Once out of the bedroom, I glanced around Chase’s bachelor apartment as we walked toward the front door. The small space consisted of leather couches, a big entertainment center against the wall, white washed paint on the walls and not a decoration in sight. The idea of stepping one foot into this man-hole and calling it home was absurd.
“Your car or mine?” I asked over my shoulder as I opened the front door of the townhouse and made my way down the porch steps.
“Mine of course,” Chase called behind me. He shut the front door with a loud bang, locked it, then quickly made his way to the black ‘69 Dodge Charger, grinning with pride.
“You think you’d have better things to spend your money on than this old piece of tin.” I hoped to get his goat in the off chance to ease the tension from earlier.
Chase stopped dead in his tracks to glare at me across the roof and frowned. “Knock the car again and I’ll flatten you on your ass.”
I opened the passenger door and sat with a loud thump. “I’d like to see you try, tough guy.”
Chase slid into the driver’s side and when his gaze met mine, we both laughed. I loved the playfulness he and I shared. When we first met, I broke through his tough cop façade quickly to discover what lay beneath was a gentle soul. Getting him to laugh was the only way to break his irritation and I was pleased to see the attempt had worked.
What I didn’t need was him pissy while we were on assignment.
I settled in and buckled my seat belt—we do enforce the law after all—as Chase started the engine. A soft purr came around us as he put the car in gear and drove off.
As we made our way downtown, the streets of Washington, D.C. were busy tonight.
It didn’t surprise me to see the city booming with tourists. It always was and I’d grown to love it for just that reason—it hummed with energy.
Within minutes, we began our approach down America’s Main Street toward the J.
Edgar Hoover Building. My gaze fell back to Chase and I couldn’t help the smile that rose within me. “It feels good to be home.”
“You live a sad life.” Chase snorted.
“Sorry to break it to ya, you live the same life, jacko.” And one we both loved. It wasn’t only the love together that was the reason for our happiness—it was this poured concrete Brutalist architectural style building where our heart and passion lay.
Chase dismissed my remark with a grin before he pulled into the basement parking garage. Only a few feet in, he steered the car into an empty spot, then cut the engine.
Quickly, I exited the car and Chase trotted up beside me as we walked through the dimly lit space. Just as I reached the elevator doors, I pulled the security card from the back pocket of my pants.
When we met the reinforced steel door, I swiped it through the card reader to identify myself.
It only took moments before my picture showed on the screen above the reader, as it said in the annoying woman’s computer voice I had grown to hate. “Voice identification.”
I leaned forward, levelled my hand against the cold concrete wall. “Screw you.” For months, I used my name to identify myself, but after time, I realized it was smart enough to recognize voice levels.
Now, it just annoyed me. More than once, I’d told the voice what I wished I could tell others aloud.
There was a sense of freedom in it all really. To speak your mind without having consequences—the perfect friend, I thought.
A minute later, a loud beep acknowledged receipt before the voice responded,
“Welcome, Special Agent Hadley Sloan.”
“Nice.” Chase laughed. He followed suit, yanked his identification from the pocket of his jeans then proceeded to swipe his card. After the same response from the computer awaiting his clarification of clearance, he leaned forward and winked at me. “I’d like to screw you good.”
“Welcome, Special Agent Chase Finely.”
“Mmm.” I wiggled my brows in a sultry suggestion as the elevator doors opened. “I like that idea.”
Chase grinned, inclined his head to the elevator as he placed his hand along my lower back to usher me in. Once in, he hit the button for the fourth floor and the elevator shot up. He leaned against the wall and gave me a knowing look. “Wonder what’s up.”
“Considering the emergency text, I’d say it’s something serious.” Yes, our teams only worked during the night hours. No Agent could work all hours of the day. The job would be too draining.
Needless to say, it’s why this job fit me so well, I was never asked to work the day shift, which suited me just fine.
Chase nodded as he angled his head back to glance up to the mirrored ceiling.
“Fuck.” He sighed then looked back to me. “I should have slept more instead of spending the better part of the day buried inside of you.”
I raised my hand to my dead heart in shock, my face an expression of utter dismay.
“You’d rather sleep than f**k me?”
A slow grin swept across Chase’s face. “When you put it that way, no.”
I lowered my hand as he began to approach me. His eyes darkened, the pupils widened so quickly, I sucked in a breath from the power of it. No matter how much I had this man, just this look from him caused moisture to gather in my panties.
My body shivered each and every time he showed his intent, and now, I could barely control myself. I licked my lips to moisten them as I readied my mouth for his impending kiss. My knees braced as my body tensed to take the weight of him when he came at me.
Only a hairsbreadth away from our lips connecting, the elevator chimed and snapped me back to the present. In a swift move, I moved aside and raised my hand to his face.
“You know the rules.”
Chase sucked in a deep breath, frowned and stepped back. “No relationships within the Bureau or severe consequences. Yes…” He groaned, giving me a final once over. “I remember.”
It was another checkmark as to why we couldn’t make our relationship official. It’d mean one of us would need to polish up our resume to find other employment. Neither of us wanted that, but rules were rules, and put in place for a reason. Someone high up in the government had decided it complicated things. I couldn’t see much reason in it, but who was I to put up a stink.
The doors of the elevator hadn’t even opened before Mike’s enraged voice echoed through the halls. “Took you both f**king long enough to get here.”
I smiled innocently at my boss as his dark brows furrowed in unhappiness at me. His briskness was mostly for show. Behind those dark stern eyes, was a deep respect between us. I appreciated his whip ’em into shape attitude and understood the reasons for it. My team would walk circles around him if he let them.
Chase stepped out of the elevator then glanced back to me with a wicked grin.
“When I went to pick Hadley up, she was pissing around with her makeup.”
I took a giant step forward across the little space in the floor. The elevator doors shut behind me as I scowled at him and gave his arm a punch, and laughed a little too. “Why would I even bother looking pretty for you bunch of dorks?” When silence reigned, I glanced back at Mike, who didn’t look amused.
He waved us forward, stern and serious. “Enough jokes, we have a situation.” He spun on his heel and headed toward the strategic room.
As I followed in behind, I examined Mike. Despite the fact of being in his early forties, he was in better shape than most thirty year olds. As the Director, he was steady and strong. Tonight though, something was off about him, which only added to my suspicion that whatever we were about to be faced with was a tragedy. “He looks tense,”
I said quietly to Chase.
Chase nodded but said nothing as his brows furrowed and his gaze stayed focused on Mike.
Quickly, we made our way through the main part of the office and it was exactly what I expected to find at this time of night—empty. Only our team worked the night shift. Sure, other teams were on call for different departments, but the Criminal Division was usually the only ones who walked these halls once the sun went down.
Our team consisted of me, the interrogator, Mike as the man in charge, and Chase as his second-hand man. The final member of the team was Nick who dealt with all the forensic work, which only confused me.
We were all specialists in our chosen field. Of course, none of them knew that I was only good at what I did because I held the ability to warp a human’s mind and will the truth from them. Hell, being a vampire had to have some perks and I wasn’t going to waste such an ability. Even Chase didn’t know.
The less he knew of my vampire abilities the better. I liked being as mortal as I could around him, besides the fact that I needed to drink his blood to survive.
Just as I cleared the door into the strategic room, Nick—the forensic wizard and whom I considered family—sat at the wooden table, waiting. It was partly why I loved this job. I could have that closeness only received from a family without the ties. If I had to walk away, I could. Not that it was something I hoped to do, I was happy here.
“How do you look so damn sexy in the middle of the night?” Nick asked me with a grin. His short black cropped hair made his pale skin almost glow. His equally dark eyes examined me with suspicion as his thin lips melted away to nothing in thought.