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  Arching her back, she moved against him, tempting him to take her.

  “Look at me,” he whispered hoarsely.

  She realized that her eyes had shut in anticipation. Opening them now, she looked at him, her breath catching in her throat.

  “Better,” he told her.

  His eyes held hers as he slowly entered her, then he sealed their mouths together before the final ascending dance began.

  His hips moved slowly, then faster, increasing the tempo with each passing second.

  Her heart pounded wildly as they continued to goad one another on until, finally, they captured the utmost peak, causing wild explosions to overtake them, shaking the very foundations of this world that they had created for just the two of them.

  This time, she would have cried out his name if he hadn’t sealed his mouth to hers at the very last moment. He had anticipated her.

  Toni felt her head swirling when he finally drew back and then slid off her body.

  Dugan gathered her to him and held her body against him, his heart still pounding, threatening to break out of his very chest.

  It took him more than a few moments to recapture his breath and a few more before he was able to begin to breathe normally.

  He felt her laughing against his chest and he looked at her quizzically. “What?”

  “You guard everyone this closely?” she asked, her eyes all but dancing as she watched him.

  “Only a special few,” he replied solemnly.

  “Oh?” She shifted so that her head rested on his chest. “How few?”

  He thought a moment. “I can count them on one finger of one hand.”

  Toni propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him more closely. “You’re telling me that you’ve never done this before?” she asked, her tone ringing with skepticism.

  “Oh, I’ve done this before,” he told her. “Just never with someone I’m supposed to be guarding. You’re the first in that category.”

  She smiled at him. He could feel her smile against his chest. “I’m glad.”

  “Well, I’m not,” he answered. When she raised her head to look at him, he said, “I’m supposed to have more willpower than that.”

  For a moment, she’d thought he was telling her he had regrets about this, but now she understood what he meant. Her smile grew wider.

  “Haven’t you heard, Cavanaugh?” she asked. “I’m irresistible.”

  He sighed. “Just my luck.”

  “Yes,” she answered, moving so that she wound up all but looming over him. “Just your luck,” she repeated, lowering her mouth to his.

  “Hey, wait a second,” he said, taking hold of her face and holding her back. “You’re going to have to give me a minute here. I’m good, but I’m not exactly superhuman, you know.”

  “No? Are you sure?” she asked, nipping his lower lip playfully before drawing back. “You could have fooled me.” She kissed him again, then once again drew back. “How long do you think this revitalizing process is going to take?” She lowered her hand so that her fingertips began stroking him with slow, deliberate movements. “An hour? Thirty minutes? Or maybe a little less than that?” she teased, her eyes laughing at him.

  He caught her hand and pulled her back. “Maybe less than that.”

  There was mischief in his eyes a second before he brought his mouth down on hers again.

  “Oh, you definitely are ready,” Toni murmured, her arms encircling his neck.

  Chapter 19

  Another week went by, and then part of a third. Toni told herself not to get accustomed to having Dugan around, but it was really hard for her not to. Not when they wound up in bed together each night, seeking shelter in each other’s arms.

  Every morning she promised herself not to go on the way she had, to put on the brakes because it was preparing herself for a time when Dugan would tell her that he had to be moving on. A time that she knew, in her heart, was inevitable.

  But each night, she whispered to herself “Just one more time,” and then she made love with Dugan all over again.

  * * *

  Just when it was beginning to seem as if every tip regarding the Juarez Cartel’s latest proposed shipment had dried up, Dugan took a phone call. At the end of it, he hung up the receiver on the phone on his desk and all but shouted, “I think we just got lucky!”

  Toni looked up immediately. Up until this point, she had been going over her notes for what seemed like the dozenth time, searching for something they—Dugan, his team and she—might have overlooked, some clue that had gotten hidden beneath a blanket of rhetoric.

  She asked the first thing that popped into her head. “You found Padilla?” Toni was already halfway out of her seat.

  Excited over the information that had just come in via a very reliable informant, Dugan played back his own words in his head. He realized how they must have sounded to the woman he’d been guarding and for a moment was almost apologetic.

  “Not that lucky,” he amended. “Nguyen just called to say that his man’s gotten wind of a shipment coming in by tomorrow via one of several newly discovered underground tunnels.”

  Detective Jason Nguyen had finally been cleared for work. Chomping at the bit to get back into the game and be productive, he’d begun rattling all the cages of every informant he knew.

  Apparently, it had finally paid off.

  “By tomorrow, not tomorrow,” Toni repeated, looking at Dugan.

  He could see that she understood the difference. “Right. That means that we’ve got to get people posted watching half a dozen tunnels, all of them running around three quarters of a mile underground from somewhere outside the city, ending in shacks and houses practically in the middle of nowhere.”

  She knew that there were over a thousand such tunnels honeycombing key delivery points. Most were in Mexico, some ran between Mexico and either California or Arizona. However, most were nowhere near where she and Dugan presently were.

  “Aren’t these things usually built near the border and coming into the US from there?” Toni asked.

  “Well, for one thing, our cartel friends have gotten very creative,” he told her. “They playing a game of musical drugs these days. They like keeping us and the Mexican government guessing and these underground tunnels make transportation safer and efficient.”

  “Speaking of guessing,” Toni said, picking up on the key word. “Are we sure about this?”

  Dugan shrugged. “Nothing is ever sure,” he answered honestly. “But it’s as sure as it can be, given that everyone involved on both ends of this transport is given to lying and would be more than willing to sell their mother for the right price.”

  Listening to him, Toni just shook her head. “We have got to get you to start hanging out with a better class of people.”

  For half a second, Dugan wasn’t a narcotics detective, he was just a man trying hard not to fall in love with the woman he took to bed every night.

  But he couldn’t help smiling at her. “I do, remember?”

  “Right. That family of cops that are backing you up,” Toni deadpanned. And then she grew serious. She didn’t want to think that what he was saying had any hidden meaning because it only meant getting really disappointed at the end of this. “Do you think that if this tip is on the level, it’s enough to bring Padilla and his people out, as well? If they can steal this from the Juarez Cartel, then that would put them on top again, right?”

  “Ultimately,” Dugan admitted, “that’s what I’m hoping for. If this doesn’t draw Padilla out, it will at least attract some of his people. Maybe someone within his organization is looking to score a coup and take over the top position. That might mean that Padilla’s on his way out. Without his people, Padilla will be easier to catch.”

  She studied his face. “Do you honestly believe that?”

/>   Dugan spread his hands wide. “I’m an optimist. It’s required in my family,” he told her. “So, yes, I believe that if all the blocks fall into place the way we hope they do, we’ll be in a better position to catch that SOB and put him away once and for all.”

  “Okay, you sold me,” she told him. Retracing her steps back to her desk, she got her purse out of the drawer. “Let’s get started.”

  He was on his feet, gesturing her down a notch or two. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s get started?” he questioned.

  Had she suddenly stopped speaking English? “Yes, let’s see if we can figure out which of these underground tunnels is going to be used so we can be waiting for them when they make their appearance like gophers popping out of their hole.”

  “We’re not going anywhere,” Dugan informed her, putting her off before she really got going. “Where did you get the idea that you were coming with me?” he asked.

  How could he ask that? “Because I’ve gone everywhere else with you,” she answered, puzzled by his question. Why was this any different from all the other times?

  “That was when we were laying groundwork, getting information, looking for informants,” he told her. He had wanted to keep her close then, but it was different now. He wanted to insure that she was safe and being with him wouldn’t make her safe.

  “Right,” she agreed, trying to understand why Dugan would change his mind. She came up empty. “And this is where all that groundwork is finally paying off, right?” she challenged.

  “For the department, yes,” he agreed, then told her, “For you specifically, no.” Couldn’t she see how dangerous all this actually was? “This is not some Sunday walk in the park, Toni. These are dangerous people involved in this.”

  “I know that,” she retorted angrily. “I’m not an idiot.”

  He followed that line of thinking. “Then you know that you have to stay home.”

  She sighed. “Well there you’ve lost me,” Toni told him. She tried to make him understand what she was thinking. “I’ve been doing dangerous assignments since long before I met you.”

  “Well, now you have met me, and I’m not about to risk your life no matter how you phrase your request,” Dugan told her, struggling not to lose his temper. “Don’t you get it, Toni?” he demanded. “You shot Padilla. This guy wants you dead. I’m not about to let him get his wish by serving you up on a platter so that he’ll be able to get off a clear shot at you.”

  She was losing her temper. “You just said he might not even be there—”

  “But his people are bound to be,” Dugan pointed out. “The payoff’s too big to ignore and I’d bet my soul that his people all have orders to kill you.”

  “Padilla’s an egomaniac. He’d want to take the shot himself.”

  Dugan’s mouth almost dropped open. “You just made the damn argument for me,” he retorted.

  “No,” she contradicted, “I just made the argument against my being at home like some damn sitting duck, waiting to be executed.”

  “I’ve got police officers watching your house, remember?” he reminded her. “Lucinda’s even started to complain about it,” he reminded her. “Said she felt like a prisoner in her own home—or more to the point, in your home.”

  Toni could see that he was serious and not about to give in. She couldn’t let him win this. “Dugan, please. I can’t just sit home and twiddle my thumbs, waiting to hear from you. I’ll be climbing the walls within twenty minutes, especially since you don’t even know when this shipment is actually coming—or exactly where. You’ve got more than a twenty-four-hour window here,” Toni pointed out, frustrated.

  He would have given in if he could, but this was her life they were talking about and the thought of doing without her, he’d suddenly realized, scared the hell out of him. So he remained strong and said no to her.

  “Well, you’re going to have to learn how to twiddle,” he told her.

  “I’ll hate you,” she threatened him.

  “But you’ll be alive to do it and that’ll be okay with me,” he told her.

  “Dugan, please,” she begged, all but disarming him with the look in her eyes.

  He deliberately focused above her head because the expression in her eyes all but shredded him apart.

  “Sorry, my mind’s made up. I’d taking you home and that’s that.” He took hold of her shoulders, desperate to make her understand why he was doing this. “Look, if I’m worried about you, I’ll be distracted. That’s never a good thing on the job. It’s liable to get me killed,” he said bluntly. “If I know you’re home, safe, all I have to look out for is myself. I can handle that. Now, do I make myself clear?” he asked, finally looking into her eyes.

  “Abundantly,” Toni answered, her voice all but dead and cold.

  “Good.” He knew she was far from happy, but he wasn’t about to press the matter. All he wanted was for her to be safe. If she ultimately hated him for it, so be it. “Patterson, you get the rest of the team and get on out to Pescadero. Tell them I’ll be there as soon as I can. We’ll split up from there.”

  “You got it, Cavanaugh.” The other detective was already out the door.

  The next thing Dugan did was place a call, ordering that the guard around Toni’s house be doubled. When he hung up, he could see that she was still just as upset as ever. He had a feeling it was going to take her a long time to forgive him. But, as he’d told her, he could live with that because it meant that she was alive.

  “Okay,” he said, “let’s go.”

  She fell into place beside him without uttering a single word.

  * * *

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Toni finally said ten minutes later as he drove her home.

  Finally! he thought, she was talking to him.

  “It should be over within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours,” Dugan estimated.

  Toni shot him a dark look. “I’m not talking about that. I’m saying that I’ve got a gut feeling this is all wrong.”

  “Oh, right. I forgot about your gut feelings,” Dugan said. There was just a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

  “You’re a Cavanaugh,” she reminded him, her voice formal and cool. “You’re not supposed to discount a gut feeling.”

  “I’m not,” he answered. “But you’re not a Cavanaugh and that means that you can’t fall back on that particular excuse.”

  “You need me,” Toni insisted.

  “That is beside the point,” Dugan said, the look in his eyes telling her that he did need her, but he couldn’t allow that to cloud his judgment. “I want you home, safe.” He thought of the baby he’d helped deliver. “You haven’t spent too much time with Heather in the last few weeks. Spend some time with her now.”

  “I don’t need you to tell me when I should spend time with my daughter,” she informed him coldly. “Heather is doing fine, which is more than I can say for her mother,” Toni added angrily. “Look,” she cried, trying one last time to talk him into taking her. “You won’t have to protect me. I know how to use a gun and I promise I won’t get in your way. I just want to be there with you because...because...”

  “Because?” he prompted impatiently, waiting for her to finish.

  “Because if anything happened to you and I wasn’t there, I’d never forgive myself!” she snapped.

  “But if I died in your arms, you’d be okay with that?” he challenged.

  It was a ridiculous thing to say and he was well aware of that, but he wasn’t feeling very reasonable at the moment.

  “Damn it! That’s not what I meant Cavanaugh and you know it!” she shouted at him.

  “Yes, I know it,” he shouted back. Taking a deep breath, he made himself calm down. This was not the way he wanted to leave her. “And I’m not going to die, so stop worrying.”

  Her eyes were blazing. “Y
ou can’t know that.”

  He pulled up in front of her house. From where he sat, he could see the squad cars he’d asked for. They were parked at both ends of the block so they could see anyone coming from either direction.

  “No, you’re right. I can’t. All I can do is my damndest to make sure that I come out of this alive. I’m working with some pretty good men and this isn’t our first rodeo. Look,” he took her hands in his, “I appreciate you worrying about me. I really do. But this is my job. It’s what I do for a living and I’m good at it, even if I do say so myself. Besides...” His eyes all but caressed her. “I’ve got a lot to live for.”

  “Oh, God,” she cried, “that’s what the hero always says just before everything goes all wrong and blows up on him.”

  His mouth curved. “Well, at least I’m a hero,” he quipped.

  “You’re an idiot,” Toni countered in total frustration.

  “A hero–idiot,” Dugan repeated, pretending to roll that over in his mind. “How does that work?”

  Toni didn’t answer his question, instead, she told him, “I am going to worry about you the entire time, you know that, don’t you?”

  “I will be back before you know it,” Dugan assured her.

  She rolled her eyes. “That is a stupid, stupid line.”

  “Sorry. It’s the best I’ve got,” he answered. Then, before she could say anything more or argue with him, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her long and hard with every fiber of his being.

  “That is going to have to hold both of us until I get back,” he told her. “Now, c’mon, I’ll walk you to your door and then I’ve got to go.”

  “If I’m so safe here, why do you have to walk me to my door?” she asked him, not attempting to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

  Dugan sighed. “Because I’m a masochist.”

  Getting out, he rounded the hood and made his way to the passenger door. He opened it and she just continued sitting in the car.