“That my dad is stuck forever in that chair, and the person who shot him is walking around, living his life, like nothing ever happened. He took my dad’s freedom! He took everything! He should have to pay for that.” A lump of emotion in her throat reduced her voice to a whisper. “He should have to pay.”

“Yes, he should. And I have no doubt that he will, because you won’t give up. You’ll never give up until you find him.” He turned her so they were face to face. “And guess what? He knows that, too. He worries about you. The best detective in this city is on his trail, and he knows it, Sam. I’ll bet it keeps him awake at night.”

She rested her cheek against the hard muscle of Nick’s chest. “It makes me mad.”

“Mad is good.” He held her tight against him. “Mad is motivating.”

“Mad is debilitating.”

“Only if you let it be. Your dad was so proud of you earlier.” Nick’s lips brushed through her hair as he spoke softly to her. “He all but radiated with it, Sam. Watching your sisters pin those bars on your collar, he had tears rolling down his face. That was enough for him today. So maybe it can be enough for us, too. Why don’t we put Clarence Reese on the back burner until tomorrow so you can enjoy tonight? Every cop on duty in this city is out there looking for him, so why don’t you let it go for tonight? You’ve worked so hard to get to this day. Don’t allow anyone to make it less, especially someone who could do what that guy did to his family.”

Begrudgingly, Sam looked up at him. “You’re good.”

His face lifted into the sexy grin that made her bones go weak. “I try.”

“You’re good for me.”

“I want to be.” He pressed his lips to hers and sucked the oxygen right out of her lungs with a soul-stirring, mind-altering kiss that cleared her brain of every thought except the urge to tear the clothes off his body.

“I know you’re bummed about what I told you earlier, about moving in,” she said when they came up for air.

Pressing another kiss to her lips, he said, “I’ll be there whenever you’re ready to join me.”

“It’s not you. I hope you know that. It’s just that I lived with a man, for four years I slept with a man who was capable of trying to blow up both of us, but I never saw that in him. I’m a cop, for Christ’s sake, and not once did I imagine he had that in him.”

“Sam—”

“I know you’re going to say that has nothing to do with you and me, with us.”

“It doesn’t.”