Hers To Take Read online

  In fact, it would have been easy to forget about A.J. if only he hadn’t been so amazing otherwise. Funny and intelligent were words that easily came to her mind as she executed a couple of wicked right hooks along with a couple of undercuts. Dancing around the bag, she lifted her leg, the hard toned muscle contracting as it whipped out at the bag.

  The San Diego police gym was nearly deserted as most of the patrol cops had reported for roll call. Sienna glanced around the large rectangular structure that had been built to accommodate officers who needed to hone their bodies to tackle the everyday job of taking down perps. But all the weight machines stood idle, the thick mats on the floor empty and the showers quiet.

  She liked the early morning hours when she monopolized the gym. The silence was soothing. A balm before the ugliness of the world intruded on her, a time to be alone with her thoughts.

  There were a lot of pressing things to think about. The case that had blown wide open ended with one of the biggest drug dealers in the city behind bars. The arrest had put a feather in Sienna’s cap, but shutting down his business meant more to her than the prestige. One more bit of slime off the streets.

  Not to mention the fact that in all the activity with the drug squad, Sienna had missed another fitting for her sister’s wedding. With it happening this weekend, she was running out of time.

  Something tugged on Sienna’s heart. Something she wouldn’t name or acknowledge. She felt in awe that her sister had the kind of courage to embrace love without fear. Michelle had always been the type of person who fit in and made friends easily.

  Not the same for Sienna. She’d always been apart, no matter how hard her foster parents, Lynne and Scott, had tried to pull her into their family. Sienna had played it safe and kept her heart sheltered.

  “If you hit that bag any harder, you’ll rip it open.”

  The sound of Lana’s voice made Sienna smile. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it bleacher day? Your leg muscles will get flabby.”

  “Naw. That’s tomorrow.”

  Sienna turned to see Lana walking across the deserted gym. She was dressed in the same attire as Sienna, a black sports bra and tight Lycra shorts. Her long dark hair was tied into a ponytail.

  “Don’t you firefighters have your own facility?” Sienna said with a teasing tone.

  “Sure we do. But you know how much I love to sweat with you.”

  When she reached Sienna, she took hold of the bag. “How did it go Friday night with the SEAL?”

  “You were right, he’s good and Kate knew what she was talking about. He made me scream,” Sienna growled and hit the bag.

  Lana’s eyebrows rose, a knowing look in her eyes. “All night I hope.”

  “No, I got a call from headquarters and had to work.”

  “God, Sienna.”

  “I had a hot fling with the guy, in the elevator no less, so ease up. I was almost naked in public.”

  Lana laughed. “Well, that’s something.”

  “Hey, there’s a lot more to A.J. than just his body.” Sienna huffed out a breath, striking the bag with a front kick that drove Lana a few inches backward. Sienna followed with a quick series of jabs. “A whole lot of dangerous stuff. Sex is easy, Lana, and this thing with A.J. has complicated written all over it.”

  “He’s a SEAL. They’re gone usually. I’m sure he won’t bother you much.”

  He’s bothering me all the time, Sienna thought. She imagined him sprawled on a bed waiting for her. All that sleek, hot muscle on display, lying there hard and ready for her. She remembered his eyes, alive with a personality that drew her almost beyond her will to resist. “I hope not. He’s not someone who would be right for me.”

  “You know this after one encounter with him?” Lana said, bracing herself as Sienna took a few more hard swings at the bag.

  “I know he’s unconventional and that irks me.” She slammed her fist into the bag so hard she felt the vibration up her arm.

  “That’s because you’re a control freak,” Lana said matter of factly and smiled.

  “It takes one to know one,” Sienna countered.

  Lana shrugged. “I don’t deny that I’m a control freak. I think as public servants there’s a lot of pressure on us and we don’t want to fail. Because our failure affects real lives.”

  “Your father still putting pressure on you to make captain?”

  “Nothing changes there. He’s been telling me that since I was old enough to understand. Don’t change the subject. I think we want to control the situation, you with criminals and me with fire.”

  Sienna dropped her arms, suddenly feeling the fatigue in them from the constant punching. Her thighs were screaming from the intense kicking.

  “What else is bothering you?”

  “Nothing.”

  Lana gave her a look full of skepticism. “Come on, Sienna.” When Sienna remained quiet, Lana let go of the bag and put her hands on her hips. “You are so stubborn. Before my sister’s arson and FBI problems, you refused to go clubbing with Kate and me because you were working most of the time. What made you change your mind?”

  Sienna suddenly felt herself struggling with a thick wad of emotion. How could she explain? It was always so hard for her to make connections. “You saved my life, Lana, when you pushed me out from under that burning beam.” She’d never forget how all three of them met. Paige Dempsey, Lana’s sister, had her warehouse torched and was implicated on a fraud issue, involving her soon-to-be husband, FBI agent Justin Connor.

  It wasn’t until Kate had come to Sienna to ask her to help them clear Paige’s name that Sienna had let the two women into her life. She hadn’t regretted one moment with them.

  “You never said anything about it.”

  “I know and I should have. It’s just that…well, I really didn’t know what friendship was until I met you two.”

  “Hell, me and Sister Kate really like you, too.”

  “Ha, Sister Kate. She wasn’t so timid when I was reprimanded on that arson case to clear your sister.” A warmth settled in Sienna’s heart as she remembered how Kate had bristled at Captain Sandoval and went toe to toe with him on her behalf. It was the first time in Sienna’s life that she could remember someone standing up for her, someone who had nothing to gain at all.

  Sienna looked at Lana, then away. Even though she’d known these two women for a year and she had confided in them, she really hadn’t told them how much they meant to her. Lana and Kate had stood by her then and had continued to stand by her ever since. She owed them—they brought laughter and camaraderie into her life. Suddenly, she couldn’t seem to be quiet. “Kate was like a protective pit bull. We were a team during that investigation and I need you two.” The declaration made Lana smile, and she hugged Sienna for a quick, brief moment.

  “Kate was awesome. The both of you were awesome. Thanks to you two, Paige was cleared,” Lana said, grabbing at the bag to stop the swinging motion.

  “Have Paige and Justin set the date?” Sienna asked.

  “No, not yet, but they’re working on it.” Lana stepped forward. “I’m glad you told me all this.”

  Sienna nodded and met Lana’s gaze. She hit the bag hard. “I find it difficult to confide in other people. I was alone a lot when I was young, before the Thompsons took me in.”

  “By design?”

  “Yes.”

  “Friends are there for each other and Kate and I need you in our lives, too. So stop sandbagging me and tell me what else is bothering you.”

  Sienna felt a twinge of reluctance. The thought of opening herself to the gutsy firefighter made her stomach churn. She took a deep breath and said, “I missed another fitting.”

  Lana let go of a breath. “It shouldn’t be a problem, unless you’re doing it on purpose.”

  Sienna hit the bag with a combination of vicious hooks and jabs. Her voice shook with the exertion. “I really want to be in her wedding. Even though we’re seven years apart, we’re pretty close.

>   “Isn’t it the third time you’ve missed it? If I’m not mistaken, the wedding is this weekend.”

  “I warned her that it would be hard for me to plan anything. Cops’ hours weren’t normal.”

  “Are you going to reschedule?” Lana asked gently.

  “As soon as I can.”

  “Parker!”

  It was her captain’s voice and for a moment she was disoriented. She looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that she still had an hour before reporting for duty.

  “This looks really official. I should go, but call me if you want to talk,” Lana said, laying her hand on Sienna’s arm. “Anytime you want to talk.” She turned and headed out of the gym.

  Sienna gave the bag one last punch, turned around and came face to face with Lieutenant A. J. Camacho dressed officially in his pristine white uniform. He was shaved, impeccably groomed and had his hat tucked under his arm.

  In that uniform, A.J. glowed with fierce masculinity, so much so that she was sure she wasn’t the first woman to go all doe-eyed when she saw him. Her reaction to him was too intense, out of all proportion. It shook her to the core. And the last thing she needed now was a man who drove her crazy. So crazy, she couldn’t think straight.

  Caught off guard at his presence, Sienna tensed. Her eyes narrowed and focused on him while every muscle in his body tightened as he became alert. It was a heightened instinctual response to danger and she wasn’t sure he was even aware of it.

  It bothered her that she should react to him this way and she took a confrontational stance, spurred on by his official dress. “I feel like I should salute.”

  “Gauging by the look on your face, I’d say it’d be the one-finger kind.” He smiled and tilted his head slightly, watching her like a sleek panther mildly intrigued by a mouse.

  And she had no doubt at all that he was as dangerous as that panther and the fact that he thought her as ineffectual as a mouse irritated her, too.

  She smiled back sweetly, but her eyes were hard. “No doubt. Did you forget to tell me something when you were here Friday?”

  “He’s working with you.”

  The words registered, but they hadn’t come from A.J. Her captain was still standing nearby. “What?” she asked, dazed. “Did I hear you right?”

  “Nothing wrong with your hearing, Parker.”

  “Why, exactly?” She looked at her captain in frustration. How could he saddle her with the very man Sienna wanted to be miles away from?

  “He’s being assigned to us to work this gun case with you. The navy doesn’t want all those weapons floating around on the streets, either. He’s your special liaison purely in an official capacity,” Raoul said.

  “I can handle this case without the U.S. Navy breathing down my neck.”

  “I have complete confidence in you, Parker. But this comes from the mayor. He wants those assault weapons off the street. We have no choice. It’s now a joint investigation.” She could see the apology and the sympathy in his eyes, but it did nothing to alleviate the building anger.

  Captain Sandoval turned and left, the gym door closing on the seething silence.

  She glared at him. With a one-word epithet, she pulled off the boxing gloves and with deliberate precision threw each one at him. He fended off each glove automatically.

  Then she marched past him intending to take a long shower. Maybe the hot water would help her deal with the fact that the man whom she couldn’t resist and hoped to never see again was going to be tagging her practically 24/7. Short of committing professional suicide by refusing to work with him, she had to suck it up and bite her tongue.

  “Sienna, wait.”

  He grabbed her arm. Cold fear and expectant heat both washed through her. Fear of herself and the unaccustomed intensity of her desires; heat because where this man was concerned, she couldn’t seem to control that desire.

  He drew her toward him. “Hands off, hotshot.”

  He flashed her a look petulant and dangerous. Too much like Lucifer brooding on some secret fantasy of rebellion. “You didn’t have any problem with me Friday night.”

  Something in Sienna snapped. She pivoted, twisted out of his grasp, and took him down to the mat. Following him down, she pressed her knee into his sternum.

  His hat flew from his grasp and the air woofed out of his lungs with a satisfying sound. A.J. looked up at her and spread his arms, his palms up as if her anger was a palpable thing he had to ward off.

  “Whoa, Sienna,” he gasped.

  “I don’t like to be ambushed, Lieutenant.”

  “Can I explain or are you going to teach me a lesson?”

  “Are you mocking me?” She glared at him, pressing her knee a little deeper into his hard flesh. Remembering how his sleek belly and hard muscled thighs had felt against her skin.

  “Hell, no. I believe you could do it.” He rested his head and shoulders against the mat to release some of the pressure against his chest.

  “Explain why you’re really here,” she ordered tightly.

  “You told me yourself that my brother could be implicated in a theft of guns.”

  “You went behind my back, mister.”

  “Yes,” he said emphatically, “I did.”

  A.J. took a deep breath. Sienna could feel the movement of his hard body beneath hers and for a moment she got lost in the sensation.

  “If you think that I’m going to wait around and do nothing when David may be in danger, you’re crazy. I had my stepfather, Senator Anthony Buckner call the Secretary of the Navy, who called the mayor, who called the commissioner, who called your captain.”

  “It’s not like your brother’s a suspect. He may have information that could help my investigation.” She paused. “Why don’t you just call him and have him come down to division HQ? I can hear what he has to say and you can go on your merry way.”

  “I would if I could, but he’s missing.” He watched her as the words sank in, a solemn expression darkening his eyes.

  She released all the pressure on his chest, her heart lurching.

  “My stepfather and mother are frantic. My brother’s commanding officer called. He’s officially UL.”

  “But I thought you said he wasn’t UL on Friday.” She removed her leg and got off him. Standing, she offered him her hand.

  “On Friday he wasn’t, but he didn’t report for duty on Saturday.” He looked at her hand warily, but then placed his in hers. With his help, she hauled him to his feet.

  Having complete control over him on the mat was preferable to standing in front of him. He was taller than her and made her feel every inch the woman. Sienna explained, “You and I both know that coincidences rarely happen. I was very eager to talk to your brother because he was parked in that area and he’s in the military. It seemed to me that there was a good chance he’s somehow involved.”

  “So Friday you were using your calm, cool, I-just-want-to-question him tone to keep me from being alarmed.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and for the first time, Sienna saw the worry before he masked it. She wanted to console him. She had the overpowering urge to touch him but refrained. “I’ve read your brother’s file. He’s a model Marine. Doesn’t seem like the type who’d be involved in stolen weapons.”

  “He’d die before he’d betray the Corps. He wouldn’t ever worry my mother, unless…” He trailed off, this time unable to hide the worry in his eyes.

  Sienna finished for him. “He was unable to call.”

  “Right.”

  Sienna took a cleansing breath, stubbornly holding on to a little bit of her anger. “I don’t like it when you go behind my back. Okay.”

  “I won’t apologize for trying to help my brother and I’ll do it any way I can.”

  “Just stick to the rules from now on and we won’t have any friction.” Sienna turned away from the sheer magnetism of the man and walked over to pick up her boxing gloves.

  “Rules and regulations can hamper your thinking. So
metimes you have to think outside the box,” he said softly, coming to stand behind her.

  He was going to be difficult and troublesome. There was no getting around it. She turned and poked him in the chest. “Let’s get one thing straight between us. On this investigation, it’s my way. There will be no hotdogging. You will follow my lead.”

  He studied her with an unnerving, assessing look, as if he were seeing something no one else could see. Sienna swallowed and released his gaze, an unsettling flutter of awareness unfolding in her chest. Never back down, her brain was telling her. Let him know who’s the boss. But for the first time in her life she tried to retreat. He crowded her.

  “I did a pretty good job of following your lead last time we were together,” A.J. intoned, his voice a husky rasp.

  He was still watching her with a smile on his face, but it was an odd, distracted smile, as if his thoughts were focused on something else. Faltering under his intense scrutiny, she backed toward the gym exit that would lead her to the showers and safety.

  A shiver ran down the full length of her spine. “Now that you’ve shoved your way into this case, it wouldn’t be smart to engage in any…”

  Sienna didn’t realize that she was close to the exit until her back hit the wall.

  He held her gaze, the glimmer in his devastating blue eyes intensifying. “Hot sex?”

  “Exactly. I didn’t really expect to see you again.” She had nowhere else to go and A.J. pressed against the length of her body.

  “But you wanted to.”

  “Yes, I did,” she said, reluctantly.

  “So why let a good thing go to waste? You know where I stand. I’m a navy man through and through. And you…” He hesitated.

  “I’m what?” she asked warily.

  His eyes dropped to her mouth and Sienna’s heart did a full gainer with a twist. “You want to stay in your safe little world, but you got a taste of what it’s like to step outside those barriers, and you liked it. Didn’t you?”

  She swallowed when the back of his fingers caressed her cheek. He cupped her chin and tilted her head up. “Yes, I liked it. It was exciting. So what are you proposing?”