiness. With wonder and excitement for the future we’re working toward. “The captain accepted it?”
“Yeah.” Cupping my cheek, with complete disregard for my future boss—maybe—Drake bends his neck and comes closer. Closer. Closer to me until I feel his breath on my lips. “Still waiting to see who I’ll get for a partner. But I don’t need one to run this case, so Malone tossed it to me.” He lowers some more and presses his lips to mine, stealing the breath from my lungs and my will to live, if not with him. “He said Doctor Mayet gets testy about kissing on the job. And that if I’m gonna do it, I gotta do it in the elevator.”
“Yeah. But the ride’s over.” The doors slide open in the garage I once walked with Drake, but Mayet grabs my wrist and yanks me around until I almost trip on my own feet. “Between the hours of eight till six, she’s mine. Not yours. Get in the car.” She slingshots me toward an old, beat-up sedan and turns, because Drake follows us with a goofy grin plastered across his lips. “She’s mine inside this building. Now go work your case. If we get there before you, you’ve already failed.”
* * *
