Page 15 of Day of the Storm

“What did they say?” A. J. asked.

“Your father himself said that I have a head as hard as a rock. I am to take you home and your father and mother will check on you in the morning. You are supposed to rest.”

There was a look in his eyes that told her that resting might not be all that he had in mind for her.

A. J. wasn’t certain what she thought about that. She had spent the last several hours waiting for him, trying to determine what it was that she thought should happen next. What she wanted to happen next.

And trying to determine whether she’d imagined all of it. That was entirely possible. They’d been trapped under two floors’ worth of debris. She could have been hallucinating.

She had gotten a hold of one of her neighbors on the cell phone. Only to confirm what she’d suspected. Her apartmentcomplex had taken a direct hit. Her apartment was still standing mostly, but it would be a long time before anyone was allowed back in the building—even to retrieve belongings. She’d be able to get her cat from the neighbor in the morning.

A. J. would deal with the loss of her home then. She just couldn’t deal with anything more tonight.

“My place is three blocks from here,” he said. Deliberately. “We’ll have to hoof it, though. I doubt there’s a taxi to be found tonight.”

She hadn’t exactly considered transportation. The news had emphasized the roads were closed except for cases of extreme emergency. People were getting ticketed for being out gawking.

A. J. had a lot to say about people getting in the way of first responders in emergencies like this.

Not that she’d ever seen anything exactly like this.

She’d never forget what she’d seen on the walk to get Sean to the hospital. The nightmares. The trauma. The people.

Her parents lived twenty blocks west of the hospital. She didn’t want to walk twenty blocks at two in the morning, just after the storm. That was a nightmare she didn’t want to think about.

She nodded. “I can walk. I...my apartment was damaged. I can’t go...home. Your place is closest.”

That was just an excuse. A. J. knew that.

She wanted to go home with Sean. She just wasn’t ready to be away from him. Not right now. Maybe it was the storm, maybe it was something more. But she’d like a chance to find out.

Sean—who hadn’t been serious about a woman in years. Even thinking about wanting something more with him was crazy. One of the craziest things she’d ever thought about. Or done.

And she’d done some crazy things before.

Mike had told her once that Sean claimed to be waiting for the right woman to notice him. But A. J. hadn’t believed her brother.

Sean and Mike—both far too good-lucking for any sane woman’s piece of mind—had almost unnatural luck with women, but neither one of them ever got serious.

She’d seen that for herself, and had had it pointed out by her friend, who worked for the ME. Daryn had had a lot to say about players like Mike and Sean.

General talk among the female officers, detectives, and support staff was that Sean Callum and Mike Evers were damned good at their job, and even better at being players off the clock. Like most of Major Crimes.

As much as she loved her brother, the last thing she wanted to do was get involved with a man just like him.

Too bad he couldn’t be like her brother Boston, who freely admitted he was looking for that special woman and had no desire to fool around during the process. Boston always has been the serious type. Unlike Mike.

“I’m ready to get out of here,” Sean said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready to get back to my place.”

A. J. didn’t say anything as they left the hospital. To her surprise, he wrapped his fingers around hers the instant they hit the parking lot—and were out of sight of her father.

“I don’t want to lose you.” His fingers tightened around hers. A. J. just pulled in a breath and tried to figure out if he was serious or not.

With Sean, she never had been able to tell.

18

Sean meant it.He wasn’t going to let her go again.