Page 88 of Cops and Robbers

Raz couldn’t hide his grin. “Has she said anything else?”

“No, did that whole lock my mouth shut with a mimed key thing. I don’t get her.”

Few people would. But he saw her. A woman who grew up too fast and now treated life as a game. The quality was one he admired in her, especially when the seriousness of life weighed on his shoulders.

“When’s the lawyer getting here?” Regan asked.

The interrogation room’s door opened. Clyde walked in dressed in a full black suit with a briefcase and a large colorful drink that probably had some magical name.

You’ve got to be kidding me. He’s a lawyer too?

“Good morning, Miss Bandit. Here’s the beverage you requested.” He handed it over.

Kate glanced toward the side mirror as if she knew Raz was there.

Raz concentrated on the link that had darkened since he blocked himself from it. His beast glared at him, fire lancing him along his spine. Every fiber of his being shouted for him to drop the shield and catch a glimpse of her feelings and calm his dragon.

He resisted. Knowing how she felt wouldn’t help him if that mountain of her answers proved too treacherous for him to get over.

“If you want a private room where we can talk, I can arrange it,” Clyde said. “Otherwise, I will help with the questioning.”

“That won’t be necessary,” she said and took a sip. “I’m turning myself in, but I want a plea deal for the rest of the trackers on the items I stole.”

Raz’s throat tightened. That may have been what he wanted for her, but the reality that she was facing jail time slammed into him. He needed answers before that happened.

“This chick.” Regan sighed. “I guess I’ll be on the phone with the DA all day.” Placing her hand on his shoulders, she said, “Good work on this case.”

“If you keep saying that, I’m going to expect a trophy.”

Regan chuckled.

As the interrogation commenced, Raz couldn’t help but cling to every word, waiting until the moment when they brought up the Dusted Tuck. And they did. Kate didn’t even skip a beat. She might have been guilty on a polygraph test, but he found her believable when she said it was merely a meeting place for her next heist, and the client had stood her up. It had almost seemed too believable, as if she somehow knew and had planned for it. And something cautiously shimmering inside him wondered if that was why she turned herself in. To protect them.

From then on, he kept his distance from the vixen until they led her away in handcuffs. His heart sat like a piece of stone in his chest. The longer it took to hear her truth, the more he feared resentment at her lies would fester. Too many prying ears made questioning her inside prison out of the question.

Hearing the plea deal gave him hope. If she testified, the court would reduce her charges.

He followed down the hall, watching her hips sway. Confident from head to toe. But hiding her past and insecurities on the inside. The parts she hadn’t fully let him see.

His dragon prowled in his mind, pushy and sullen. I want her too.

He held the note in his pocket tight as officers pushed her into the back of a van. The press shouted and photos snapped. He wanted to go to court with her, hold her hand as the judge decided what to do, but she’d requested a private hearing.

“Got our warrants. Ready to get to work?” Regan asked, clamping a hand on Raz’s shoulder.

His grin felt predatory. “Let’s hunt these frauds down.”

Raz’s headlights flashed over his cabin tucked in the woods. Parking his car off the main path, he heaved a sigh, but every muscle in his body remained tense. His dragon pawed at him, still as insistent as it had been when he started his drive home.

He needed Kate’s truth.

But still, he didn’t know what decision he’d make after she told him. And that tormented him and his dragon. A week had passed since Kate confessed. Even after they brought everyone in on insurance fraud charges, Kate stayed in jail, awaiting her first hearing. It hadn’t gone well.

The judge hadn’t been lenient on her bail bond. It had enough zeros to make Raz’s head spin. No—she’d stay in jail. He pulled the Post-it note from his pocket. Nostrils flaring, he inhaled her sugary aroma.

Damn. He was gone. Hers.

“Fuck.” He pushed open his car door and slammed it. He’d fucked up, waiting to settle his mind from the reminder of his trauma before confronting her.