“I’m not doing it for you—I’m doing it because you were an asset, especially since my team was so thin. By this time next month I’ll be fully staffed.”

“You have a good thing going here,” she said. “I can see the value.” She smiled at him and spontaneously kissed him. “And you’ve convinced me that not all feds are pricks.”

“I saved the entire profession.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” she said.

He wanted her again. That one kiss when he thought they were done was not enough. He wanted more. “I can take a day off—we earned it. Maybe go skiing. Take a night up at Mount Spokane. I heard they have a nice resort. One night to unwind.” He rubbed his palm against hers. She felt the jolt, just like he did. “What do you say? Nothing is better than fresh powder.” He paused. “You ski, don’t you?”

“I’m pretty good.”

He suspected that was an understatement. “So? We both deserve a night off. A little skiing, good food, great sex.” He kissed her, but she averted her head.

“I’m leaving tonight.”

“It’s not the fifteenth.”

“I can’t stay here. I need to fix what’s broken in LA.”

“Just one more day?” He hated to plead with her, but dammit, he’d earned a night with her. A night when there wasn’t a killer stalking cops.

“There’s a lot going on with my department, with my case. You have a job, I have a job.”

Matt knew that Kara was right, and neither of them were in a position to have a relationship.

He didn’t want it to end like this. “Maybe I want to go away for a night because I like morning sex.”

“All men like sex in the morning. And afternoon. And evening. And—”

“Maybe it’s more dependent on who we’re having sex with than most women think.”

“How ’bout this? Stop talking.”

“Kara—”

“And I’ll let you know when I can get away for a couple of days and if you can get away for those same couple of days, maybe we can spend them together. Besides, you promised to teach me to scuba dive.”

“I did?”

“Not in so many words.” She smiled. “Deal?”

Matt had a feeling this was as close as Kara would allow him to get. And she was right—they both needed to get back to work.

Though he really, really wanted twenty-four hours alone with her. Just the two of them. No case, no violence, no clothes.

Instead, he said, “You’re right.”

“I usually am.”

52

Saturday, March 13
Los Angeles, California
8:00 a.m.

Kara arrived back in LA the previous night, leaving Spokane right after Andy’s funeral. She did everything she could not to go into the office straight from the airport. Instead, she went home to her condo in Santa Monica, both hating and loving the traffic. Hating it because who the hell liked all the people and sitting on the freeway for hours? But loving it because it was familiar.