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Chapter Five

Garrett took a huge gulp of the god-awful coffee that the rookie officer had given him, then he signed the statement he’d just prepared about the shooting “incident.” He hoped the caffeine would help with the headache that throbbed in both temples. Spent adrenaline was a witch to deal with, and he didn’t have the time to let the effects wear off naturally.

He needed a clear head, and he needed it now.

Across the room, seated on the break room sofa, Lexie was finishing up her handwritten statement and sipping coffee as well. She was also making the same disapproving expression at the bitter taste. Well, that was partly the reason for her expression.

Some of it was aimed at him.

All right. Most of it was aimed at him.

“I hope I don’t have to say I told you so again,” Lexie grumbled. Practically tearing through the sheets of paper with the tip of the pen, she signed her name to the report and tossed it onto the table.

It wasn’t the first time she’d voiced that complaint since they’d arrived at police headquarters an hour earlier. Garrett didn’t think it would be the last, either.

Nope.

He was in for a night of her complaints. Garrett just hoped those objections weren’t warranted. Because it might be awhile before he could figure out if coming here had indeed been a bad idea. It might be longer still before he could discover if there was a departmental leak. Or worse, a would-be departmental killer who had a penchant for running women off the road.

Garrett dropped his statement on top of Lexie’s and checked the clock mounted on the wall. His brother, Lieutenant Brayden O’Malley, would be arriving within minutes. The shooting and those gunmen put this case right in his brother’s lap. However, even if it hadn’t fallen within Brayden’s realm of responsibility, Garrett had no plans to go to anyone else. He’d already decided to keep this investigation close to the vest.

Or rather, in the family.

“We’re wasting time,” Lexie continued. She practically slapped the foam cup of coffee on the adjacent table, and got up to pace.

“We’re staying alive,” Garrett corrected. “That is what you want, right?”

Lexie stopped pacing only long enough to send a narrowed, fiery glance his way. “I thought you believed me about the baby.”

Her words sent a jab of pain through his right temple. He’d meant to set this whole issue aside until they’d resolved the gunmen situation, but he now knew he couldn’t. “I believe you believe it.”

She stopped again. Right in front of him. Mere inches away. “Refresh my memory—are you always this pigheaded?”

“Always.”

Lexie huffed and squared her shoulders. She was probably aiming for a show of strength, but failed miserably. Because there was nothing she could do to dissolve that look in her eyes. The pain.

The fear.

He wasn’t unaffected by that look, either. Despite all the bad blood between them, there were other things between them as well. The past that stained their present relationship was one he couldn’t forget.

With her broken memories, Lexie was lucky. In that respect. She probably didn’t remember the attraction that had started all of this. It was too bad he couldn’t give himself a little dose of selective amnesia. It would help him focus on getting those men who’d tried to kill them.

“I remember something,” she said out of the blue.

Garrett pulled himself away from the unwanted trip down memory lane so he could make eye contact. She was staring at him. No. She was studying him.

“You remembered who’s trying to kill you?” he asked.

She blinked. Shook her head. And it seemed as if she’d changed her mind about what she’d been on the verge of saying. “No. Not that. It’s not important.”

He grabbed her arm when she tried to step away. “Excuse me? Your memory returning isn’t important?” And he made sure his voice was dripping with cynicism.

“It’s not my full memory. It’s a memory. As in one. One memory that I shouldn’t have even mentioned.”

“Why?” he asked before he thought it through. And he was immediately sorry about that. Because he saw the blush spread across her cheeks. “Oh,” he mumbled. “You remembered us having sex.”

“Not quite. But I, uh, remembered the kiss leading up to it.”

That was some memory to regain. Garrett remembered that kiss, as well. Unfortunately, he remembered it in full, blazing detail. And probably because he was standing so close to Lexie, the memory was as crystal clear as the original.

“It’s still there,” Lexie said, looking up at him. “The attraction,” she explained.

As if he needed any clarification.

“It’s there,” he admitted, since a lie that big would have stuck in his throat. “But bad things happened the last time we acted on that attraction.”

She flinched. “You mean the baby.”

“No.” His quick response surprised him almost as much as it obviously surprised her. “If there is a baby, then that’s not a bad thing.”

He meant it. He’d never considered himself father material, but if there was a child, then he would love his baby and do whatever it took to get her back and keep her safe.

“Thank you,” Lexie whispered.

The emotion in her voice drew his gaze back to hers. “For what?”

“For caring about the baby.”

Oh, man. There were tears in her eyes. Tears! Again. He couldn’t keep resisting her. He would have almost certainly pulled her into his arms to offer what meager comfort he could offer.

But he didn’t get a chance.

“Want to tell me what’s going on here?” he heard someone ask.

But not just anyone. His brother, Brayden.

Garrett shifted his attention to the doorway and spotted his older sibling standing there. Even though Brayden had been called in well after normal duty hours, he still managed to look very much like a cop in charge. He was wearing khakis and a crisp white shirt. Tucked in, of course. He had his badge clipped to his belt.

Garrett suddenly felt very unprofessional in the black T-shirt and boots he’d grabbed from his locker. Still, the too casual attire was far better than the alternative. When he’d arrived at headquarters, he’d only been wearing jeans.

“Well? What’s going on here?” Brayden repeated. He glanced at Lexie, and though his expression changed only slightly, Garrett saw the disapproval in his brother’s eyes.

“It’s not what you think,” Garrett insisted.

And he knew his brother well enough to know that what Brayden was thinking wasn’t good. Brayden no doubt believed that Lexie was back in Garrett’s life. Not back in an ordinary sense, either.

But in a sexual sense.

His eyes met Brayden’s and a dozen questions passed between them. Before Garrett answered those questions, he motioned for his brother to come inside the break room, and Garrett shut the door.

“Lexie,” Brayden said in greeting, walking toward her. He reached down and picked up the statements from the table.

She shook her head, glanced at Garrett.

“She doesn’t remember you,” Garrett explained. “Someone gave her a drug, and it’s caused some memory loss.”

Brayden stayed quiet a moment, but Garrett knew he was processing the information. “And that’s why you’re here?”

“We’re here because Garrett thought he could trust you,” Lexie interjected. “Can he?”

“With his life,” Brayden readily answered. “But I’d still like an explanation about what’s going on.”

The three exchanged glances. Garrett decided to go first. “Someone fired a shot into my house tonight. There were three of them. All armed. I had to drive out of there fast.”

Brayden took a deep breath. “Were either of you hurt?”

“No,” Garrett assured him. “But we have a problem. I can’t ID any of the gunmen, and I have a feeling they aren’t going to stop with just this one attempt.”

“So, why haven’t you made this investigation official? Why call me in and close the door?”

Lexie stepped between them. “Because I have reason to believe that it might be a cop who wants me dead.”

His brother was very good at hiding his emotions but he wasn’t able to hide his shock, and perhaps his disbelief. “I’ll want an explanation about that, too.”

Before that could happen, there was a knock at the door, one sharp rap, and it opened. The rookie stuck his head inside. “Lieutenant O’Malley?” he said to Brayden. “Lieutenant Dillard is on the phone. He wants to speak to you.”

“Hell,” Garrett grumbled. Lieutenant Dillard was his boss, and since he wanted to speak to Brayden, that probably meant the conversation would be about Lexie and him.

“Did you happen to tell Lieutenant Dillard I was here?” Garrett asked the rookie.

“I did. Because he asked,” the young officer quickly added. “Your neighbor saw some suspicious men hanging around your house, and he reported it. The neighbor said someone bashed into your garage door.”

Great. This just kept getting messier and messier.

“I’ll be right back,” Brayden said, heading for the door.

“Wait,” Lexie called out. Brayden stopped and turned back around to face her. He met her gaze head-on. “Remember what I told you.”

She no doubt meant the part about the possible cop who’d tried to kill her.

“You’ll just have to trust me to do my job,” Brayden responded. With that, he turned and walked out.

“Trust,” Lexie mumbled. “It’s disconcerting how easily that word flows right off the tongue. Let’s hope it’s a word that actually means something.”

Garrett shook his head. “My brother won’t do anything to hurt us.”

“Maybe not intentionally.”

Since that was the truth, Garrett decided it was a good time to finish his coffee. Unfortunately, it was cold and had seemingly turned to gasoline. But because his head was still pounding, he forced himself to drink it.

Lexie sank onto the sofa with a heavy sigh and leaned her head against the cushion. “Why does your brother hate me?”

Garrett hadn’t been prepared for her question. “Who said he hates you?”

“I did. I could tell by the way he looked at me.”

And here he thought his brother had the ultimate poker face. “It has to do with what happened when your boss, Billy Avery, was on trial.”

“Oh. He thinks I helped Billy commit those crimes.” But then she hesitated. “No. What your brother feels for me is personal, isn’t it?”

Because of the headache, the fatigue, and because this was a subject he didn’t really want to discuss, Garrett nearly pulled a silent act. But this was bound to come up sometime or another, and he wanted her to hear it from him. Or rather, he wanted her to hear the sanitized version.

“Brayden doesn’t like you because when you unofficially left my protective custody, you officially put me in a really bad place with my boss and just about everyone in the D.A.’s office.”

She lifted her head, studied him. “I see.”

“The D.A. was lucky to get a conviction without the rest of your testimony.” And Garrett hadn’t wanted to think just how bad things could have gotten for him if Avery hadn’t been convicted. If he’d walked, the D.A. would have looked for someone to hang, and Garrett would have been the one they’d come after.

With reason.

He’d failed to do his job, by allowing a material witness to escape custody. Of course, he’d also failed to do his job by having sex with that witness. In this case, two wrongs definitely didn’t make a right.

“Your brother knows what happened between us?” Lexie asked.

“He knows.”

She stared at him. “And you still think he’ll be willing to help me?”

“I know he will.” But what Garrett didn’t know was the form that help might take. Brayden wasn’t the sort of cop to keep things under the table, but Garrett was hoping his brother would do it this time.

The door opened and Brayden came back in.

“Well?” Garrett immediately asked.

He frowned. “I chose my words carefully.”

Garrett didn’t know whose sigh of relief was bigger—his or Lexie’s. But there was no hint of relief in Brayden’s expression.

“Lieutenant Dillard knows that Lexie has some issues to be worked out. Personal issues that he’s agreed to let me handle at my discretion.”

That brought Lexie off the sofa. “You?”

“Me,” Brayden enunciated. “Because Lieutenant Dillard insisted that Garrett not have any official contact with you.” He held up his hand, cutting off the protest that Garrett was about to make. “Dillard is right. You can’t be involved in this, Garrett. Because if this—whatever this is—ends up going to the D.A., then it could cost you your badge. The D.A. hasn’t forgotten what happened the last time you were involved with Lexie.”

“Your badge?” Lexie questioned.

Garrett certainly couldn’t deny what his brother was saying.

“Do Mom and Dad know she’s back?” Brayden asked.

Lexie huffed. “What, I riled your parents, too?”

Brayden shrugged. “If you rile one O’Malley, you rile us all.”

Her gaze flew from Brayden’s to his. “Well, I’m sorry. I truly am. But I wouldn’t have come back into Garrett’s life if it hadn’t been for the baby.”

Dead silence fell over the room.

“Baby?” Brayden repeated.

Oh, man.

Garrett so wished he’d had a chance to explain this first. But one thing was for sure—he’d get a chance to explain the baby now.

Chapter Six

“I had a baby, a daughter,” Lexie said. She cleared her throat. “Garrett’s child.”

She stared at the lieutenant and waited for his reaction. There was no mistaking that this was Garrett’s brother. Brayden was slightly older, probably mid-thirties, and there was a serenity and calmness about him that Garrett seriously lacked. But the older O’Malley had the same dark brown hair, the same classically handsome face and the same green eyes.

Seeing those facial features made her think of her daughter. She didn’t even know the color of her baby’s eyes.

“Your baby?” Brayden questioned his brother.

Garrett nodded.

She had to hand it to the lieutenant. She’d just delivered what had to be shocking news, but other than that one question and a slightly lifted right eyebrow that he aimed at Garrett, that was it. The calmness and serenity remained fully intact.

“Things are complicated,” Garrett explained.

That raised eyebrow lowered. “Even complicated things can be explained.”

Yes, but not without lots and lots of emotion. Each time Lexie had to retell the story, each time she had to think about it, it was as if someone were ripping open her soul. She’d lost her child, and nothing could heal that wound until her daughter was found.

“Someone stole the baby right after Lexie gave birth,” Garrett continued. He set his coffee aside. “She didn’t go to the police because someone tried to kill her, and she thought that person was a cop.”

“I see,” Brayden said. “Well, that sort of negates this whole issue of you not being involved in the investigation, doesn’t it? If this concerns your baby—”

“There’s more. We really need to talk.” Garrett took his brother by the arm and started for the door.

“Where are you going?” Lexie immediately asked.

“Brayden and I need to have a private conversation.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at them. “Why? So you can tell him that the baby might be a figment of my drug-induced imagination? Well, she isn’t, and I thought those gunmen proved that.”

Garrett shook his head. “The only thing they proved was that they were gunmen. They could have been sent by Billy Avery. He might want you eliminated so you can’t testify against him if he’s ever granted an appeal.”

Lexie desperately wanted to dismiss the theory. But she couldn’t. Even though she didn’t remember her former boss, from what she’d read about him on the Internet, he was capable of pretty much anything. Still, that didn’t discount the fact that she knew she’d had a baby, and that baby was missing.

Brayden checked his watch. “It’s nearly 10:00 p.m., but I think I can arrange to speak to Avery at the prison. I wouldn’t mind asking him a few questions.”

“Neither would I,” Garrett agreed.

Brayden didn’t offer to give him an opportunity. Nor did he waste any time. He headed out of the room, presumably to make that call.

Lexie didn’t waste any time, either. “The baby is real,” she insisted.

“And so is Billy Avery,” Garrett countered.

Her first reaction was to throw her hands in the air and walk out, but that wasn’t a smart idea. “I need you to trust me on this,” she said, using his own words. “I need us to work together because we have to find her.”

Unlike his brother, Garrett wasn’t very good at hiding his emotions. There was a mixture of frustration and irritation in his eyes.

“My lieutenant ordered me to stay away from you.” But it didn’t seem as if Garrett was talking to her but to himself. Sort of a reminder. Or maybe it was the bottom line of a private argument he was having.

She didn’t blame him. His boss had ordered hands off. She was essentially Garrett’s own personal leper. And besides, she didn’t doubt that Brayden O’Malley was a competent cop. He could probably do what was necessary.

Probably.

But even though that probably verified the doubts she was having about this situation, she was certain that she couldn’t ask Garrett to risk his badge. After all, she was the one who’d set up this scenario of putting his career in jeopardy in the first place. She couldn’t ask him to go through that again.

“Your brother will help me look for the baby,” she said, and she tried not to make it sound like a question.

Garrett nodded. “He’ll do everything humanly possible.”

That and the accompanying nod did seem like questions.

Confusing questions.

Moments later, Garrett cursed. “I can’t walk away from this.”

It took a moment for her to get past the profanity and grasp what he’d said. It took another moment for her to gather her breath. “What do you mean?”

He crammed his hands into his jeans pocket and shifted uneasily. “If someone took my child, I can’t stand back and let my brother do what I should be doing.”

Oh, she grasped that all right. And she grasped the implications of it. “But your badge—”

“If our baby exists, I will find her.”

Lexie hated what this might cost him, but relief flooded through her. Yes, Brayden was more than an adequate substitute, but he was still a substitute. She figured a father would be more likely to put his life on the line for his own child. And unfortunately, she was afraid their lives would have to be on the line. Hadn’t the earlier incident already proved that was true? That, coupled with a massive amount of luck, might help them find the baby.

“I’ll request some vacation time,” he continued. “We’ll be discreet. We won’t tell anyone other than Brayden what we’re doing, and we’ll investigate what’s happened.”

There it was. The assurance she’d prayed for since she first saw that picture of them and realized he was the father of her child.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She tried to blink back the tears, but one escaped.

He reached out and wiped it away with his thumb.

It was a big mistake, being that close to him, especially with the emotions, and the hope, racing out of control. Even with the graveness of their situation, she still felt that slam of attraction. She still felt that hungry, desperate kiss that they’d shared months ago.

How ironic that she couldn’t remember critical details of her life, but she could recall every nuance of that kiss.

His taste.

The feel of his mouth against hers.

The raw heat.

She didn’t need other memories to know that it was the most memorable kiss she’d ever had.

“We can’t get involved again,” he told her.

Okay. So, he was perhaps remembering that kiss, as well. He was also right. If they found their daughter, his lieutenant might not reprimand him too hard for his renegade investigation. But another personal involvement with Lexie, the leper?

No. The lieutenant wouldn’t just let that go.

Staring into her eyes, Garrett slid his fingers beneath her chin. Lifted it slightly. And he inched toward her. Lexie felt paralyzed. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.

But she could feel.

Mercy, could she feel.

He stopped, his mouth only an inch or so from hers. She stopped, too. And they really looked at each other. In the depths of all that green, she went past the lust and saw all the doubts.

Reasonable doubts.

Sane, logical doubts.

“We’ll concentrate on finding the baby and the person who’s responsible,” Garrett insisted.

Lexie nodded and stepped back. Unfortunately, she didn’t do so quickly enough. The door opened and Brayden walked in. His cop’s eyes didn’t miss how close to each other Garrett and she were standing.

“Am I interrupting anything?” he asked.

“No.” Garrett and she answered in unison. Quickly. And they both took huge steps back.

His brother studied them in a scrutinizing way that normally only strict parents and elementary school teachers could manage. “I arranged a video call with Billy Avery.” He hitched his thumb in the direction of the hall. “We can take it in my office.”

She was pleased and a little surprised that he’d managed that so quickly. “What exactly are you planning to ask Avery?”

“Don’t worry. The questions won’t be about you or the baby. I certainly don’t want to tip our hand. Whatever our hand is,” Brayden added in a mumble. “That means I want both of you to stay out of camera range so Avery can’t see you.”

“You’re sure about that?” Garrett stepped ahead of her to walk alongside his brother. “I could persuade him to talk.”

That earned him a lifted eyebrow from the lieutenant. “I don’t think intimidation is the way to approach this.”

“Maybe it is,” Lexie interjected, moving to Garrett’s side. “If Avery’s the one who tried to have us killed, maybe intimidation is the fastest way to get answers.”

She got a lifted eyebrow, too. For such a simple facial gesture, it conveyed a lot of disapproval.

Brayden opened his office door and ushered them inside. There was a uniformed officer at the cluttered oak desk, and he turned the monitor in Brayden’s direction and excused himself.

“Both of you move away from the camera,” Brayden insisted.

Garrett and she did as they were told, but angled themselves in the corner so they could view the monitor. Lexie wanted to see her former boss’s face. Not only might it help her with those memory gaps, but she wanted to watch how he reacted when the lieutenant questioned him.

Brayden verified their positions, then pressed a button on the monitor. A man’s face immediately appeared on the screen. There was no mistaking that this was Billy Avery. He looked exactly as he did in the newspaper photos. It wasn’t the face of a Brandolike godfather. No. He was only thirty-one, just two years older than she was. His flame-red hair was slicked back in a style that probably would have appeared stark on anyone but him. But even in a prison uniform, Avery still managed to look fashionable.

And cocky.

He grinned at Brayden. “Lieutenant O’Malley. Long time no see. What can I do for you?” There was no politeness in his voice, and the question seemed almost like a challenge.

“I wondered if you were up to your old tricks,” Brayden countered.

“Me?” Avery chuckled. “Haven’t you heard? I’m a changed man. Straight and narrow path. Law-abiding citizen.”

Brayden just stared at him. “I checked your visitors’ log. Yesterday morning, you had a fifteen-minute chat with one of your former employees. A man named Ted Benson.”

The name meant nothing to Lexie, but it obviously meant something to Avery. No chuckle or grin. His mouth tightened slightly. “And why would a visit from an old friend interest you, Lieutenant?”

“Everything you do interests me,” Brayden answered. “But what interests me more is what Ted Benson did after he spoke with you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” But while the denial sounded cocky, there was nothing cocky about his expression. Billy Avery was a concerned and perhaps perplexed man.

“Of course you do.” And with that, Brayden reached down and ended the call.

“Wait a minute!” Lexie practically ran toward him. “You didn’t find out if he hired the gunmen.”

“But he soon will,” Garrett calmly explained.

Brayden nodded. “I’ve already assigned someone to question Ted Benson and put him under surveillance. If Avery ordered him to come after you, then we’ll soon know. Plus the wardens will monitor Avery’s calls and visits.”

“They can do that?”

“Oh, yes. Unless it’s a meeting between Avery and his lawyer, but I don’t think his lawyer had anything to do with this.”

So everything was in motion. Maybe when the officer questioned Ted Benson, he’d confess to or-chestrating all of this. Except…

“The baby was taken over three weeks ago,” Lexie explained. “Did this Ted Benson guy visit Avery around that time?”

Brayden shook his head. “He didn’t have any visits that entire week. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have set everything up prior to then. He could have arranged for someone to watch you, and wait until you went into labor.” He picked up a black-and-white photo and handed it to her. “That’s Ted Benson. Does he look familiar?”

Lexie studied the photograph of the dark-haired man. “No.”

“He wasn’t the man who took the child from you?”

“I don’t think so. But I can’t actually remember the man.”

“How about the doctor?” Brayden asked. “What do you remember about him?”

“Not much. Everything’s sort of hazy. He had touches of gray in his hair. Wide shoulders. And, of course, I do remember the shot he gave me.”

Brayden and Garrett made eye contact. “But you’re positive you gave birth?”

She groaned. “Positive.”

“How can you be so sure? Have you had a doctor verify it?”

“I don’t need it verified. What I need is to find my daughter.”

Garrett eased her out of Brayden’s face. “I’m sorry,” he said to his brother.

“Sorry for what?” Lexie didn’t like the direction of this conversation.

“Sorry that I didn’t do what I should have done.” He caught Lexie’s arm. “And now it’s time to find out for sure if we’re parents or not.”