THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Cynthia Eden Page B

tightly together that his jaw ached.
    “Or we can go with option two,” she said, her voice like sin. “We can forget being partners, just be lovers—and there will be no more questions asked from either of us.”
    His heart slammed into his chest. The blood in his veins heated and seemed to pump even faster, harder.
    “There’s another option,” Cooper forced himself to say. “Option three. We stay partners and we become lovers.” He paused, long enough to let those words sink in. “That’s the option I want.”
    She wet her lips. “Me, too...”
    Then that was the option they would take. And, maybe...maybe Gabrielle never had to learn the truth about him. If he could keep her away from the EOD, then Gabrielle could keep believing he was just a P.I. who lived in her brownstone.
    They could keep being partners...and lovers.
    He backed away from her. For now. She skirted toward the door and stepped into the lobby. But then she paused. Her hand reached for his. Her fingers curled around his.
    The touch was so innocent and light. An ache grew in his chest. “Gabrielle,” he began, but then Cooper saw the man rushing toward him. The man with a badge clipped on his belt and a burning glare on his face.
    Detective Carmichael had just joined the party.
    “Lane?” Gabrielle didn’t release Cooper’s hand. “Do you have news? Did you find out about—”
    The detective braked to a hard stop right in front of her. “Why didn’t you call me?” He pulled Gabrielle away from Cooper. “I just heard about the break-in! Damn it, Gabby, you should have let me know right away! I would have rushed over!”
    And Cooper realized that all along, the detective had responded a little too personally to Gabrielle.
    I’ve had one lover.
    Jealousy thickened within Cooper. He had the feeling he was looking at Gabrielle’s ex. He should have seen it before.
    “You’re homicide,” Gabrielle said as she glanced around the lobby. They’d attracted a few stares. “This was a B&E. Cooper said he had friends who could help and they—”
    Carmichael sent a withering glare Cooper’s way. “I’m sure he has plenty of friends. Just like the friend who managed to get him hauled out of my precinct last night.”
    Cooper gave him a grim smile. Get your hands off her, cop.
    Carmichael maneuvered Gabrielle to the right, getting them in a private corner. Cooper followed right with him.
    “You and I are both connecting the dots, Gabby,” Carmichael said.
    Cooper hated the way the other man said Gabby . Her name was Gabrielle. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.
    “It’s no simple B&E. You know it. The guy is after you.” He rolled back his shoulders and finally let her go. “I want you to consider moving into a safe house.”
    “No.” Her immediate response. “I have my own guard—my partner.” Her gaze darted to Cooper. “I’m safer with him than I’d be anywhere else.”
    “With anyone else,” Cooper clarified. Because the cop wasn’t going to keep Gabrielle safe. Cooper was.
    You’re an ex for a reason, buddy.
    Cooper was suddenly determined to find out that reason.
    “What do you really know about him?” Carmichael demanded as he rounded to glare at Cooper. “Because I’ve been digging into your past, Marshall.”
    Cooper stared levelly back at the man. Was he supposed to be worried? He knew that his service records were shielded, courtesy of the EOD.
    “You were in a boarding school until you were eighteen. Then...somehow...even though your mother was dead and you had no other relatives, you got a paid ride from an unknown benefactor. Four years at Yale.”
    The detective had been digging. But he still hadn’t discovered anything particularly impressive.
    “Four years, then you vanished. Not a blip on the radar until a year ago when you came back to D.C. and started working as a P.I.”
    He hadn’t vanished. He’d enlisted. And unless Carmichael got a whole lot more authorization, he wouldn’t ever see