Be With Me(41)

Jesus. If it was about her, Hutch, Sawyer and Cam could stil be targets. Either way the thought of losing them terrified her.

“You know the chief is going to put you on leave indefinitely,” Jeremy said in a low voice.

She grimaced. “Yeah, I know. He’l have to.” And suddenly she didn’t mind quite so much. Her priorities had shifted in short order. While both Jeremy’s and Brett’s theories certainly held water, she couldn’t discount the nagging idea that this was aimed at Hutch and that he or Cam or Sawyer could be next. And if that was the case, she wanted to make damn sure she stayed close to them at al times.

“I’ve put in a cal so we can get some guys over here to dust for prints. Everyone was tied up over at your place,” Brett said to Regina. “Although so far, if it’s the same guy, he’s been careful not to leave any.

I’m hoping like hel that this isn’t human blood.”

“You and me both,” Regina murmured.

“I’m beginning to think they don’t pay us enough to work in this town,” Jeremy said in a weary voice. “I doubt any of us wil ever sit around the station hoping for action again.”

“You’re tel ing me.”

He cracked a grin. “Yeah, I suppose that was bad of me to whine. I mean look at you. You look like something the cat dragged in.” His expression became more serious, and his tone lost the light teasing. “I’m damn glad you’re okay, Regina. That was a close cal .”

She smiled wanly. “Yeah, no shit.” She rubbed a hand through her snarled hair then let it fal to her hip with a smack.

“Let me take you over to the station,” Jeremy said.

“And then I’l come back over to help Brett out here.

I’m pretty sure the chief won’t be happy if he shows up and you’re on scene.”

“Yeah, okay,” she said.

She turned and walked slowly back out of the house, furious that Birdie’s home would be defiled.

This house held so many happy memories for Hutch, Cam and Sawyer. And for her as wel . It had been a home when her own home felt more like a house. A cold, sterile house that people inhabited but no one lived in.

And the idea of anyone doing Birdie harm made her physical y il .

She climbed into Jeremy’s car feeling a hundred years old. She needed a long, hot bath. Preferably one she could soak in for three hours.

He pulled out and headed toward the station, his hands tight around the steering wheel.

“I need you to keep me up-to-date on this case, Jeremy,” she said. “Hutch, Cam and Sawyer are very important to me. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep them safe. I’l be staying out at their house until this blows over. If that f**ker comes near them, he’s dead meat.”

“I’l keep you in the loop,” Jeremy promised. “As soon as we get the scene processed and I bounce our ideas off the chief and Carl, I’l have a better idea of where the investigation is headed. Until then you need to lay low and make sure Hutch does the same.”

“And Birdie,” Regina said softly. “Somehow I need to persuade her that she can’t stay in that house alone until this guy is caught. Whether I’m right about it being about Hutch, or you’re right about it being about me, she’s important to us both and is at risk either way.”

Chapter 16

No sooner had Jeremy pulled up to the police station and Regina gotten out, than she looked up and saw Sawyer striding out of the station, his face as dark as a thunderstorm.

“Uh-oh,” Jeremy murmured as he walked ahead of her. “He doesn’t look too happy.”

Sawyer walked straight past Jeremy, and Regina braced for impact. He didn’t say a word. He yanked her into his arms, tilted her head back and kissed her hard and fierce.

Her gasp of surprise was swal owed up as his mouth moved hungrily over hers. His arms were bands of steel around her back, strong and comforting. Her body softened and melted into his as he possessed her with his lips.

Warm, soothing honey flowed through her veins.

She forgot where they were, lost al sense of time and place. Tongues met. His delved deep, tasting her as she tasted him.

Final y his arms loosened, and his hands swept up her neck and to her jaw before framing her face in his palms. With halting breaths, he pulled slightly away.

His eyes glittered. Need. Fear. Anger. They were al mixed and swirled in the pale blue irises. His fingers stuttered across the gash at her hairline. She could feel him trembling against her.

“Sawyer, I’m okay,” she whispered.

“Reggie, oh my God, Reggie.”

His voice broke as the words spil ed torturously from his lips. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath.

“I could have lost you,” he said hoarsely.

She tilted her chin up so her lips met his. She kissed him. Lightly. Reassuring.

“Regina, what the hel is going on here?” She stiffened as her father’s strident voice intruded. She turned slowly away from Sawyer to see her father standing a few feet away, his face tight with disapproval. Her mother simply stared agape at her and Sawyer.

“Don’t you have any sense of decorum?” he bit out. “The press is going to be crawling al over this place after what happened this morning. If you won’t think of yourself and your position as a police officer, at least have a care as to how your behavior reflects on me.”