First Do No Evil: Blood Secrets, Book 1 by Carey Baldwin Read Free Book Online

He’d come about the case, and no amount of personal discomfort could deter him from doing his duty.
    He took a few steps forward, but she was too deep in her thoughts to notice him. The air was saturated with the musk of old books, and his throat started to itch. When he coughed, she dropped the photograph, and its metal frame clattered against the desktop. Then an image of Sky and Edmond, their faces close, glared accusingly up at him.
    “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” That was a lie. He’d been studying her silently from the doorway. Not long, but long enough to glimpse something he wasn’t meant to see: Her desolate expression as she stared at the photograph. He’d memorized that expression, and then tucked away the intimacy of the moment. Locked it in an inner vault—though for what purpose he didn’t know. Maybe so he could goad himself later with the knowledge that he was the man responsible for her suffering. Maybe so he could be certain never to forget that he’d failed both Sky and Edmond. Hands fisted, he took another step forward and planted himself in front of her.
    Reaching out, he righted the photograph and arranged the frame so it stood secure. She’d been gazing at Edmond’s picture with a tenderness he knew would never shine from her eyes for him. His jaw clenched as he realized just exactly how indecent it was for him to be thinking of such things when a good man like Edmond Guerretin had lost his life—a good man who was dead, quite simply, because Danny had ignored department policy.
    Off-duty officers were supposed to carry their guns.
    Backing away from the desk, his fingers pulled a loose thread on his jacket, and the air he breathed seemed to disintegrate before he could fill his lungs. “I’ve come about the case,” he said, clearing the itch from his throat, and he hoped, the gravel from his voice. “And to thank you for saving my life. I’m afraid I’m long overdue on that score, Dr. Novak.”
    Looking past him, she blinked moisture from her eyes.
    Clearly, he was intruding on a private moment, but he had a hell of a lot of questions on his mind, and he had no intention of leaving without getting some answers. Giving her a moment to compose herself, he glanced around Edmond’s office. It was neat, well-ordered. “Like I said, I didn’t mean to startle you, but your nurse said I could find you here. She also said you come in here every night.”
    He should just stick to the case. “You okay?”
    On the desktop in front of her, a book thicker than Geberth’s text on homicide investigation lay open. Jerking to attention, she slammed the book closed. “I’m fine. How may I help you, Detective Benson?”
    When he furrowed his brow, she added, “All right then…Danny. I’ll drop the formality if you will.”
    “Deal.”
    His eyes swept down her delicate body as she rose from the chair and faced him. She looked so damn fragile. Her white blouse, wrinkled and grimy from a long day tending the sick, hung loosely over her collarbones. Aware of his gaze, she tugged the collar of her shirt close just as a wave of crimson crept across the creamy skin of her throat.
    Averting his eyes from the swell of her breasts, he found himself staring at the lush fullness of her mouth, and even the remorse balling up in his stomach didn’t stop him from imagining what it would be like to lick that mouth until it opened beneath his. He raked a hand through his hair and pasted on his best choirboy face, afraid she could read the salacious thoughts running through his head. He didn’t want to burden her with that little piece of intelligence.
    “You look well,” she said neutrally.
    He had no idea if she bought his act or not. Only a moment ago, her eyes had been brimming with emotion, but now, squaring up with his, they revealed nothing. Now, looking into her eyes was like peering through the windows of a house no longer lit from the inside. He could only guess at the contents. “I’m in