I looked at him and saw he was looking at the door.

I turned my gaze to the door and it was opened. Hank, Lee and Luke were al standing there in various amused-male poses, watching us.

Shit.

“What?” I asked, deciding to go with uppity.

“Enjoying yourself?” Hank asked, his mouth twitching.

“No,” I said angrily. “I’m dead. Now I have to run al the way back to my lifeless body and get my stuff. The orcs and trol s wil be hanging around and we’l have to fight them and I can’t do that without my good armor. I’l have to use the crappy stuff I have stashed in my trunk. I had a real y good sword and helmet and now they’re gone. That just plain sucks.”

Hank stared at me.

Then he said, “You do know I don’t know what the f**k you’re talkin’ about.”

“Diablo,” I replied, like that explained it al .

He stared at me.

“Nothing. Forget it.” I turned to Brody, “Wil this run on my laptop?” I asked.

“Sure, if you’ve got a good one,” Brody replied.

I looked back to Hank. “We need to go to the mal , I’ve got to buy this game.”

“Maybe we’l do that tomorrow, Sunshine.”

“Now!” I snapped.

“Uh-oh,” Brody said. “I’ve seen this before. It’s not pretty.

Soon she’l be playing al night on the Internet.” My head swung back to Brody. “You can play on the Internet?” I breathed.

“Now’s a good time to shut up Brody,” Lee warned.

Hank walked into the room and grabbed my hand.

“Let’s go, warrior princess. Time for dinner.”

“I wasn’t a warrior princess, I was an assassin,” I told him.

Hank smiled at me.

My heart fluttered.

I ral ied. “Anyway, we just had lunch,” I said as Hank pul ed me out of the chair.

“Five hours ago,” Luke put in.

I stopped and stared at Luke, openmouthed.

“No shit?” I asked.

He shook his head, the amused-male pose stil in ful force.

“Holy cow,” I said.

The game had sucked five hours out of me and it felt like five minutes.

I turned to Brody. “I don’t think Diablo is good for me.”

“Some can take it, some can’t. It’s the wil of Diablo,” Brody replied.

I nodded at the profound sageness of his reply.

Hank tugged me toward the door and I could swear he was laughing.

“Later,” Brody cal ed as we walked out.

Chapter Sixteen

Prayers

Hank went to get Shamus and I went to the safe room to pack my stuff.

I was standing at the reclining chair, shoving the last bits into the bag when Shamus ran to my side.

“Hey boy,” I said, bending at the waist to give him an ear scratch that turned into a hand wash from Shamus’s overexcited tongue. Apparently, the last five hours away from me had been doggie-traumatic for my furry chocolate boy.

“Ooo,” I cooed. “Did Auntie Roxie leave you with the scary, badass dudes in the boring room? Poor fel a.” I felt Hank’s heat at my back before his arm slid around my middle and I straightened. His chin came to my neck and shifted my hair, then his lips were there. Shamus sat on my feet.

“Have a good day?” Hank said against my neck.

I shivered, then turned in his arm, his head came up and I looked up at him. Shamus shifted to sit with his body leaning against both of us.

“Yeah,” I told Hank, surprising myself because I meant it.

“Good,” he said, and I could tel he meant it too.

I looked at him. He looked his usual handsome but tired.

He hadn’t had a ful night’s sleep, interrupted or not. He hadn’t had his food delivered, even by a snotty bitch. He hadn’t spent his afternoon being a make-believe, kickass assassin and kil ing make-believe orcs. He’d spent his day being a real life cop and going to ugly crime scenes.

“How was your day?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“Shit,” he replied.

Yes, I was right. I knew the answer and I felt something happening to me, something drawing me to him and, against the directives of my mind (if not my heart), my body leaned into his. His other arm came around me.

“I guess it’s not fun, going to the scene of a homicide at three o’clock in the morning.”

“No. As many times as I’ve done it, it’s stil not fun.” As many times as he’d done it.

Good God.

Before I could stop myself, I lifted my hand and, with my middle finger, I traced the lower edge of his bottom lip. I watched my finger touch him and then I looked into his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I whispered.

His eyes changed. I couldn’t describe it, they warmed, softened and I felt the change in a physical way, straight to the deepest depths of my bel y.

Then his head bent toward me, my hand slid across the stubble of his cheek and he kissed me, no messing around, it was ful on hot and heavy with lots of tongue.

When he was done, his mouth trailed to my ear as I held on tight, trying to recover from the kiss. My hand that was at his lip was around his neck, my fingers in his hair, my other arm was wrapped around his waist.

At my ear, his voice hoarse with something—passion, maybe just emotion—he murmured, “I want to f**k you right now. I want to slide inside you and erase this shitty day.”

“Whisky,” I breathed, not intending to say anything more, his words had robbed me of speech.

Did he honestly think I could do that for him?

One of his hands went under the hem of my sweater and into the waistband of my corduroys. The other one slid over my behind and he pressed me into him. I could feel his hardness against me.

Yes, I guessed he thought I could do that for him.

And that thought overwhelmed me.

It al hit me then. His job, his responsibility, three o’clock phone cal s, a gun on his belt, the shit he sees, the people he deals with. Then, after a day of that, going home to his house and his dog and, once there, he would be alone. No one to talk to about it or just help him forget.

It seemed ludicrous, a man like Hank being alone, he could be with anyone he chose.

He probably didn’t even care.

But I cared.

Oh shit.

I was seriously in trouble.

Before I could process how much trouble I was in, his tongue traced the curve of my ear and I melted further into him. He twisted, taking me with him. Shamus scurried away from our legs and then moseyed to lie down by the door.