The Gathering Dusk (Killer Instinct 0.5)(6)

“How did it make you feel?” Cameron asked her.

Her eyes squeezed shut. “I shot him twice. Why did I shoot twice? Why not just once?”

“Maybe you wanted to make sure he was good and dead.” A pause. “Or maybe you liked the way it felt to pull that trigger.”

Her gaze flew open. “I did not enjoy killing him! He was going to fire at me! He would have shot me, killed me. I did what I had to do, I—”

He lifted his glass—now half-empty to show that he’d certainly been drinking his wine—and tapped it against hers. “And there you go.”

She glowered at him. “I hate your mind games.”

“No, you love them. Because I’m the only one who can play these games with you. Just as you’re the only one who can play them with me.” He gave her a smile, one of his rare, real smiles. So much of Cameron was a trick—she’d learned that over the years. His real emotions were often carefully bottled away inside.

Buried deep.

Like hers, Cameron’s past wasn’t pretty. But they’d moved away from the blood and death from their backgrounds. They’d reinvented their lives.

“You were having yourself a pity party.” He took a long sip of the wine. “Unbecoming of someone like you. I was just reminding you of something you already knew, deep down. You didn’t kill for some kind of thrill.”

“Of course not,” she gritted out.

“You didn’t kill because it was easy.”

Her breath caught.

“You did it because you had no choice, so let the guilt go. It’ll wreck you if you don’t. For the record, I’m not sure if I would enjoy you wrecked.”

Her lips curled down. “I know you can be a smooth talker...”

“I don’t have to be smooth with you. You can see me for what I am, can’t you?”

She held his stare. “Yes.” Bright spots and dark.

He nodded. “Now how about you drink that wine? Then you can tell me all about how you worked up that absolutely killer profile.” His smile flashed. “Sure looked as if Bass were having himself one hell of a time on the news. The guy loves a camera. He—”

Her doorbell rang again. The peal seemed to echo through her apartment.

Cameron’s smile vanished. “Didn’t realize you were...seeing someone, Samantha.”

“I’m not.” Dating wasn’t exactly a priority for her. “You’re the only asshole who comes ringing my bell at this hour.”

“Obviously, I’m not.” He put his glass down, and, before she could move away from the counter, he was already marching for the door. “Let’s just see what other asshole is paying you a late-night visit.”

She spun around. It’s Blake. Blake. She knew it with utter certainty. She’d mentioned her new partner to Cameron a time or two, but she hadn’t gone into specific details with him. Normally, she and Cameron talked about everything. But Blake...

It’s private. He’s private. The way she felt about Blake wasn’t something she’d been up to sharing with Cameron. Mostly because she hadn’t wanted him to analyze her.

Ah, there you go, Samantha. Setting yourself up with a man you know you can’t have. That’s so classic of you. It’s a protective instinct, and you know it. You don’t want to risk actually giving your heart to anyone, so you focus on someone you can’t have. Self-destructive. You’ve got to stop that... She could practically hear Cameron’s voice in her head.

And she could see him opening her front door. “Cam, no—”

Too late.

Cameron frowned and said, “Who the hell are you?”

“About to ask the same question,” came Blake’s curt response.

She hurried toward them. Samantha locked her hand around Cameron’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Cameron, this is my partner, Blake Gamble.”

Blake’s gaze was on her hand. On the hand that she realized was clutching Cameron’s shoulder a little too hard. And her partner...he looked pissed.

Samantha swallowed and met his gleaming stare. “Blake, this is my friend, Cameron Latham.”

“Dr. Cameron Latham.”

Her gaze jerked toward him.

Cameron flashed a shark’s grin as he offered his hand to Blake. “The partner... I was wondering about you.”

Oh, shit. She could feel her cheeks burn.

Blake took the offered hand, shook it once. But his attention barely stayed on Cameron for even a moment longer before that gleaming stare was back on her, raking over her body. “Didn’t mean to...interrupt.” Again, pissed was the word that came to mind for her.

“You didn’t.” She pulled her hand away from Cameron’s shoulder. “Cameron saw the news and he came by to check on me.”

“That’s what friends do,” Cameron murmured.

She rolled her eyes at him. Was he baiting Blake? Sure seemed that way. “Come inside, okay?” No sense having this chat in the doorway. She turned, not looking to see if they followed her. “I’d been meaning to introduce you two, anyway.”

Samantha heard the click as the door shut. The floor creaked behind her.

“I realized Samantha was working with a new partner,” Cameron said, “but she was being a bit...reserved with details about you.”