“What?” Aidan took two fistfuls of cookies and plopped himself down next to Zach, peering at the laptop. “Trying to link them.” He nodded. “Hey, maybe if you-”
“Aidan.”
“Huh?”
He had to laugh. “I was sort of in the middle of something with Brooke.”
Aidan blinked. “Oh. You mean…” He pointed a finger at himself. “You wanted me to leave you two alone?”
“Man, you are quick.”
“I thought you two already knocked it out.”
Zach winced, and Aidan sat back. “Wow.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, it’s something.”
“Okay. You’re falling for her.”
The door burst open again and Brooke stood there looking more than a little ruffled.
Aidan got to his feet. “Apparently I’m supposed to leave you two alone.”
Zach rolled his eyes.
Brooke just kept staring at him until Aidan was gone. “Did you know everybody is talking about us? Why is everyone talking about us? It feels like we’re twelve and in middle school.”
“Since there’s sex involved, let’s call it high school. Ignore it. It’ll blow over.”
She glared at him. He couldn’t help it; he laughed. “It will.”
“You’re not bothered at all?” she asked.
“I’m just saying it’s what they do. Seriously, it’ll all fade away if you just-”
“Yeah, yeah. Let it go. But maybe I’m not like you, all cool and calm and so laid-back that I have to be checked for a pulse.”
Before he could say anything to that, she sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair. I guess I’m still having bad new-kid flashbacks.”
He moved toward her and lowered her hands from her face. “We’re adults, and we made a decision. A decision that turned out to be the best night of my entire summer. Don’t regret it, Brooke. Please don’t.”
As she looked at him, her eyes softened. Her body softened, too, and she nodded. “It was nice, wasn’t it?”
“Nice?” He shook his head. “Nice is a walk in the park. Nice is a sweet goodbye kiss. Nice is a lot of things, Brooke, but it doesn’t come even close to covering what we did on that rock.”
“Okay, so maybe nice isn’t quite the right word. How about good? Do you like that word better?”
He looked into her eyes. Beyond the irritation was a light that said she was playing with him now, but he’d show her good. Backing her to the refrigerator, Zach covered her mouth with his, swallowing her little gasp of surprise, a gasp that quickly turned into the hottest murmur of undeniable need and hunger he’d ever heard when his tongue swept alongside hers.
And though he’d meant only to show her up, he ended up showing himself something. That she fit against him as if she’d been made for the spot. That her scent filling his head, and the feel of her hands fisting in his shirt fueled his hunger as she sighed into his mouth, until it became so damn arousing he couldn’t bear it. Pulling back, he stroked a hand down her body and felt her knees buckle.
His own weren’t so steady, either, but a fierce sense of satisfaction went through him. Still holding her between the refrigerator and his own hard, aching body, he looked down into her face. “Tell me again that that was merely good. I dare you.”
“Okay.” She licked her lips, an action that didn’t help calm him down any. “Does shockingly incredible work for you, Officer Hottie?”
He rolled his eyes but could admit that yeah, shockingly incredible worked far better. “So what now?”
“The million-dollar question, Zach? From you? Really?”
He found himself staring at her. Holy shit, had he actually asked, “What now?”
“Yeah,” she said into the charged silence. “That’s what I thought. There’s nothing now. Both of us know it. We just have to remember it.”
Later that day, after having been out for hours on a series of nonemergency transport calls, Dustin and Brooke were directed to a familiar address for another Code Calico.
“How about you take it this time,” Brooke said to Dustin.
He looked amused. “You catch on quick.”
“I try.”
“You’re trying a lot of things lately. Or people. What?” he said innocently when she sent him a long look. “Just wondering about the status.”
“I’m not asking you the status of your love life.”
“Ha!” He grinned victoriously. “So you admit there is a love life.”
They arrived on scene, mercifully saving Brooke from having to answer, since she didn’t know the answer. The truth was, she no longer knew anything at all about what she and Zach were doing. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, she craned her neck, searching the three large trees out in front of Phyllis’s place for the cat.
No Cecile in sight.
“Dustin,” she said, watching as Aidan and Zach pulled up, moving with steady purpose toward the house, not the yard. “What’s going on?”
Dustin put the radio mic back in its place, his expression suddenly serious. “It’s not Cecile after all. Grab your bag.”
For a split second, she stared at his back as he headed to the front door, then grabbed her bag and ran after him.
Inside the house, the shades were drawn, but she could still see well enough. As her grandmother’s place had been, the house was filled to the brim with furniture from another era, upon which knickknacks covered every inch. But there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere, even the wood floors had been shined.
“In here!”
She and Dustin followed Zach’s voice down a hallway, its walls hidden by photographs from at least five decades, to a bedroom filled completely with lace. In the center, on the floor, lay Phyllis. Far too still at her feet sat Cecile, gaze glued to her mistress, tail twitching.
Zach was kneeling at Phyllis’s side, holding her hand, saying something to her.
Phyllis, eyes closed, responded with a nod. “Yes, Zachie, I can hear you. Tell Cecile I’m okay. She’s worried.”
“Phyllis, about your meds.” Zach spoke calmly, evenly, any personal concern well tucked away, but Brooke could see it in his eyes. “Did you forget to take them?”
“No, I took my damn pills. You hound me enough about it, I don’t forget.”
“Okay, good.” Zach squeezed her hand. “That’s good.”
Dustin moved in and crouched at her other side, and began taking vitals. Brooke recorded everything, all the while watching Zach be so sweet and gentle and kind.
Why she was surprised, she had no idea. She’d seen him in action before, with many victims by now, and he was always sweet and gentle and kind.
He’d been nothing but those things with her, as well.
And once, on a rock beneath a star littered sky, he’d been much, much more…
When it was determined that Phyllis had to be transported to the hospital, Zach helped get her on a gurney, where the older woman began to panic. “I can’t leave. What about Cecile?” Reaching out, she gripped Zach’s shirt with an iron fist. “I don’t want to go!”
“Phyllis.” Zach took both her hands in his. “Your doctor wants you to meet him at the hospital. He wants to stabilize your condition-”
“Condition shmondition. I don’t have time for him. I’m fine. Completely fine, I’m telling you.”
