“Take them, Kate. I really want you to have them. They have my initials on them, a good way to prove you slept with me.”
She cupped his face. “And it was so very wonderful. You woke up the passionate woman in me. I feel that, finally, I can embrace that part of myself.”
“Good, it was a pleasure, literally.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. “I’ll never forget what we shared,” she said softly against his ear.
“And I’ll never forget you, Kate.”
She picked up her things, clutching the cuff links in her hand until they pressed hard against her flesh. “See you at work.”
“Right.”
She walked out of his room, out of his house, and out of his life.
It wasn’t until she was safely ensconced in her apartment and seated at the piano, slowly playing chopsticks, that she let the tears fall.
It was better this way. These intense emotions were chaotic and unpredictable, and way too overwhelming. She’d find a nice quiet man to settle down with, one who didn’t have sinfully dark chocolate eyes and hair, and a mouth that could kiss her into a coma.
CHAPTER15
Kate tucked the second cuff link into the buttonhole of the white Oxford shirt she wore. For a moment she looked down at the swirls of Jericho’s initials and let herself miss him. Reaching over, she shimmied into the tight black leather pants and pulled them up over a black lace thong, zipping the front. Grabbing a pair of strappy three-inch sandals, she slipped her feet into them and buckled the straps. She turned to look into the full-length mirror.
Goodbye, Sister Kate.
Her new, short, and sophisticated hairstyle made her feel light and free. She’d shorn her hairandher old way of being. Her eyes were lined in a dark brown, a deep mocha color on her lids. She’d even swept a couple coats of mascara on her lashes. Color bloomed in her cheeks, and, as the last step, she applied a dark red to her lips.
Hello, Daring Kate.
She was ready for Enrique’s and the souvenir meeting of the Women Who Dare.
Jericho had done what he promised. He’d awakened the hot, passionate woman she had trapped inside. The only problem was that the hot, passionate woman wanted Jericho. Only Jericho.
And this daring woman was going to go get him.
It had been ten days since the fire and the arrest of DA Roth. His indictment a day later had been splashed across the headlines. Her name and her part in the arrest had been documented in numerous articles and on the major news channels. She’d received six job offers: five from independent labs and one from the FBI. She decided to take the FBI job.
It would expose her to many different cases.
It would challenge her.
It was a lot of money.
And, if she was no longer Jericho’s coworker…
She smiled as she looked at the cuff links one more time. She loved him. She was miserable without him. Switching jobs was the logical choice. He would never have suggested that to her. That’s the kind of man he was, but with the offer of a lucrative job, there was no reason she shouldn’t take it. The FBI even offered to pay for her to get her PhD in forensic science to sweeten the deal.
The best part was that she’d be in a San Diego-based lab and wouldn’t have to relocate.
Kate grabbed her purse and her keys and went bouncing down the stairs feeling happy-go-lucky.
“Hi, Miss Kate.”
“Hi, Danny. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay, thanks to you. You’re a good friend.”
“You are, too, Danny. I’ll see you Sunday morning, right?”