BURNING FLAMES OR PARADISE
CHAPTER SEVEN
HOW YOU GET THE GIRL
Broke your heart
I'll put it back together
FEBRUARY 2008
Kate knew it was a mistake almost immediately. But it was her mom's birthday, a date almost as bad as the anniversary. So she'd gone to her favorite dive bar right after work, a place she knew she'd be served with prompt and strong drinks, no questions asked.
It had just been dumb luck that he was there, almost attempting to drink away his problems.
She'd seen the article on Page Six - Author and Publisher Girlfriend Turn Heads with Screaming Match - and had figured that things weren't going well between Rick and Gina. And once she'd caught up to his four drinks, he'd confirmed her suspicion that he was single once again.
"I dunno, Kate. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Meredith, Gina, you…" He'd trailed off, traced the rim of his glass with one long finger, lifted his gaze to hers. "Is it me?"
Kate had shook her head before he'd even finished the question. "God, no, You're a great guy," she'd insisted.
He'd scoffed. "Sure. That's why I can't keep a woman happy more than a few months. Maybe it's the sex. Maybe I'm not as good as I thought and you can't put up with it for long."
She couldn't help it. The confident man that she'd known, who'd left her breathless more times than she could count, had been beaten by another bad breakup. She couldn't have that.
Plus, it had been awhile. A toe-curling orgasm - or a few - could help end the hellish day end on a positive note. So she'd settled both tabs and pulled him out the door.
Now, several hours, and several orgasms, later, she was seriously considering the state of her sanity. They'd gone their separate ways for a reason: he wanted a relationship outside the bedroom, she didn't.
Only a few select people knew about her mom's true cause of death for a reason. Aside from her captain and Lanie, there were two people she'd told, and they had both looked at her with a mix of horror and pity. She wasn't sure which hurt more. They'd both dumped her shortly after finding out, so she'd stopped sharing it.
Maybe Rick would be different. He wasn't repulsed by crime or murder, had been oddly excited about the case he'd helped with the previous fall, and hadn't even flinched at the sight of a dead body.
But she couldn't risk it. She couldn't risk her heart again.
It was that thought that had her shifting away from him to make a quick exit.
"Kate?"
Fuck.
"I thought you were asleep."
She forced her eyes to stay above the trail of hair below his navel when he sat up. She was trying to leave, not jump back in bed for another round. "Do you feel better about your sexual abilities?" she teased, trying to distract him as she slid her underwear on.
He narrowed his eyes. "I'd feel a lot better if you weren't running away." He paused. "Again."
"I have an-"
"Early shift," Rick finished for her, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Don't forget, I know your excuses. I've heard them all."
"Jesus Christ," she muttered.
"I've heard that a lot, too. Especially tonight."
Kate rolled her eyes. "You're so obnoxious." She grabbed her purse, made sure her phone was inside before turning the doorknob. "Good night, Rick."
"Wait." He stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Can I take you out for dinner? Catch up?"
She bit the inside of her cheek, considered. It did feel good to be with him. The sex was as good as she'd remembered, especially after they'd both sobered up. And just being with him, around him, just felt comfortable.
Maybe rekindling their relationship wouldn't be so bad. But dinner seemed like a lot when she wasn't even sure it would turn into something.
"How about coffee?"
His grin was contagious. "Perfect. I'll call you in a few days."
He couldn't wait a few days.
He called her later that morning, his thoughts consumed by the beautiful detective that had appeared in his life once again. Some would call it coincidence that their paths continued to cross, despite their different lifestyles.
Rick called it fate.
They set a date for her next day off, the following Friday. But he called it fate again when she appeared at his door just the next morning with coffee and bagels in her hand.
"Karpowski needed to switch shifts," Kate gasped as he pinned her against the counter, his mouth trailing down her neck.
He slid his hands under her shirt, sent a silent thanks to whomever was responsible for sending Kate over after Alexis had left for school, and not while she was still home.
"You really wanna talk about Karpowski right now?" he grumbled against her skin, smiling as she shuddered beneath his teasing hands. "Or would you rather we don't talk at all?"
For the first time in months, she stayed. They spent the day in bed, just sleeping and making love.
"We have lots of time to make up for," he'd explained during round three from between her legs.
She'd just gasped in response.
Several hours later, after he'd given his blessing for Alexis to stay at her friend's house despite it being a school night, he relocated to his office. As much as he loved lying in bed with Kate wrapped in his arms, if he didn't write down the words in his brain, they were at risk of being lost forever.
And he didn't want to lose this character.
He lost track of time, only to look up at the sound of Kate's voice asking him what he was doing.
"Just writing," was his answer, not wanting to lose his concentration on the scene he was plotting.
Kate sauntered up beside him and ran her hands through his hair, scoffed when he closed his laptop. "Come on, what are you working on? Derrick Storm? Or something else?"
Rick draped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his chair. "Not Derrick. It's something secret that may not pan out. And no, you may not read it now," he finished, anticipating her next question. He glanced up at her. "It's something special. I think you'll like it, if it ever sees the light of day."
Kate toyed with the hairs at the back of his neck and scowled. "Fine, I guess I can wait."
He turned, hooked his fingers at the small of her back. "You hungry?" he asked, resting his chin on her stomach, meeting her eyes. When she just grinned down at him, he pushed her back and stood, chuckling. "Not like that, I mean for food. We've basically been having sex all day. I'm starving."
She grabbed the waistband of his sweats and followed him to the kitchen, plastering herself to his back when he opened the refrigerator. "You say 'basically been having sex' like it's a bad thing," she teased, her fingers fluttering over his abs.
He jumped at the light touch, and despite his fatigue from the active day, had to fight to ignore the tightening in his sweats. He needed to eat something - real food, despite Kate's insistence of the other kind of eating - before he'd have enough energy to do anything else.
And, maybe, he could have an actual personal conversation with Kate.
"How've you been?" Rick asked from the stove.
Kate ignored the panic that welled in her stomach, reminded herself that it was an innocent and normal question. They hadn't had a full conversation in months, after all, and while she had no intention of immediately divulging her deepest secrets, she did owe him something.
"Oh, I've been fine," she said casually, continuing to assemble a salad. "Work keeps me busy, so I don't have a lot of other stuff going on."
Rick shut off the burner and scooped a generous portion of food onto their plates. "That can't be true, you have to have fun once in a while, too. What do you do on your days off?" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "You do take time off, right?"
She chuckled and nudged him with her elbow when he joined her at the breakfast bar. "Yes, I do have days off. I usually end up looking at closed cases."
"So even when you're off, you work? That's not healthy, Kate."
Kate winced at his tone. She hadn't meant to refer to other cases, it had slipped out. But since she had...she may as well tell him everything.
"Well," she said, hesitating, keeping her eyes on her untouched plate. "It's mostly one case."
Rick said nothing, just set his fork down and turned to face her.
"From several years ago. Nine, to be exact. Nine years and one month exactly," she added quietly. When Rick covered her trembling hand with his, she took a deep breath, sent a prayer to whomever may be listening that he wouldn't recoil in horror or react badly as she'd previously experienced. "It's my mom's case. Her murder case."
"Jesus," came the whisper at her side. "Kate…"
"You wanted to know why I became a cop. This is why." After a long silence, Kate finally lifted her gaze to his, and was surprised at what she saw in his eyes. There was no trace of the horror or pity she was used to seeing. Instead, she saw a look similar to when she'd told her best friend: empathy.
Rick opened his mouth as if to say something, but he remained silent, just squeezed her hand.
She could feel encouragement in his touch, strength and support in his quiet presence, and allowed herself to tell him the whole story.
"They never found the killer," she finished after several minutes, blinking back tears. "They claimed it was gang violence, a random, wayward event." She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.
"I didn't believe them, though," she continued. "I never have. So I transferred to NYU, joined the Academy after graduation. My first day at the Twelfth, I snuck her file home. I've been trying to solve it ever since."
Rick was silent for a long time, and as the seconds turned to minutes she grew increasingly nervous, anxious that he'd walk away, that her obsession over her family tragedy would be too much baggage for his perfect life.
Finally he let out a long exhale. "Well, I guess I'll have to help."
"What?" Kate shot up from her chair, which clattered to the floor. "No, that's not why I told you."
"It's part of you. Obviously you need to solve it. I have friends, resources, money. I can help."
"You think I don't?" she argued, well aware that she was raising her voice, but not caring one bit. It was too personal, she'd worked too hard, to share the file with someone else. Telling him about it was one thing. Letting him see every little detail about it was another. "I'm a homicide detective, Rick. My best friend is a medical examiner. If there was something to find, we would have found it. How the hell do you think you could help?"
"I could hire a PI-" He raised his hand when she started to protest. "Hear me out, Kate. I could hire a PI who could work on it full-time, not just in bits and pieces."
Kate just crossed her arms and glared at him. Although the idea of someone else looking at the case filled her with serious butterflies - and an unexpected sense of dread - he did have a point. She couldn't dedicate as much time to the case as she wanted to, and a fresh pair of eyes could potentially see something different.
Although...maybe she didn't need it to be a stranger.
Rick had helped her solve one case. Maybe he could help with another.
