Fearless. HelenKay Dimon

confused. Do you think this is about my work or yours?”

      He was still deciding. “Until I know, you are pinned to my side.”

      “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” She said the words even as her hand traveled over his chest and down to his stomach.

      “Then you should have called your imaginary boyfriend.” He kissed the very tip of her nose, thinking the soft touch would satisfy him.

      He was dead wrong.

      “I had a hard enough time handling the flesh-and-blood type.” Their heads bent so close together that her whispered words blew across his lips.

      “From my memory you handled that quite well.”

      He gave in. One small press of his lips against hers. Quick and gentle, with barely any heat.

      “Your ribs.”

      “I’ll let you know if you’re too close. So far, we’re good.”

      She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. “Davis—”

      “Trust me.”

      The second kiss blew the first away. This one sent energy arcing between them. His mouth over hers, pressing, touring, tasting. His hand in her hair and her cuddled against his chest.

      He could feel her fingers slide over his shoulder and trail down his back. Any closer and she would be on his lap. He no sooner thought it then his arm slipped under her legs and tugged them up and over his thighs.

      The kiss exploded and devoured. Any idea that they were done flushed out to the bay. When her head fell back and he started to push her down on the bench, he knew his control had snapped and it would take an army to put it back together again.

      He’d just decided to tease the edge of that thin shirt and tunnel up when the nerve ticked at the back of his neck. At first he felt more than saw movement on the walkway down to the dock. Then he heard the clang of the gate and thumps of footsteps. If the person wanted to sneak up, they’d failed. No way was this a professional killer. Well, not the enemy kind.

      Davis lifted his head and, after a quick look over the side, stared down into Lara’s cloudy eyes. “Company.”

      The boat shifted in the water and the footsteps fell louder. The chuckle came next. “Probably not the best timing on my part, but hello.”

      Davis looked away from the woman who meant everything and over to the brother he’d called for help. Pax stood on the ladder with a bag of what looked like food in one hand and a folder in the other.

      After a quick mental assessment Davis decided all of that, whatever it was, could wait. “Get lost.”

      “Pax!” Lara jumped off the seat and straight into Pax’s arms. He dropped his packages just in time and her smile beamed. “It’s good to see you.”

      Lara had the power to lighten even Pax’s darkest moods. They had a sister-brother relationship. They joked and she made fun of the way he hid his dates from her. And put either of them near a tub of raw cookie dough and it would be gone before you could get a spoon and jump in.

      The stab of guilt over losing her extended to Pax. Davis had lost the love of his life. Pax had lost someone he cared about, and that list was not very long.

      “You, too, though the circumstances need some work.” Pax looked at Davis over the top of Lara’s head and mouthed the word sorry. “You guys okay post guns and knives?”

      “I was better five minutes ago,” Davis mumbled.

      Pax kept an arm around Lara. “And look at you beating up the bad guys. I hear the lamp is your weapon of choice.”

      “Kind of hard to hide in my pants, but yes.”

      Accepting the fact the kiss was over and not going to be revived anytime soon, Davis motioned for Pax to sit. “What did you find out?”

      Pax guided Lara back to the bench next to Davis before grabbing his dropped belongings and dropping in the seat across from them. “NCIS is on the scene at Wasserman’s house. Agents are looking for Lara.”

      The blip of happiness disappeared. She looked back and forth between the men. “What?”

      “And the dead guy on your floor is, or I guess I should say was, a gun for hire. Former military with a dishonorable discharge. Apparently, your boy liked to shoot a bit too much.” Pax handed the file to Davis. “So, it looks like we have some work to do.”

      Lara slumped back in the seat. “I almost hate to ask what all of this means.”

      The notes were few, but Davis read enough to be concerned. He flipped the pages but put the file down when he realized Lara’s total attention was focused on him.

      Prettying it up wouldn’t help, so he shot right to the truth. “Pax is saying you’re likely to be the number one suspect in the murder of Wasserman.”

      She shifted until her feet hit the floor, then she pulled them up, then they went back down again. Something seemed to be pinging around inside her and making her squirm. “But why would I kill him? I don’t have a motive.”

      Davis switched to his game face—all is well and easy to handle—to try to calm her down. Her switch to panic mode would only make the job tougher. “We need to figure out who did and why.”

      “And then get to the bottom of Davis’s attacker,” Pax said.

      Lara reached for the file but dropped her hand. “The attacker could have followed me. He came in Davis’s house right after.”

      Davis had already thought about that possibility and discarded it. “Did you see him following you?”

      “No…” She bit her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

      Pax looked out over the boat slips and exhaled loud enough to start a tidal wave. “What a mess, but at least some things never change.”

      “Like?”

      “Ken.” Pax pointed at the man still struggling with his pile of equipment, this time a net he’d accidentally stepped into and got caught around his feet. “Thinks he’s a boater.”

      More like a menace, as far as Davis could tell. “I’m afraid he’ll hurt himself or, more likely, someone else.”

      “The chances are limited. He never leaves the dock. He gathers stuff, sits on the boat and then goes home. It’s an expensive hobby.” When Ken glanced up, putting his hand over his eyes to block the sun, Pax waved. “Weird but harmless. But back to the attacker issue.”

      Her body fell. “So, what are you guys saying?”

      “Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.” And that idea didn’t bother Davis at all.

      She gnawed on her lip again. “Oh.”

      He winked at her. “Welcome back.”