Staking His Claim (Line of Duty 5)

She shrugged and tried to hop off the seat. “Is this the city that never sleeps, or isn’t it?”

Matt blocked her. “Why are you still interviewing?” His voice thickened with some unnamed emotion. “You’re taking the Paris job. You told me on the drive from Syracuse that you loved it there.”

Oh, that did it. She couldn’t remain cool one second longer. With both hands, she shoved against his chest. He barely moved, inciting her wrath even further. “I’m not taking the Paris job, you moron. But don’t worry, my staying in New York has nothing to do with you. I know the score. So don’t worry about me. I know what this is.” She skirted past him. “It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit, it’s nothing.” He planted a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the coffee shop. You never leave me.”

Dammit. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m leaving you now.”

“No,” he breathed.

“Yes. You can’t just show up whenever you feel like screwing me, Matt. I’m better than that.”

Her words brought him up short. “Jesus, Lucy. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He fell back against his car. “You’re better than me. That’s what this is about.”

Lucy’s anger took a nosedive. “Explain that to me.”

“You actually have to ask me after I fuck you in a parking garage?” His throat worked as he glanced toward the opposite end of the underground space. After a stretch of silence, he pushed off the car and closed the distance between them. Lucy couldn’t breathe, the look in his eyes was so fierce. “Listen to me, I—”

Sirens. The loud, continuous sound drowned out whatever Matt was going to say. It didn’t stop, but continued to grow louder, the sound of speeding police vehicles above their heads impossible to ignore. Lucy and Matt exchanged a glance that she didn’t need words to interpret. She nodded once and he strode back to his car, pulling his cell phone from the console. As she watched him closely, his muscles went rigid under his T-shirt, right hand flexing at his side in a familiar gesture. She remembered seeing it when he spoke about being a sniper. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

“What’s wrong?”

When his gaze met hers, it was perfectly blank. That alarmed her even more. “Everything will be fine, but I’m needed downtown.”

Lucy forced her lips to move. “It sounds like everyone is.”

“Get in the car. I’ll drop you off on the way.”

She waved him off. “I’ll be okay. Hayden’s place isn’t far from here.”

“I’m not leaving you here.” His voice was deathly silent. “If I don’t get you home, I won’t be able to concentrate. Get in, please.”

She didn’t ask why he needed his full concentration, just moved as quickly as she could toward the passenger side and climbed inside. He peeled out of the parking spot and had her in front of Hayden’s town house within minutes. She tried not to let panic set in as sirens flew past them on every single avenue. Lucy wanted to ask what was happening, if he would be all right, but was terrified of the answer. Minutes ago, she’d been prepared to walk away from him, but in light of the danger she sensed, the very idea seemed absurd. She wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him to stay. His stiff posture forbade it, though. Wherever he was headed when he left her, it had his full attention.

As she climbed out, she looked back. “Be careful, Matt.”

After a single nod, he pulled away, leaving Lucy staring after him on the sidewalk.

Chapter Fifteen

Matt lay perfectly still on his stomach, watching the building across the street, his finger resting on the trigger of his rifle. He could see the man in his scope, could take him down with a single shot. If he didn’t have a bomb strapped to his chest capable of decimating an entire city block, he would have already done it. Instead, he’d been ordered to hold his fire and wait. His perch in the tenth-floor window of a high-rise gave Matt an unobstructed view into the bank where the man paced back and forth. The NYPD had evacuated the bank building as much as possible, through side exits and back doors, in addition to the surrounding area. However, the customers on the main floor of the bank stood huddled together, looks of horror on their faces as the man continually ignored phone calls from Daniel, who had been called to the scene as lead hostage negotiator.

In his ear piece, Matt could hear his friend’s low curse as his call into the bank’s main line went unanswered for the fourth time. Daniel, along with Brent, their explosives expert, and dozens of ESU officers were on the first floor, ten stories beneath him. With such vastly different specialties, the three of them were rarely called in at the same time, but this situation required each of their specific talents. Especially Brent’s, although Matt prayed like hell he didn’t have to walk into that bank. Please don’t let it come to that.

Back at the parking garage, he’d seen the emergency message on his department cell phone calling him to a scene involving highly volatile explosives. He hadn’t been able to tell Lucy. To look her in the face after already hurting her once and explain what kind of situation he and Brent were heading into. If she’d shown an ounce of worry or fear, he would never have been able to drive away.

As usual when he was in this position, the noise around him faded into nothingness, his measured breaths coming in time with his heartbeat. The drumming in his chest felt different this time, though. Not as steady as usual. Duller. More than a little painful as it knocked rhythmically against his rib cage. The silence he’d created around him couldn’t stop Lucy’s words from drifting through his head. I know the score. I know what this is. It’s nothing.

He swallowed around the knot in his throat and tried to push the words to the back of his head, where he would deal with them later, but they stubbornly refused to fade. She refused to fade. Her injured expression. The lack of sparkle in her eyes. He’d done that to her, goddammit. All along, he’d known it was inevitable, but seeing it had been devastating.

What the hell had he been thinking? She’d slid her hot curves over his body, looked up at him as if to say I need it good and hard, Matt, and he’d lost his battle with common sense. He’d been incapable of stopping himself from drilling her against that seat, even as the voice inside his head warned him something was off. Her demeanor, her distant attitude…her Lucy-ness had been missing. At first. She hadn’t been able to hold back once he pushed inside of her. What happened after that… Sweet Jesus. They way she’d writhed on his cock, thighs wide open for him as she’d pushed against him with her hands. Bit him. The contradiction of her resistance and capitulation had been mind-blowingly hot. Toward the end, he’d been heedless to anything but his body’s demands, completely consumed by her. Again that voice in his head had implored him to slow it down, kiss her, look her in the eye until he got Lucy back, but there had been no stopping at that point.

Then before he could blink, it had been too late. She’d been walking away, such finality in her tone that he’d been frozen in denial. If she could walk away after what they’d just shared, he’d done some serious damage, but he had no experience repairing his own destruction. Only causing it. He only hoped it wasn’t too late to fix it. No, he wouldn’t let it be too late. There was way too much at stake this time.

Focus. You have a job to do first.

Matt breathed deeply through his nose and focused on the target, who looked completely calm, resigned. Oddly

enough, that wasn’t unusual for a man in his situation. He’d had time to come to terms with what he was attempting to do. While he was overseas, Matt had seen more than his share of this type of event, but it was rare to say the least in New York City.

Matt frowned. Also rare? The amount of time it was taking the man to detonate the bomb. If he wouldn’t open a line of communication with Daniel to state his demands, what was his goal? At this point, he would only succeed in bringing a handful of civilians with him.

Then it happened. If Matt had blinked, he would have missed it. Subtly, the man checked his watch and glanced through the window at the building across the street. The building he and hundreds of ESU officers were stationed inside. Matt’s heart began pounding loudly in his ears as he reached for the radio on his shoulder.

“Evacuate the building now. Get everyone out.”

Immediately, his chief’s harried voice responded. “Donovan? Wh—”

“He’s a decoy. Move everyone out. Now.” His own voice sounded distant. “We’re the target.”

Matt didn’t bother waiting for an order. He shouldered his rifle and moved at a fast clip toward the stairs. Before he’d made it halfway to the lobby, the ground began to shake under his feet.

…

Lucy hadn’t made it a full minute before turning on Hayden’s massive flat screen and flipping to the local news station. What she saw had made her heart stop.

Suicide Bomber Holds Bank Customers Hostage.

She hadn’t been able to fathom it. A bomb. That meant…her brother and Matt were both there? Smack in the middle of harm’s way. After having held Matt in her arms only minutes before, it had been surreal. And terrifying. His stoic expression after he’d been called to the scene came back to her, suddenly making far too much sense. From there, it had only gotten worse.