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“Your alibi holds It’s none of my business if you—” She broke off when he turned her to face hiry She could see it in his eyes and prepared for the argument to come She hadn’t prepared for the kiss, the way his mouth closed firmly over hers, the way her heart rolled over slow and dreamy in her chest

So she let herself be held, let her head nestle in the curve of his shoulder “I don’t kno to handle this,” she murmured “I don’t have any precedent here I need rules, Roarke Solid rules”

“I’m not a case you need to solve”

“I don’t knohat you are But I know this is going too fast It shouldn’t have even started I shouldn’t have been able to get started with you”

He drew her back so that he could study her face “Why?”

“It’s coet to work”

“Give htened on her shoulders “I don’t knohat you are, either”

“I’m a cop,” she blurted out “That’s all I am I’m thirty years old and I’ve only been close to two people in my entire life And even with them, it’s easy to hold back”

“Hold back what?”

“Letting it rind you down until you’re nothing I’v

e been nothing I can’t be nothing ever again”

“Who hurt you?”

“I don’t know” But she did She did “I don’t remember, and I don’t want to remember I’ve been a victim, and once you have, you need to do whatever it takes not to be one again That’s all I was before I got into the acade the decisions, pushingme another”

“Is that what you think I’?”

“That’s what’s happening”