Juliet had eyes only for Evan. “Hey.” Her voice was raspy, strained from the vomiting.
Evan smiled and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Hey, gorgeous.”
Sawyer slapped him on the back. “Congrats, man. First time I’ve seen a declaration of undying love cause a woman to puke her guts out. Impressive.”
Evan smiled, but didn’t take his eyes from Juliet.
“You want to tell me exactly what’s going on with you two?” Sawyer asked.
“We’ll give you guys a minute.” Dylan cut Sawyer off. “Go call this in. Get Jules a real blanket.” He grabbed his younger brother and start pulling him away, despite Sawyer’s indignant responses.
All Evan wanted to do was look at Juliet. To touch her. To know she was alive.
“I heard you, you know,” she croaked. “So did my brothers. No going back now, because I love you, too. You’re stuck with me.”
Relief flooded Evan, chasing away every last bit of panic. Juliet loved him the way he loved her.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He took her hand in his. “You’re still wearing Lisa Sinclair’s wedding band, you know.”
“Yeah, I didn’t have a chance to take it off.”
“How about if we get a set that’s yours and mine, rather than Lisa and Bob’s?”
Juliet smiled even though she was shivering. “You’ve got yourself a deal. Although I’m going to make you propose again, properly this time, once you get me a ring.”
She started to sit up, so Evan helped her. “That would be my pleasure.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“But we’ll still get to be Lisa and Bob in the future, right? I want to take Vince Cady down,” Juliet told him from against his chest. A worried note came into her voice. “Do you think we’ve ruined everything with the case? Christopher’s dead, right?”
“Don’t worry. You and I won’t even be placed at the scene by the time the report gets back to Vince Cady. Bob and Lisa will have their chance to make sure Cady goes down.”
“Good. I’m ready, not so scared anymore.”
Evan kissed her forehead. “There will be times when we’re both scared, but we’ll face it together. You and I make a pretty good team.”
“Both on cases and off.” She pulled his arms more securely around her.
Neither of them had any doubts about it.
* * * * *
TCD team member Aria Calletti is determined to find out why women are turning up dead. The newest victim’s half-brother, Grayson Rhodes, has sacrificed everything to find his half-sister and her son. But can a civilian and a new agent take down a drug kingpin?
Read on for a sneak preview of
ROOKIE INSTINCTS by Carol Ericson.
CHAPTER ONE
Humming off-key, Aria punched the elevator button with her knuckle and then wiped her clammy palms on the thighs of her black slacks. When the doors whispered open, she stepped inside the car and released a breath as she stared at her mottled reflection on the elevator doors.
She slid her finger beneath the elastic band that held her hair back and pulled it out. She shook her head to loosen the strands over her shoulders. The ponytail begged, Take me seriously. She didn’t need props to get that message across to her coworkers.
She shrugged out of her black wool coat, leaving the purple scarf twined around her neck. Squaring her shoulders, she said aloud, “Oh, the scarf? Too busy to notice I still had it on.”
She snorted and unwound the scarf, leaving two purple-fringed ends hanging to her waist. The elevator dinged and she stood at attention until the doors opened on the seventh floor.
Hiking her laptop case on her shoulder, she strode down the hallway to the conference room, the heels of her black boots clicking on the floor in a steady, confident beat.
The door to the conference room yawned open on a large space with a gleaming, oval table in the center and two large video screens on either side of the room. A smaller desk hunched in the corner, overflowing with a laptop, an abundance of cords and a variety of AV equipment. The only other person in the room, a curvaceous bottled-blonde with a colorful clip in her hair, hovered over the computer. With a flash of red lipstick, she gave Aria a quick smile and a wink and returned to her work.
Director Alana Suzuki, smart in a navy pantsuit with a snowy-white blouse, barreled through the door. “You made it.” She thrust out her hand to Aria, her eyes gleaming behind translucent-framed glasses. “Welcome aboard. I’ll do the introductions when everyone gets here. Take any seat around the table.”
“Director Suzuki.” Aria gripped the older woman’s hand, giving as good as she got. “Glad to be here.”
“Alana, please.” She ran a hand through her short black hair, unapologetically peppered with gray. “We’re an informal bunch here.”
The woman tapping away at the computer called out. “Uh, you might want to revise the invitation to take any seat. There’s no assigned seating, but everyone always claims the same spot. Habit or security.”
Alana waved her hand at the other woman. “Don’t pay any attention to Opaline. She’s our tech guru and her mind works in mysterious ways. Opaline, this is our new team member, Aria Calletti. Aria, Opaline Lopez.”
Opaline raised her hand and wiggled her fingers, her long nails matching the red of her lips.
Aria cleared her throat. “Nice to meet you.”
With Opaline’s words about the seating hanging in the air, Aria folded her arms across her bag and wedged a shoulder against the wall. She didn’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers on her first day.
As long as you played by the rules, went by the book, you’d fit in. She’d discovered that as a beat cop on the mean streets of Detroit. Go along, get along and do your job.
The other team members started to
