Free Blood-Bonded by Force by Tracy Tappan Page B

script, using someone else’s words. John didn’t see any point in worrying her.
    Dumping the broken remnants of his mug into the trash, he put away the dustpan and broom just as someone knocked. He crossed his living room, frowning at his watch. It was midnight. Squinting through the peephole, he saw— Ria ? He opened the door. “Hey.”
    It’d been a couple of years since Ria Mendoza had darkened his doorstep, so to speak. These days he saw her only through work. She was a prosecutor and he was a detective, so their paths crossed at the courthouse with the shared mission of trying to put away bad guys. Although even those encounters had become few and far between now that John worked exclusively night shifts.
    “Hi, John,” Ria said, her voice that kind of hoarse women got after they’d been crying. “I hope it’s not too late to come by.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” He stepped back. “Come on in.”
    Petite, with dainty features and soulful brown eyes, Ria didn’t look at all like the Amazon warrior she actually was in the courtroom. Walking inside, she hesitated beside his couch, blinking for a moment, probably letting her vision adjust.
    He kept his apartment dim these days. Maybe a sign of oncoming depression?
    “I’m sorry, I…” Ria faltered. “I don’t mean to bother you, John, but I’m really worried about my sister and I heard your unit was given her case.” She glanced over his shoulder at the photos on his kitchen table. “Have you…made any progress, yet?”
    “No, not much, sorry. But it’s only the first day.” He headed into his kitchen. “You want some coffee?”
    “Oh.” Ria followed. “No, thanks.”
    Maybe not him, either. “No news from your end? No ransom demand?” He’d planned to question her tomorrow, but…she was here now about her sister, and the first twenty-four hours of a missing person case were the most crucial, so why not?
    “No.” Ria’s eyes shifted down and to the left.
    He nodded noncommittally and blanked his expression in reaction to her tell. Now why would Ria lie to him?
    “Do you have any wine?” she asked.
    “I think so.” He went to his refrigerator and pulled out the bottle he found there. “White okay?” He didn’t drink it himself, but his partner, Pablo, liked it.
    “That’s fine.”
    “Can you think of anyone who might want to have leverage over you?” he asked her as he found a goblet in his cupboard. “Are you working on a case like that?”
    “No.” Her tone was firm and straightforward: the truth.
    He poured. “So you have no idea why anyone would want to take your sister?”
    “No. None.” Her eyes shifted again. Back to lying .
    Weird and weirder . It made absolutely no sense for her to hide facts from him. Without all the information, his ability to solve this case would be impaired. Unless… “Ria, are you being threatened? Because it feels like…no offense…but I get the sense you’re not telling me the entire truth.”
    Her cheeks flushed. “No, I… John, the truth is I’m also here because I don’t want to be alone right now, and… There’s no other man in my life, but…I don’t want to make things awkward between us, you know?”
    He nodded again, once more putting a bunch of meaninglessness into the gesture. The history between him and Ria could account for her strange behavior. But also, maybe not. He smiled reassuringly, anyway. He knew enough about interrogating witnesses to back off; badgering a scared woman wouldn’t get him anywhere. “Well, hey, you and I are still friends, aren’t—?”
    She was against his body in an instant, her arms tightly wrapped around his waist, her face buried in his chest.
    He hesitated with a mental um for about half a second, then did the natural thing and put his arms around her. He’d meant only to give her a comforting hug, but the act of embracing her pressed her feminine body close to his, and he flooded with heat. She felt so warm and supple, and if