Mimi's Mix - A Book From Each Series! Hot Suspense & Active Spirits! (4 page)

Paying no attention to the rapid beating her heart or the fact that her female parts were wide awake and interested, she edged around the next vehicle. Working along the wall, she tried to come up behind the gang, to thwart their planned exit up the back stairs. Pissed at herself for not setting up a perimeter around the building, she fully intended to stop their escape. Sure enough, she spotted one backing away from the others, sneaking away like the dirty dog he was, and she sent a warning shot in his direction. Only thing was, they now knew where she hid, and the subsequent blast coming her way pinned her down good. Once they’d trained their sights on her, Kai managed to come up behind them, and in no time, the shooting stopped. The weasels threw their guns out into the open and flung their empty hands in the air.

“Don’t shoot. We’re giving up. We dropped our guns.”

Two cocky young teens stood, knowing that because of their age they’d get away with murder. The instigator, the devils’ spawn called Earl Rhondo, had disappeared into the night. The slug had used these stupid kids to do his dirty work while he walked scot free from the building through any number of exits or windows. Kai approached warily. Probably didn’t like her expression.

“You all right?” He reached out, covered her clenched hand and forced her to lower the gun.

“No! I’m mad as hell. I never thought it could happen again.”

“Trust me. This is the last time. Next time and there will be a next time, we’ll get him. I promise. Okay partner?” his soft voice sent shivers up a spine not used to this sensation.

Now why his assurance gave her a lift, she’d never know but it did. Maybe it was because she knew they still had the lead from Ross about the party happening the next night.

Except for the tingling on the skin of the hand he still held and the soft pleasing hum ringing inside her head that soothed, damned if she didn’t feel better. With a toss of her head, she flipped her annoying hair back from her face, and gave him the evil eye. He never flinched, nor did he look away.

Finally she smiled, amazed at the speculative glint that entered his intense blue eyes. “Okay.”

Afterword

Thank you so much for reading
Partners,
the short story to introduce my first foray into the romantic suspense genre.

The follow-up, full-length book is called
Roll The Dice
.

A note from the Author

Suspenseful and fast-paced
,
Partners
, has introduced you to Aurora Morelli and Kai Lawson; the characters who star in the full-length sequel
Roll the Dice
.

So… please hit your “Buy” button now and follow up on this stormy cliff-hanger to see whether the rotter, Earl Rhondo, is finally brought to justice.

For your enjoyment, I’ve included Chapter One of
Roll the Dice
below.

Roll the Dice

Sneek Peek

Chapter One

“You shot me!” Sweet Jesus it hurt!

“You told me to.”

“Dumb shit!” Aurora Morelli pushed her new partner from hovering over her so she could sit up. “I didn’t mean it!” she continued. “I just wanted you to scare Rhondo.” She felt blood gushing from the wound on her arm, and purposely kept her head turned away.

“Shooting you did scare him. He let you go, didn’t he?”

Aurora frowned at him. Why does his voice have to sound so damn reasonable?

“Whatever!” She hoped her scorn would get to him.

“Hey! I saw his eyes. You didn’t. He had every intention of using that knife. I’m talking about that sharp one he had pressed against your throat. If I’d have tried to shoot him instead of you…” He shrugged, leaving her to come to her own conclusion.

Aurora shuddered, fighting off nausea. She didn’t want to listen to reason. Staying angry made the situation a whole lot easier to deal with. Sarcasm, the best weapon she had in such a macho-man’s environment, replaced whining.

She glared at him and saw his shapely eyebrows rise. The light of the bulb hanging from the ceiling of the cruddy apartment haloed his head, making the bare skin shine. “Just my friggin luck to end up with a partner who looks and thinks like Bruce Willis.”

Kai Larson chuckled, but Aurora’s glower put a quick end to his merriment. He tried changing the subject with sweet talk. “I’ve been told I have perfect shaped head for being bald.”

“Sure, and it goes swell with your baby-blue eyes,” she sneered. No way would she admit aloud that he did look good.

His response was a grunt of displeasure. “Are you always this crabby?”

Disbelief shone in her amazed expression. “Not at all”, she said, disdain evident. “Only when I’ve been shot.”

Kai turned his attention away from her to call in the emergency. Then he tried to push up the bloody sleeve of her shirt for access to the injury. Seeing that it was too tight, he gave up and moved to undo the buttons on the top of her white blouse.

What the hell!? “Get away from me!” She slapped at his hands and wrenched away.

When he pulled back, his cold blue eyes stared Aurora down. No smiles, no teasing now—just a bull-headed male who would brook no interference. “I have to stop the bleeding. It’s not much more than a scratch, but it’s deep. Look!”

Not in a million years! She knew better than to look. Instead, she let him remove the bulletproof vest she hated wearing, then undid her own buttons, her injured arm trembling visibly. Then with his help, she slid the garment off her shoulder.

Wasting no time, he lost his own vest and then whipped off his white t-shirt that had “L.A. Kings” scrawled across the front. He folded it to use as a pressure pad. With a swipe at the mess of curls covering the wound, he said, “Hold your hair out of the way so I can see what I’m doing.”

Raising her good arm, she reached around and scooped the loose waves toward her back. Though she didn’t mean for it to happen, her eyes became glued to the bronzed male flesh just inches away from her face. His smell infiltrated her senses, and she determined that he had a great taste in body soap, aftershave, or whatever it was that she found so intoxicating about his scent.

She scanned the tattoo that decorated Kai’s chest and upper arm, and flowed around to his back. It must have taken a genius to do such fine artwork. The flowing lines and melding colors were perfect. It was even better than hers, and she’d been real picky. Obviously, he worked out because the proof stared her in the face. Of its own accord, her gaze travelled down, and she noticed that his pants clung low on his shapely hips where the tanned skin seemed unending. Good lord! He didn’t have a tan line. Her gaze kept roving. Every muscular configuration worked together to form a body most other men admired… and women longed for.

Gently, he put pressure on her upper arm, and she quickly switched her gaze to his expression. He turned to her and winked. “There. See? Merely a scratch.”

Embarrassed, Aurora nodded. “Yeah, whatever. I can feel it.”

“I don’t believe this. You’re squeamish. A cop who can’t look at a wound? That’s the best one I’ve ever heard.” He stopped jeering and worry crept into a voice that had softened. “Hey, you gonna pass out?”

“Don’t be a smartass, Kai. It’s just my own blood I can’t stand, or people I love. Anyone else, no problem.” Sirens screamed from close by and offered the two a reprieve from their bickering.

Before Kai had arrived in Las Vegas, Aurora’s informant had directed her to a felon’s apartment, one of the guys Rhondo hung with. They’d made the arrest and brought the lowlife in for questioning.

Given that he had information Aurora desperately wanted and needed, she’d turned up the heat a little. Not surprisingly, the perp had squealed like a baby. Convinced it was in his best interest to share this lead, he’d assured her the subject, Earl Rhondo, accused of rape along with a bundle of drug-related charges, would be there.

Rhondo, the scumbag, had beeped on her personal radar months ago, ever since the night he’d attacked and almost killed her former partner, Debbie. Since then, Aurora had had her sights set on the monster, and she’d pushed hard to get the lowdown on his whereabouts. Rhondo’s plans to party that night had led her to bring her brand spanking new partner along, so they could gatecrash the shindig.

Sure enough, they’d caught the fiend red-handed, with his pockets full of drugs, and paraphernalia everywhere. Young and scared, not at all as loyal as Rhondo would have liked, his flunkies rushed out, leaving him behind to fight his own battles.

From the moment the cops entered the room, Kai had had his weapon out, with the sights trained on the man they’d come to take down. A young hooker, who’d hidden behind the filthy sofa, took her courage in her hands and shoved Kai, then rushed Aurora… who tripped her up with a maneuver right out of the movies. A well-placed karate chop struck the silly girl

unconscious.

Rhondo, taking advantage of the distraction, made his move. The asshole pulled out a knife and grabbed Aurora, whose back had been turned for a second. He wrapped his arm around her neck and gave the order. “Drop ‘em. Both of you.”

Unable to argue, Aurora had let go of her gun. Then she told Kai: “Shoot the son-of-a-bitch.”

Rhondo had tightened his hold on the lethal-looking knife and started to drag her backwards. When she’d struggled, it had given Kai his chance. Only, he was supposed to have shot the bad guy, not her.

Kai propped her against the wall and wiped his hands on his jeans. “You’re going to be fine now. I’ve still got a lead on Rhondo. I know exactly where he’s headed, and I intend to nab him before he cleans out his safe. If he retrieves his fake passports, we’ll lose him again.”

Aurora was confused. “Again? I thought you were new to Las Vegas.” She narrowed her eyes and gave him the hard, demanding stare that would have sent most of her team looking for somewhere else to be.

“Nah. I’ve tracked him here before, but he disappeared.”

“Why do I get the feeling what’s between you and Rhondo is personal?”

Kai looked away, slapped his hands down on his knees, and stood, his movements smooth and fluid. “I’ve worked his file for some time. It’s probably why Cory paired us up. We both want the creep, just for different offences.” He listened as the approaching sirens stopped, indicating that help was just outside. “Sounds like the backup team finally made it. You’ll be in good hands.”

“What!? Hey, you can’t go without me. We’re partners. Forget the ambulance. I’m coming with you.” She tried to stand but instead fell back and motioned to him. “Don’t just stand there like a model in freeze frame, for chrissakes. Help me up.”

He stood with his arms crossed and stared at her until she extended her good hand and waved it him angrily. Then he reached down and gently helped her rise.

With Kai’s support, Aurora wobbled to her feet and took in a couple of full breaths to clear her head. “I’m good. Let’s go.”

“No, you aren’t. And don’t argue.” He held up his hand in front of her face and got it slapped for his audacity.

“Aurora, you have a t-shirt tied around your arm, and it’s full of blood. Look… here’s Rhondo’s new address. It just showed up on the radar. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but I think he’ll head over there and get his stuff.” He pulled a crinkled card from his pocket and flipped it to reveal an address scrawled on the back. “Meet me there when you’re patched up.” `

He strode toward the door, until she whistled for him to stop. When he turned, she motioned to his nakedness. “Better cover up the body before we have every horny female in the neighborhood chasing after your car.” Reaching into an open closet to her left, she snatched a turquoise and black plaid cowboy shirt and held it up.

He moved closer to take the shirt, and then the cheeky bugger grinned. “Thanks, sunshine. You give a nice compliment.”

“I can give a nice kick in the ass also.” She’d have donated a month’s salary to rescind her earlier flattery. “Must be the pain screwing with my eyesight.”

Just then, Hampton arrived at a dead run, sweat streaming, dripping off his patchy red cheeks. “Sorry we got held up, you guys.” He puffed out each word as he tried to catch his breath. “A freight truck overturned, causing a four-car pileup. Ours was the fourth car. I ran the last few blocks to get here.” Disgust rang in Ham’s voice and couldn’t be camouflaged.

Aurora watched as Kai took the opportunity to sneak behind everyone and make good his escape. Then a few moments later, Lieutenant Ashton arrived and the scene became even more hectic.

“Aurora, I was heading home when I heard over the radio that you’d been shot. Figured Debbie would have my ass if I didn’t check it out. I’m happy to see you on your feet.”

“It’s just a scratch, Cory… uh, I mean Boss. And tell my old partner to stop worrying over me all the time. Pretty soon she’ll need to concentrate on the little junior lieutenant growing in her tummy.”

“Tell her yourself. I don’t have that kind of nerve.” Acting silly, the tall redheaded guy shook his head and made his eyes swell in mock fear.

Aurora laughed and then winced. Damn arm hurt like hell.

Noticing her paleness, Cory bellowed, “We need some medical—”