Free When I'm With You: Part VII by Beth Kery

stone
,
Dom.
    Clarissa’s past accusation echoed in his head as he gently pulled the fabric of her dress back into place on her shoulder.
    She had a right to be pissed at him. He’d barely spoken with her in a week and a half, he realized guiltily. Robert Elliot, the United States Attorney for the northern district of Illinois, had just handed him those much-sought-after arrest warrants four nights ago designated for several cops in the Chicago Police Department.
    But no matter how good his reasons for doing so, Clarissa wasn’t likely to appreciate him ignoring her for the past ten days only to have him maul her the second he had her to himself.
    He led her into his book-lined study and sat her down on the leather couch.
    “I know I haven’t been able to see you much this week. Tell you what,” he said softly. “Let me go and get out of this monkey suit. I’ll make us a drink and we’ll talk.”
    Her dark eyes swam with tears as she looked up at him. Clarissa was one of the smartest and most successful financial analysts on LaSalle Street. She didn’t cry easily.
    “We’re going to be married in two months, Dom. Why can’t you even admit to me that you’re exhausted? Can’t you show even a shred of vulnerability in front of your future wife?”
    He smiled. “You want me to tell you that I’m exhausted? Okay. I’m about ready to fall flat on my face. I’ve probably slept a total of eight hours in the past week and my eyeballs feel like they’re going to burn through my eyelids. My vision is so blurry that I told the president of the Magellan Club that he needn’t bother with getting me a drink from the bar because another gentleman was already getting me one.”
    “What’s so terrible about that?”
    “That other
gentleman
was his wife.”
    Clarissa’s lips twitched with humor. “You didn’t.”
    Shane shrugged sheepishly.
    “You also told the superintendent of police that you were going to give a nice Liverpool kiss to the next man who ribbed you about being named the ‘Sexiest Man in Chicago’ by
Chicago
magazine. I didn’t understand that you were threatening him until John McNamara explained to me that a Liverpool kiss was a street-fighting technique—a brutal head-to-head blow.”
    “That threat counts for women, too,” Shane said with a mock somber expression. Clarissa grinned.
    “Maybe you should have threatened someone besides the superintendent of police, considering the fact that more than half the city sees you as being responsible for taking away their trust in the Chicago Police Department.”
    Shane’s eyebrows went up at that. “Operation Serve and Protect exists for the sole purpose of returning the public’s trust in the CPD. Jake Moriarity knows that. That’s why he’s backed the FBI’s investigations of CPD corruption one hundred percent.”
    “Are you sure that’s the only motivation behind your mania for this investigation?”
    Shane paused in the process of untying his bow tie. “
Mania
? That’s a bit harsh.”
    Clarissa didn’t break their stare.
    “This case falls directly under several FBI directives for investigation. Christ, we’ve uncovered the largest organized theft ring in known history, one that crosses multiple state lines and is run by public officials. What other motivation do we need?”
    Clarissa looked vaguely uncomfortable at the question but she didn’t look away, nonetheless. “Well . . . there
are
those insinuations that Channel Six News made about your connections to the Vasquez family.”
    Shane rolled his eyes. “I know a quarter of the cops and most of the detectives on the CPD. I not only have worked with dozens of Chicago cops, I call many of them friends . . .
including
Joey Vasquez.”
    “But how many of those cops did you attend elementary school with like you did Joey Vasquez?” Clarissa persisted. “And . . . and that news report said Huey Mays’s wife is Joey Vasquez’s sister and that you’ve known her for