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  She went ahead and unbuttoned her shirt. Then she moved around while looking in the mirror to make sure it wasn’t too revealing. It was close, but you couldn’t really see anything unless she bent down. She would remember that. The doorbell rang. She took a deep breath. Here I go. God, please let Boggs like what she sees.

  As always, Toni looked out the peephole before opening the door. It was a little distorted, but she could tell Boggs was wearing black jeans, a white T-shirt and a soft black leather jacket. She looked incredible to Toni and she found herself biting her lower lip in anticipation. She opened the door and looked into Boggs’s green eyes.

  Boggs started to take a step inside and froze. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. She just stood there staring at Toni.

  “Are you coming in?” Toni asked, thrilled at Boggs’s reaction. She’d noticed.

  Boggs blinked several times and then stepped inside. “Holy shit, Toni.”

  Toni kept her eyes locked on Boggs’s and took a small step toward her. “Do you like it?” she whispered.

  Boggs nodded several times. Then for the first time Toni saw Boggs’s gaze trail down to her chest. A smile formed on her lips. Toni saw Boggs swallow hard. Toni took Boggs’s hands in hers and pulled her closer. Not close enough to touch, but just close enough for Boggs to get a great view down her shirt.

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  Copyright© 2007 by Terri Breneman

  Bella Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 10543

  Tallahassee, FL 32302

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First Edition

  Editor: Christi Cassidy

  Cover Designer: Stephanie Solomon-Lopez

  ISBN-10: 1-931513-99-6

  ISBN-13: 978-1-931513-99-7

  Acknowledgments

  This book would not have been possible without the love and support of many people. A very special thanks to Christi Cassidy, my editor, who continues to teach me. A huge thank you to Robin Schultz, R.N., who continues to give me medical insight along with her friendship. I would also like to thank Ernie Birch, my weapons expert, and Lucy Liggett for her knowledge of state law. But most of all, I thank my partner, Cat, for continuing to believe in me and support me on every level. She makes the sky bluer and the grass greener in my world, and for that I am forever grateful.

  About the Author

  Terri Breneman was born and raised in a suburb of Kansas City. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and sociology from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. While living in Germany she earned a master’s degree in counseling. As a psychotherapist specializing in borderline personality disorders, she worked with high-risk adolescents, juvenile sex offenders and their victims. She also worked with multiple personality disorders. She decided to change careers and attended St. Louis University School of Law. After graduation she opened her own practice. One year of that was quite enough and she was fortunate to find her current job as a research and writing attorney, working in federal criminal law.

  Terri lives with her partner, Cat, in St. Louis, where they share their home with three cats—Dexter, Sam and Felix. The cat featured in this series, Mr. Rupert, was a longtime companion. Rupert Eugene died in 2003 at the age of 17. He is still loved and missed terribly.

  Borderline: 1) not fully classifiable as one thing or its opposite; 2) not quite up to what is usual, standard or expected; 3) personality disorder with a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships varying between over idealization and devaluation, impulsiveness, and a lack of control of anger.

  Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Ed., Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2003.

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed., Text Revision. Washington, D.C. American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

  Chapter 1

  The woman sat at her kitchen island, sipping coffee and planning her day. There was still so much left to do and just not enough hours in the day. Still, it would be worth the wait. She wanted everything to be perfect for the love of her life. She closed her eyes and imagined the two of them snuggled together on the couch watching their favorite movie. Or drinking coffee together in the kitchen while muffins baked in the oven. Or better yet, making love for hours on new silk sheets.

  She was so filled with excitement she could barely sit still. The time was almost right. As soon as she finished rehabbing the loft they could finally live together as a couple. She giggled at the thought of all the fun they would have and all the secrets they would share. Mmm. The woman of her dreams was smart, beautiful and kind. She was also extremely shy. In fact, she had never even voiced her love and admiration to the woman, but she didn’t need to. The woman knew. She had known from the first time they met and they actually shook hands. Her hand was so soft. She could tell by the look in her eyes that it was love at first sight. And that was good enough, at least for now. They didn’t need words. At least not yet.

  She looked at her watch. Time to go to work. She closed her eyes one more time and imagined kissing her lover good-bye before going to work. Mmm. Kissing her woman. Her Toni. She could hardly wait.

  Toni Barston pulled out the bottom drawer of her old gray metal desk, leaned back in her chair and propped up her feet. She closed her eyes for just a minute. She was having difficulty concentrating this afternoon, so she attempted to center herself and regain her focus. It didn’t work.

  She worked at the Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office in Fairfield, Missouri. Fairfield was a growing city with a population of over one million. The city had its fair share of restaurants, minor league sports teams, museums and, of course, crime. On her desk in her small office was a photograph of her cat, Mr. Rupert. He had been with her longer than any human and seeing his face made her feel warm inside. She looked at the wall and smiled when she saw her law degree hanging there. She hadn’t decided to go to law school until she was thirty years old and she was still getting used to the idea of being an attorney. Her old job as a psychotherapist, however, seemed much less complicated at this moment.

  She looked back down at her desk. The number of cases stacked there was close to unmanageable and she was feeling a little overwhelmed. She had only been on the job eight months and was just beginning to get the hang of misdemeanor cases. Now she had her first felony trial coming up and she was a little nervous. It wouldn’t have been too bad if that was all she had to worry about, but, of course, this was the real world. She still had to contend with a variety of other cases in various stages, as well as life in general.

  She took a deep breath, yawned and stretched. This resulted in untucking her silk blouse from her slacks. Since she had kicked her shoes off an hour ago, she felt a bit disheveled, which made her smile in a completely different kind of way. Another reason she had difficulty concentrating was Victoria Boggsworth. Everyone called her Boggs and she was the best investigator in the prosecutor’s office. She was about five feet six and her light brown hair was short and stylish. She had beautiful green eyes, her voice deep and a little gravelly. At thirty-nine years old she was still turning heads. Boggs was also the star shortstop of the department’s softball team. And Toni was in lust.

  Toni and Boggs had gotten close during a very strange investigation last fall. A serial killer had escaped from custody and Toni’s boss had assigned Boggs as a bodyguard. The two attempted to remain professional during this ordeal but failed miserably. They began dating shortly thereafter but the time they
’d been able to spend together was not nearly enough for Toni. It was a difficult situation for her. Although she was by no means closeted, she was well aware of the homophobia within the good ol’ boys’ network of the legal world. She was also aware of the downside of dating someone you work with. Things could get messy and uncomfortable if the relationship went sour. But none of that mattered whenever she saw Boggs. She just couldn’t get enough of that woman.

  Toni shook her head and again tried to push the image of Boggs from her mind. She looked out her window to the parking lot. Nothing unusual. She’d been having a strange feeling the past couple weeks that someone was watching her. She never saw anyone but the feeling wouldn’t go away. Maybe she was just being paranoid, she told herself. But it isn’t paranoia if it’s true. Toni sighed and picked up the Johnson file from her desk.

  David Johnson was charged with home burglary and although it looked like a pretty good case, Toni didn’t feel right about it. Maybe she just had too many other things on her mind.

  She read over the police report again. One of the back windows of the house had been broken and the crime lab had found a piece of cloth on a broken shard of glass. There was also a blood drop on the windowsill, but the sample was too small to test for DNA. The burglar had ransacked the bedroom and study and had broken a lamp and a vase. Judging from the crime photos, the scene looked more like the work of an amateur rather than a professional burglar. The items taken included a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, part of a coin collection, PlayStation 2, a DVD player and forty dollars in cash. The police report noted that a neighbor had seen a green Volkswagen Beetle in the driveway the night of the burglary and had remembered the personalized license plate. It said “GREEN.” The homeowners were away for the weekend and did not report the break-in until Sunday night.

  Toni reread one of the supplemental police reports. The suspect drove the car seen by the neighbors and when police went to his apartment to question him, they noticed a cut on his hand. He consented to a search of his upscale apartment and police found all of the items missing from the home. The twenty-one-year-old kid was arrested immediately but made no statement. His attorney bonded him out in record time.

  Although Toni had only been an assistant prosecuting attorney for a short time, something didn’t seem right about a run-of-the-mill burglar being bonded out so quickly. The process usually took a little longer. That had been a couple months ago and she still didn’t have a good feeling about the case.

  A week after David Johnson’s arrest, the preliminary hearing had been held in front of Associate Judge Linda Allen. Johnson’s attorney, Butch Henley, had filed a motion to suppress evidence based on involuntary consent to search his apartment. Judge Allen had quickly denied his motion and the hearing had continued. Toni brought in one of the homeowners to show that Johnson did not have permission to enter the home. She also questioned him regarding the value of the property taken to establish that it was well over five hundred dollars. This made the burglary a felony.

  Toni had put one of the police officers on the stand. Officer Kelly Hardson was new on the job, but she did fine. She quickly went through the process of identifying the owner of the Volkswagen, the questioning of David Johnson and his consent to search the apartment. Butch Henley asked only a few vague questions. At the end of the hearing Judge Allen found probable cause had been established and set the trial date. The trial would be in front of Circuit Judge Timothy Smith. Toni remembered that Butch Henley had smiled and winked at her after the hearing. It had made her uncomfortable.

  The trial was now only three days away. Toni had written her opening statement and taken notes from her witnesses. She felt her case would go well, but she wasn’t sure what to expect from Butch Henley. In the last few months she had learned that he was a high-powered defense attorney and that David Johnson was the son of a corporate bigwig in Fairfield. Her office had been willing to let Johnson plead to a lesser charge, but his attorney insisted on going to trial. Toni wasn’t sure whether he was just that cocky about his chances of getting an acquittal or if David’s father was trying to teach his son a lesson. Either way, Toni thought, the trial should only last a day.

  Toni closed the file and glanced at her watch. Almost three o’clock and that meant Boggs would be arriving any minute for their “meeting.” She pulled out her little mirror from her desk drawer and checked her hair. She retucked her blouse and slipped on her shoes. Good enough. She popped a mint in her mouth.

  Two minutes later Boggs appeared at her door. She was carrying a stack of files and she winked at Toni before sitting in the only available chair in her small office. “Hey, Toni.” She smiled. “I want to get through these cases pretty quick. I’ve got a hot date tonight.”

  Toni blushed. They were going out to dinner tonight. “I’ll see what I can do. I’d hate to interfere with your love life.”

  It took over an hour to go through the pending files and decide what action needed to be taken on each case. Toni was usually all business during the workday, but it was sometimes difficult to remain professional with Boggs in the room. She closed the last file and looked into those sexy green eyes. Boggs winked at her again.

  “Stop that,” Toni said. “We have a deal, remember? Work is work.”

  “What did I do?” Boggs leaned back in her chair and grinned. Her dark blue blazer fell open and Toni could see she was wearing her gun in a shoulder harness today. Even though Boggs was wearing a white blouse, pressed khakis and loafers, Toni was imagining her with much less. She could almost feel Boggs’s powerful arms holding her. Undressing her. Making love to her. Toni blinked away the image and saw that Boggs was still grinning.

  “You’re making this very difficult,” Toni stammered. “Stop looking like, well, like that!”

  Boggs straightened up in the chair. “Okay, okay. I know. No fooling around at work. Why don’t you go to the bathroom and pull yourself together while I look over the Johnson file. I know you’re a little nervous about the trial.”

  Toni smiled and nodded. “Be back in a sec. Thanks.” She handed Boggs the file on her way out.

  Toni glanced in the mirror and shook her head. Her face was flushed. She checked the stalls and thankfully she was alone. God. That woman can get me hot with just a look. I’m a mess. Thank goodness the day was almost over.

  Toni was patting her neck and face with a wet paper towel when she heard the bathroom door open and close. She was barely able to turn before Boggs’s arms were around her, pulling her close.

  “Are you crazy?” Toni gasped. “What if someone walks in?”

  Boggs pulled her back toward the door. “If someone tries to come in, the door will bump into me.”

  She pulled Toni close and kissed her. Toni could feel her knees go weak.

  “If someone comes in, just head for one of the stalls and I’ll go out,” Boggs whispered in her ear.

  Toni could only nod. The feeling of Boggs’s breath in her ear had almost sent her through the ceiling. Her entire body hungered for Boggs as she wrapped her arms around her. She felt Boggs’s hands slide down her back and her body shift as her leg pushed between Toni’s. The kiss began slow but grew more passionate quickly. Toni forgot about her work-only rule and pulled Boggs closer. Her breathing quickened and her heart was pounding. She wanted more of Boggs. Much more. Boggs’s hand had just slipped inside Toni’s blouse when the sound of the doorknob turning acted like a small explosion between the two, sending Boggs backward toward the door. Toni quickly spun around and was closing a stall door just as one of the secretaries, Cindy Brown, opened the bathroom door. It opened only partway, bumping into Boggs.

  “Oh, sorry,” Cindy said as she realized she had bumped Boggs.

  “That’s okay,” Boggs said as she left the bathroom. “No harm.”

  Boggs was sitting in Toni’s office when Toni appeared five minutes later, her face still warm. She sat at her desk. “What the hell were you thinking? We almost got caught.”

&nbsp
; “You drive me crazy,” Boggs murmured. “And we didn’t get caught. Hey, what took you so long to come back?”

  Toni rolled her eyes. “Cindy wouldn’t shut up. I walked out of the stall as soon as you left and washed my hands. She was fixing her hair in front of the mirror and she just started talking. I didn’t want to be rude, but I swear she’s in the bathroom constantly. At least seventy-five percent of the time I go in, she shows up and she always wants to talk. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to chat in a public restroom.”

  “What do you like to do?”

  “Jeez, Boggs,” Toni said, blushing. “Get the hell out of here. I need to go over a couple things before I go home. I’ve got a date tonight too and I need time to get ready.”

  Boggs grinned. “Do you want to go back to The Cat’s Meow?” It was a new gay bar in town. They had gone to the grand opening a few weeks ago. The food was typical bar food, but it was good and not very expensive.

  Toni nodded.

  Boggs stood and leaned over Toni’s desk. She was only inches away. “I’ll pick you up at seven,” she whispered. She left without saying anything else.

  Toni pulled out her mirror. Her face was still flushed and her body still tingled as she thought about that kiss. Damn that woman. She checked her schedule and the docket for tomorrow. Everything was in order. She looked out her window and again felt as though someone was watching her. She shrugged off the feeling and began packing up her briefcase. She wasn’t going to get anything more done tonight. Might as well go home. She passed the bathroom and smiled. For as long as I live I’ll never be able to go into that bathroom and not remember that moment. As she walked through the offices at Metro she noticed that all the secretaries were gone. I must not be the only one getting out of here a bit early.