“Wow, Athena!” Flash met her in the hallway. “You torched him.”
Athena sighed, offering Flash an apologetic expression. “I try not to let emotions play a role. It will be easier with Neel in the morning. He’s our perpetrator, but he’s a victim too. This guy? No excuse.”
“Amen to that.” With the hall vacant so late on a stormy night, Flash kissed Athena’s cheek. “I’m on shift in the morning, and I’ll bet this news beats me there.”
“Probably,” Athena agreed. “I’ll be tied up all day tomorrow too, but when you get off?” She flashed her most seductive smile. Flash’s eyes lit with delight.
“The mansion?”
Athena grimaced. “I keep telling you, it’s not a mansion.”
“OK.” Flash brushed her bare arm with a considering look. “Our getaway then.”
With a laugh, she consented. “Ourgetaway—notmymansion. Deal?”
Flash grinned. “Deal. Swimsuit or no?” She quirked a suggestive brow.
Athena lowered her voice to a hush. “There’s a privacy fence and hedge, so …”
Agents Shoops and Paulson exited the booth, chatting excitedly, while McCulloch left the interview room with miserable Edwards in cuffs. Duty called. Again.
Flash’s cheeks flushed. “Day after tomorrow.Ourplace,” she whispered. Then long legs carried her out of sight.
Our place,Athena mused.I like it.
Chapter 30
Two days later
Athena’s foot glided up Flash’s bare leg beneath the silk sheets of her enormous bed. Toned. Silky. Delectable. This was the best way to end a day—secure in her firefighter’s arms. The next kiss was deep, brimming with affection, dipped in desire—languid perfection. The storm had passed; the bad guys had been caught. Tonight was just for them.
“Share time,” Athena murmured, lips brushing Flash’s neck. “I long to know everything about you, always looking forward to our daily reveals.” Her fingers traced tantalizing lines and swirls across Flash’s skin, as if they could tease out every secret hidden away in her girlfriend’s vault.
Flash stretched her arm around Athena, hugging her close. A delicate sheet clung to her glorious, bare body as she sprawled on her back. Athena peered up in silent expectation into her contemplative face. Would she make a joke? Quip a mundane reply, such as a favorite color or cartoon character? Even so, Athena yearned to soak up the personal detail like nectar.
Beneath her caress, Flash became very still. “The summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school, our church youth group went to Glorietta, New Mexico. It was a wonderful trip. Everything was so beautiful, and they had fun activities for us—not just the churchy stuff.”
Athena lost herself in the nostalgia humming through Flash’s voice and nuzzled her head into her shoulder, listening to her heartbeat along with her story.
“The highlight was the day we climbed this mountain. It was an inspiring, spiritual experience – not to mention a hell of a workout. Our youth leader had to stop halfway up. But the view from the top!”
The thrill in Flash’s tone enticed Athena to look up to inspect the expression on her face. It glowed like she was there, admiring the vista, and it warmed Athena’s heart.
“I must have stood on the summit for half an hour or more, turning slow circles, gazing out over the world—hundreds of miles, I’m sure. I was seeing through an eagle’s eyes—everything, all at once.”
“It sounds truly breathtaking,” Athena commented.
“It was.” A shadow fell over Flash’s face, and her voice shifted from appreciation to neutral narration.
“On the way down, Ashley, the pretty, popular girl I had a desperate secret crush on, slipped in some loose gravel, fell, and hurt her ankle. Of course, I immediately stopped to help her. It wasn’t swollen yet, but tender when I gently squeezed it. ‘Help me up,’ she said. ‘I think I can walk.’ But she winced and groaned when she tried to put weight on her foot.
“’It’s OK,’ I assured her. ‘I’ll help you. Just lean on me and we’ll go slow.’ I was a skinny thing back then, unable to carry her down the mountain like I could today. But I really wanted to help her, you know?”
Athena smiled. “It’s in your bones.”
Flash met her eyes, brushed a kiss to her lips, then returned her gaze to the ceiling—back in storyteller mode. “I caught her under her arm, and she leaned on me. Tingles raced across my skin to hold her close like that, even if it was innocent and necessary. Mostly, I felt the rush of being needed, of helping, of, well, being the hero. I felt as on top of the world as I had just been atop the mountain. And Ashley seemed to appreciate my help. We weren’t close friends, but we were friendly. It was like all my Disney fantasies come to life.”
Flash moved a hand over Athena’s, where it lay across her midsection, as if securing it in place.
