Functional. Cold. And devoid of any sense of passion or need or that bone-deep craving that bonded lovers together.
Was she destined for the same?
Images of her morning kiss with Derek flooded her mind’s eye, the thought so vivid she could once again taste him on her tongue. Masculine, with a hint of something smoky like whiskey, tinged with dark coffee overtones. She fought the shiver that gripped her and tightened her hands on the wheel.
Derek climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door, oblivious to her discomfort. Damn man.
The walls of the spacious SUV grew tight as his scent surrounded her once more. She’d accepted the feeling of confinement the day before because her sports car was so small, hence the decision to take her boat of an SUV for today’s little errand.
So how did he manage to eat up all the space anyway?
Ignoring the zing that lit up her nerve endings, she turned toward him and kept her gaze somewhere around his ear. “Where to?”
“Los Angeles. To my office.”
“We’re going to the FBI?”
“I want to look into a few things, and it gets us out of the house for a while.” He kept his gaze steady on hers and she fought the urge to look away, reminding herself he couldn’t see through the dark black lenses of her sunglasses.
“Can’t you access your files remotely?”
“I can do it faster and quicker at headquarters. Besides—” He broke off and she caught the sense of something lying just beneath his words.
“Besides what?”
“I want to check in, that’s all. I’ve been out of pocket for a few days and it makes me itchy.”
Landry hit the button for the ignition, the high-end model she drove already registering the key in her purse, and shifted into reverse. Despite herself, she was intrigued. By their outing and by whatever else he wanted to accomplish in LA. “What are you looking for?”
“Birth records, for starters. I want to know when and where Noah was born.”
The reminder that their hunt centered on digging into Noah’s background took some of the wind out of her sails, and Landry couldn’t help but eye the large gate that swung closed behind her car after she pulled out of Adair Acres. Two large As sat at the top of the fence, their swirling script as familiar a sight to her as her own signature.
So why did they suddenly appear so menacing? Like a brand, marking the property and all the secrets that hid in its folds?
She shook off the fanciful notion and kept her eyes on the road. The rolling countryside flew by her windows as she traveled the canyon roads she’d grown up on.
“It’s beautiful country.”
Derek’s voice pulled her from her thoughts, echoing what she already knew to be true about the land she called home. “It is. It’s so vibrant and lush, and no other place smells quite as sweet.”
“You truly love your home.”
Heat crept up her neck at his observation. She did love her home and always had. It was a large part of why she’d never ventured all that far, even if it meant living with the stifling expectations of her family.
She’d thought about New York as a teenager, and later fantasized about a flat in London or Paris. She’d even spent a winter on the French Riviera during a college break. But no matter how blue the water, the Côte d’Azur simply had nothing on her little corner of Southern California.
Several thoughts drifted through her mind as she imagined how she wanted to play Derek’s question, but in the end she simply settled for the truth. “I do.”
“It’s good to belong somewhere.” She risked a glance at his profile as she took the entrance to the freeway, surprised to see a forlorn expression that turned his masculine features craggy.
But when he turned and caught her gaze, she knew without question there was more beneath his words. “It’s good to have roots, Landry.”
“What about wings?”
“Sometimes flying’s overrated.”
His cryptic words smacked of sadness and loss. And as they sank in, the wholly unexpected need to nurture stuck in her chest, tightening her muscles like drawstrings.
She had no right to nurture.
Or question.
Or insert her opinions in whatever had put that haunted look behind his dark, solemn gaze.
They weren’t in a relationship. And despite the strange tug of attraction that had been her constant companion since he stood above the pool staring down at her the day before, she didn’t know Derek Winchester.
But you do know the feel of his lips and the caress of his hands.
She tamped down the traitorous thought as her car flew down the road, the heavy traffic of the city building with each passing mile. No matter how enticing those few moments in his arms, they were the consequence of a power play, nothing more.
A battle of wills between two stubborn people, testing the other to see how far each could push.
They absolutely were not the quiet moments of a couple in the throes of early attraction, barreling down that steep slide into love.
* * *
“At the risk of exposing my deep and abiding love for gritty detective shows, TV really doesn’t do it justice.” Landry looked around the spacious entrance to the FBI office in LA, doing her level best to fight the mix of awe and excitement.
Derek glanced up from where he signed her in as his guest, a lopsided grin turning up one corner of his mouth. “What were you expecting? Lennie Briscoe sitting at a desk at the corner?”
His reference to Jerry Orbach’s character on Law & Order warmed her, adding a surprising sense of fun to their hunt for information on Noah. “Maybe.”
“What else did you imagine?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged before getting into the game. “I guess I thought I might see a crime lord someone nabbed at lunch.”
“Naturally. Because crime lords are a dime a dozen.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m afraid to disappoint, but it looks like we’ve missed today’s crime lord sighting. But I happen to have something even more exciting.”
Derek gestured her toward the elevator off the main entryway.
“More exciting than a parasite who preys on the fine citizens of Los Angeles being brought to justice?”
“Better. I’ve got paperwork. Reams and reams of paperwork.”
“A dream come true.”
The forlorn passenger who’d ridden in her car had vanished, replaced with a man fully in his element. Derek had tossed a black sport jacket over his T-shirt, and the pressed material only emphasized the width of his shoulders. Which she really wouldn’t have noticed—at all—if he hadn’t stopped and turned toward her the moment they paused at the elevators, a broad grin on his face.
“I’m sure it is.”
They stepped through the sliding doors, his gaze growing speculative. “So detective shows, huh? I’d have pegged you as a reality junkie.”
Landry fought a hard snort and simply batted her eyelashes. “You’re lucky we’re in a place crawling with law enforcement professionals. I’m tempted to hurt you for a comment like that.”
“Note