“I know.” She smiled at Brandon, noting his crisp white dress shirt. Usually by noon, he’d rolled up his sleeves. Looking him over closely, she noticed his hair was slightly damp.

She narrowed her gaze. “Did you just shower?”

“Yeah, actually. I had to run home to change.”

“You guys catch a bad case last night?”

“No.” He looked at her. “It was your case, actually.”

She halted.

He turned to look at her, his eyes dark and serious, and her stomach filled with dread.

“The DEA set up a drug buy this morning with Michael Lloyd and one of their CIs,” he said. “They took him down.”

“You mean—”

“He’s in custody.”

Leigh’s heart stuttered. She stared up at him.

“Hey.” He guided her out of the traffic flow toward the side of the building. “You okay?”

“Yeah. You mean he’s . . .”

“He’s behind bars. Which is where he’ll be staying because he’s a definite flight risk.”

Leigh didn’t know what to say. Brandon slid his arms around her and pulled her against his warm chest.

“I can’t believe it. What happened?” She eased back to look at him.

“They set up a sting op in a park.” He smiled. “I wish you could have watched. The arresting agent was a woman. You would have loved it.”

She wrapped her arms around him and felt him wince.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

He made a face. “Just a little road burn. Lloyd tried to flee the scene and I tackled him.”

“Why did you tackle him? I thought the feds were doing it.”

“Yeah, well, it was a joint effort.”

“Are you—”

“I’m fine. Just a ruined shirt, that’s all.”

Cautiously, Leigh slid her hand over his shoulder and cupped her fingers against his neck. Her heart thrummed wildly, and she searched his face to see what he was leaving out. But he just smiled down at her.

Michael Lloyd was behind bars. As was his brother. For five weeks, she’d been in a state of anxiety, tossing and turning at night and constantly looking over her shoulder whenever she was in public.

Brandon kissed her forehead. “Don’t look like that.”

“Is he really in custody?”

“He’s really in custody.”

He kissed her mouth.

Leigh slid her hands behind his neck and pulled him down for a better kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him as it went on and on, with the cold air gusting around them.

He eased away. “Let’s go home.”

She gazed up at those simmering brown eyes. It was a look she’d come to know and love.

“Come on,” he said. “I can’t kiss you here.”

She glanced around, aware of the attention they were attracting from bystanders.

“You are kissing me here,” she pointed out.

“I can’t kiss you here the way I want to.”