Free Hot in the City by Samantha Hunter

he
would
do his job, even if he didn’t like it. Most of all, he didn’t let his friend see his resistance to letting anyone else investigate or interrogate Della, and he swallowed his own fear that she might be involved with Derian.
    “I’ll get into her house again, when she’s not home—plant some surveillance, monitor her visitors through the local street cameras. And I’ll bring Petroski back in, apply more pressure. Let her know she’s in danger if she doesn’t come clean.”
    “Wouldn’t that be the approach to use with Dr. Clark as well? Or what about using her feelings for you? To make her tell you what she might know, if she thinks you are at risk in some way? Which you are, if she’s working with Derian. Meaning this just became a lot more dangerous.”
    “I’ll keep my guard up.”
    Bart frowned now. “You sure you’re up for this, Gabe? After losing Janet, I wasn’t positive you were even coming back to the job. That you could. If you care for this woman, this isn’t exactly the way to build something, if you want to see her after this mission is over. If she’s innocent.”
    “I don’t want that.” Gabe took a breath, feeling the tug of the lie in his chest. “She already knows that. Anyway, it’s not the same thing, not by a long shot. Janet was my partner, and yes, we got involved emotionally. Losing her was...rough. But I’ve only known Della, Dr. Clark, for a week...less. I like her, but I’m not so far in that I can’t let it go.”
    Bart stood, nodding. “Okay, then do it. If anything changes, I’ll let you know. You do the same.”
    “I will.”
    Bart left and Gabe picked up the folder again, scrutinizing each picture of Cedric Derian, and then started planning his approach with Della and the other suspects.
    He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to the zing of anticipation at seeing her again, but he also feared for what he might find. With any luck, Della wasn’t involved, as he originally suspected, and the only real danger either of them would be in was not being able to walk away again.
    * * *
    D ELLA EMERGED FROM the subway station at 88th, soaking up the full bloom of the New York summer. Passing by tourists heading to the park and the natural history museum, she smiled at the children and admired the small gardens planted on stoops and in the alleys between the beautiful buildings in the area.
    She was feeling as if she was in bloom as well, enjoying the sunny sky and the beauty around her after having worked all morning. She’d slept well and had put on a pretty summer dress—one delivered to her that morning, in a box, with simple instructions written in masculine handwriting. Heels, too.
    Gabe.
    Putting on the dress had been so intimate—especially as she thought about him taking it off when they met later that evening. He had only put a card with an address in the dress box, and nothing else.
    It was exciting, and fun.
    She liked how her shoes clicked along on the pavement. She had to learn to walk easily in them sometime, as she’d be wearing them at the wedding.
    Her confidence was high, and that largely had to do with how one very handsome man made her feel about herself. Gabe believed she was beautiful, and sexy—and his desire for her was very persuasive. Della decided it was time she started thinking that about herself, too. If a man like Gabe wanted her so intensely, then why shouldn’t she believe it?
    She stopped by one stoop where fat, red tomatoes were drooping from their stems and the aroma of the fresh basil and peppers growing beside the concrete steps filled the air. An older man rose from his crouch behind a thick tomato bush, and she smiled at him through the vines.
    “Hi, Vince. Your tomatoes are stunning, and passers-by can smell the basil before they get here. I wish I had your green thumb,” she said, thinking about her sad little greenery on the terrace outside her bedroom.
    “You’re too kind, Della. You come by on your way home,