Free Sweet Dreams Boxed Set by Heather Graham, Alex Kava, Brenda Novak, Lee Child, Erica Spindler, Allison Brennan, Theresa Ragan, Carla Neggers, Cynthia Eden, CJ Lyons, Liliana Hart, J.T. Ellison, Tiffany Snow, Jo Robertson Page A

sleep.
    She couldn’t tell Jim she was reporting information about her partner to the FBI. Before she approached Matt Elliott six months ago, she’d asked Jim for advice about what to do about Tommy’s gambling. Jim had told her to ignore it, but she admitted she’d seen him take money from a bust. She was feeling Jim out—if Jim suggested she go to their boss, or IA, she would have done it. Jim had been in the department five years longer than she; everyone liked him. They listened to him, and if he had her back on this, she might have made a different choice. 
    Jim said Tommy’s skimming wasn’t a big deal, that while he’d never do it, a lot of guys did. “You’ll only be ostracized by turning in your partner, Alex,” Jim said. “You know how it is. This is one of those crap things we just have to deal with. You can always talk to me, you know. To get it off your chest. I’m here for you, Baby.”
    He was right, she knew, but it didn’t make his opinion—his morals—any easier to live with and their relationship deteriorated until she couldn’t live with him any more.
    It didn’t help that he accused her of cheating on him.
    “You’re distant and moody. You come home late and can’t look me in the eye and tell me where you’ve been. Who is it, Alex? You and Tommy? You’ve been spending a lot of time with your partner lately. You screwing him behind my back?”
    She and Jim argued a lot, but always made up ... except this time there would be no making up. This time, it had almost come to blows. She wouldn’t be returning, and she didn’t know where to go.
    She’d ended up on Matt Elliott’s front porch. She’d never forget that warm, late June night.
    Alex loved Matt’s house. It was in South Land Park, near the zoo. An older, pre-war craftsman that had been fully restored. Neither big nor small, it was just right.
    She hadn’t realized how late it was when she rang his bell. It was clear she’d woken him up—he wore boxers and nothing else. She barely noticed that he’d come to the door with a gun in hand.
    Concern lit his face. “Alex. What’s wrong?”
    Matt let her in and she realized that it wasn’t just Jim’s cavalier attitude about police corruption that had been bothering her for the last six months. It was the fact that she was half in love with Matt Elliott. Here was a man who was trying to fix the problems in the system, a man who believed in the system the way it was supposed to be. For six months, she’d gone down the very dangerous path of comparing her boyfriend to another man. And her boyfriend was coming up short in far too many ways.
    “Jim and I split up. And—I didn’t want to face my dad tonight. Aiden’s out of town and AJ’s at the station—”
    Matt closed the door behind her. “Does he know?”
    She shook her head. “He thinks I’m cheating on him.”
    “I’m sorry, Alex.”
    She shrugged. “It’s just the excuse. Nothing has been right between us since Jim told me to look the other way. I see him differently than I used to. He’s a good cop, really—he just doesn’t want to make waves in the department.”
    “There are too many cops like that. Even good cops don’t want to rock the boat.”
    Matt seemed to notice he was only in boxers. “Why don’t you sit down? I’m going to grab some clothes.”
    Matt went down the hall and Alex looked around his living room. It was small and functional. She’d been here a few times; this was where she’d first met FBI Agent Dean Hooper when Matt brought them together to discuss Tommy Cordell and his potential connection to Russian organized crime. Hooper had given her a crash course on how the Russian mob worked and the major crimes they were involved in, and why it was so hard to make a case. They’d sat here, in this room, for hours.
    She walked through the dining room which Matt used more as an office. Files and papers were spread on the square table. She didn’t want to pry, so went through to