“Roger that.”

26

Liberty Lake
7:30 a.m.

Kara walked into Liberty Lake Police Department only minutes after Andy. She knew when he’d arrived because she’d waited until he showed up before she came in. The office wasn’t technically open until eight, but she’d received Matt’s memo and called Andy, who said he’d be there early.

Last night was fun, and she wouldn’t mind sharing Agent Costa’s bed another night or two before she returned to LA. She suspected, however, that there was something else going on with him—something that might move past the let’s have fun for a few nights.

He was intense about everything he did—the job, conversation, sex.

All good, because having 100 percent of his focus on her personal enjoyment was just fine. She didn’t do relationships; it wasn’t in her skill set. Plus, she had a job in LA and she was itching to get back to it. Needed to get back to it.

So what if the hot Cuban Agent Mathias Costa interested her? So what if he was hunky and smart? He was an alpha male trying very hard, and failing, to be a beta—the way he kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to go to bed... Yeah, she was sure—she voluntarily went to his hotel room. She put her hands down his pants. Finally, she had to tease him a bit so he would let go of propriety—and then wow.

Yeah, she wanted another night or three.

But sex was sex, and just because she enjoyed it—and enjoyed it in particular with Matt Costa—didn’t mean there was a future, and that was A-OK with her. She was hardly relationship material, and she was pretty certain Costa would disapprove of many of her undercover activities. Plus, his intensity struck her as real, but he was also a bit of a player. He certainly had plenty of experience, and absolutely knew exactly how to set off her libido.

None of that meant that if he had time off, and she had time off, that maybe they should share time off down the road. The whole friends with benefits thing had worked well for her in the past.

“You look worried,” she said to Andy as he made a pot of coffee.

“I became a cop fifteen years ago.”

“That’s why I’m going to stick to you like glue.”

He didn’t so much as crack a smile.

“I don’t know what I could have done.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I read the memo. The killer feels that Banks and Marston hurt him in some way. Maybe they did. Maybe I did something and didn’t realize it. Arrested an innocent man. Said the wrong thing at a traffic stop.”

Kara put her hands up in the time-out gesture. “Whoa. Stop. Don’t even go there. You are straight up one of the most honest cops I’ve met in my life. I’m a damn good judge of character, Andy, and you are an all-around good guy. You did nothing wrong. Got it?”