“When I saw that hurt look on your face. I couldn’t bear it because I care about you on so many levels.”
“So, I think we’re on the same wavelength. We both care. Where do we go from here?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay, Lana. We don’t need to map out every nuance and plan for everything. Just don’t leave me out of the loop.”
“I won’t do it again.”
“So, we’re okay?” he asked, wanting to end the animosity between them.
“Yes.” She touched his face, looking at him in awe.
“What?” he asked.
“I haven’t been that turned on or that satisfied ever. It seemed to me that we were both on a path to something special.
“You aren’t kidding. I can’t say you bring out the worst in me, because, sweetheart, there wasn’t anything bad about what we just shared.”
“Sean, the bad boy lover. Hard for me to get my brain around that one. You’re mild-mannered by day, but a man of steel at night.”
He laughed and drew her over his body. “I’ll show you how hard I can get.”
“Now you’re talking,” she purred.
* * *
The next morning as Sean left, he passed her father coming up the walk. They nodded to each other warily and Lana closed her eyes.
She’d totally forgotten her father was going to help her tune-up her car today.
When he came into the house, he gave her his we-need-to-talk look and Lana said,” Don’t start.”
“Who was that?”
She held up her hand to stop him. “Dad. I said, don’t start.”
“He looked familiar,” her father said, his eyes narrowing in concentration.
Lana sighed. He would remember. Her father’s memory was excellent. “I work with him.”
He gave a surprised grunt and looked out the window as Sean got into his car. “At the eighty-second? Are you crazy?”
“I think so,” Lana said under her breath.
Her father was sober as he regarded her, a worried look in his eyes. “You shouldn’t get involved with anyone on the squad. How can you effectively lead if you’ve slept with…”
“Dad, drop it. Don’t you think I’m smart enough to know that what you’re saying is correct? Just let me deal with it in my own way.” She hadn’t admitted it to herself until her father had spelled it out for her. Now she couldn’t deny the truth. She would eventually have to break it off with Sean.
He rubbed at his forehead in a frustrated move Lana knew too well. “You’re not thinking, Lana. It has everything…”
Lana glared at him. “Look, I’m not up to doing the car today. Can we do it some other time?”
“Is that a subtle way of asking me to leave?”
“I don’t want to argue with you, Dad. Don’t worry about my commitment to becoming captain. That hasn’t changed. I won’t let anything stand in the way of realizing my dream, I’ll handle it when the time comes.”
After her father left the house, Lana sat down on the rumpled bed and put her head in her hands. What a complicated mess. Why couldn’t she have Sean and be captain, too? With a sense of uneasiness, she knew that somewhere down the road, she might have to choose. Why did she have to sacrifice him to her ambitions?