Into the Night(63)
Bowen should have been completely benched after the Zale shooting, yet he’d been right in the thick of things with her, and she’d been grateful to have him there.
She always felt better when Bowen was closer. Safer. Stronger.
She’d made the decision to wound Peter, not kill him. But what if that had been the wrong decision? What if he’d fired back at her? Or at Bowen?
“Why go after Haddox?” Bowen wondered. “After Remus? If Peter is our perp, why would he go after such big game?”
“We’ll be asking him that question,” Macey said as she finally pulled free of the traffic and headed toward the giant, gaping tunnel that had been carved right through the mountain itself. The SUV shot into that tunnel. “We’ve got him in custody. He’s not going anywhere. We’ll find out the truth about him.”
She risked a glance to her right and found Bowen staring straight at her. She shivered.
“You were supposed to stay outside,” Macey said.
“Fuck that. I heard the gunshot blast. You were in there.”
He said the words...like I matter. But then, they were partners. Partners mattered. “It’s good to have a partner like you on my side.”
The tension in the vehicle seemed to deepen. “Macey.” Her name was a growl. “I think we need to get a few things straight.”
He sounded angry.
“There’s a pullover right after the tunnel. Park there,” he said.
She knew the spot. There were plenty of places like it in the Smokies. Spots to stop and take pictures. To see the streams. The wildlife.
“Pull over, Macey.”
She eased off the road. She shifted into Park and turned toward him. The light from the dashboard provided a bit of illumination so that she could see his face.
“We’re not just partners.”
Her breath slid out. “Right. Everyone knows now, don’t they? They have to know that we slept together because he was watching—”
His hand curled beneath her chin. “It’s not just sleeping together. Not just fucking. At least, that’s not what it has been to me.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. “Bowen?”
“I’ve wanted you for a long time, Mace.” Her nickname rolled off his tongue and seemed to chase some of the chill from her body. “But I didn’t want to scare you. I know you were hurting.”
Damaged. She stiffened.
“Don’t.” He seemed to bite the word off. “Don’t tense up, not with me. Don’t block me the way you do everyone else. I don’t need your mask or your shield. I need you.”
Macey couldn’t look away from him.
“You’re not my secret. Having you in my bed isn’t something I want to hide from the world. I want you, Macey. I want you at my side. With me. And I didn’t fucking run into that building just because you were my partner. I did it because I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.”
He leaned toward her.
“I wish I could take all of your pain away, Macey. I wish that I could have been the one to stop Haddox. I wanted to make him pay for what he did to you. I never want you to hurt again, and if I have my way, you won’t.”
She wanted to kiss him. His mouth was close to hers and the adrenaline rode her hard. She wanted to throw her hands around him and hold on tight. Don’t let go. Don’t.
“That’s how I feel,” Bowen rasped. “Now you need to figure out how you feel. The case will end. We’ll go back to our lives. What do you want that to be like?”
He was putting the choice in her hands.
Need and fear clawed within her. “Bowen...”
He kissed her. Her mouth was open and his tongue slid right past her lips. Her hands flew up and locked around his shoulders, holding him as tight as she’d wanted moments before. Holding him as if she would never let go.
There was desperation in the kiss. Passion. Raw need. She wanted to let go—to finally just let all of her emotions go and be with him.
Bowen pulled back. “Your choice, Mace.”
Her breath was coming too fast and hard.
“In the end,” he said, “it’s always going to be about you.”
*
THE MURDERING BASTARD wasn’t dead.
The crowd was still thick in front of the museum. People twisting their necks and whispering about the crime that had happened. Or what they thought had occurred.
Peter Carter had been taken away. Not in a body bag.
In a freaking ambulance. He’d been moaning and spouting about his innocence the whole time.
Peter should have been dead. The feds should have gone in there and shot him. The scene had been set. And Peter...the fool would have been armed. He’d found all of the evidence, all of the videos, everything on his computer. The guy should have panicked. He should have attacked.
And then the feds should have taken him out. Every move had been planned perfectly and he’d been promised this ending.
What went wrong? Because something had.
Now Peter Carter was alive. He was in a hospital, not on a slab in the morgue. And that wouldn’t work.
Not at all.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE LIGHTS GLEAMED in the hospital and Bowen’s shoes squeaked as he strode over the freshly polished floor. A nurse glanced up at him and Bowen flashed his badge. “Agents Murphy and Night to see Dr. McKinley.”