Free Alone in the Dark by Karen Rose Page B

always been.’
    His tension draining away, he leaned in far enough to press his face into the curve of her shoulder while taking care to touch her nowhere else. He breathed in deeply, drawing in her scent. ‘Then let’s go upstairs,’ he whispered. ‘I need you tonight. It’s been too long.’
    She took a step back, coming up short when her ass hit her car door. Bryan remained frozen in place, his back bent, his shoulders hunched.
    ‘I’m sorry, Bryan,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t. I’ve told you this, over and over.’
    ‘Can’t or won’t?’ he asked harshly.
    ‘Either. Both.’
    ‘Why?’ he asked, his whisper barely audible.
    ‘Because even though you haven’t changed, I have.’
    He exhaled, dropped his chin to his chest. ‘Is there someone else?’
    ‘No,’ she said honestly. Not yet. Maybe not ever. She drew a deep breath. ‘But maybe I want there to be.’
    He looked up then, eyes narrowed. ‘But that isn’t me.’
    ‘No.’ She smiled to soften her words. ‘We both know that you’re not forever material.’
    ‘True,’ he murmured. That it hadn’t even seemed to occur to him to deny it made her want to cry. He straightened slowly, studying her. ‘Are you forever material?’
    Tears rose to burn her eyes, because she knew exactly what he was asking. Was she even capable of being some guy’s happily-ever-after? Importantly, could she be Marcus’s happily-ever-after? ‘I don’t know. I’m just as messed up as you are.’
    He was quiet for a long moment and she instinctively knew he was thinking about that day, that horrible, horrible day. The day that had changed their lives so irrevocably. It might as well have been yesterday, the memory was so vividly clear. So much blood. In all the years she’d been a cop, she’d never yet seen another crime scene with so much blood.
    She blinked, startled out of the memory by the feeling of soft fabric touching her face. Bryan held a cotton handkerchief and was using it to dry her wet cheeks. The tears in her eyes had spilled without her realizing it.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.
    She made herself smile. ‘For what?’
    ‘For not being forever material. I wish I could be. But I can’t. Not even for you.’
    Touched, she cupped his cheek. ‘Maybe when you meet the right person it’ll seem easy.’
    Again his eyes narrowed, this time in discovery. ‘You’ve met that person.’ He crossed his arms over his chest, going from wistful to menacing in a heartbeat. ‘Did he hurt you?’
    ‘No. It’s not like that. He’s just . . .’ She sighed. ‘He doesn’t know.’
    ‘Then he’s blind and stupid,’ Bryan declared, and the wicked gleam she knew so well was back in his eyes. ‘I could help you forget him,’ he suggested slyly.
    Scarlett shook her head, more than a little glad that the moment was over. ‘I appreciate your offer to make the sacrifice,’ she said. ‘But the answer is still no.’
    ‘Coffee then?’ he said.
    ‘Sorry, not now. I have a body on its way to the morgue.’
    He frowned, lightly lifting the thin strap of her tank top with his pinkie before letting it snap back against her shoulder. ‘You dress like this while you’re on duty?’
    Her cheeks heated. It was on the skimpy side as tank tops went, baring her shoulders and hugging her curves. Neither her top nor her low-riding jeans were the proper attire of a law enforcement professional. But I didn’t get dressed for work. She’d dressed for Marcus. She thought now about the way his dark eyes had followed her as she’d processed the crime scene. He’d noticed.
    ‘I have a jacket in the car.’ A jacket she’d deliberately left off at the crime scene.
    Bryan’s frown didn’t falter. ‘I thought you were off duty today.’
    Scarlett blinked, then set her jaw. ‘How did you know that?’
    ‘I called your mother last night and asked her,’ he said unapologetically.
    ‘You asked my mother?’ she asked, incredulous at first, then resigned. Her