Crossfire

Max turned his attention to her. “Flint has excelled with the SWAT team. He’s shown himself a leader. That’s how he got the job of commander. There is only one question I want answered here this morning. Can you work together, or are you going to let your differences make it impossible? I have to know right now. Is your past relationship going to interfere with your performance?”

“As you pointed out, we have no relationship anymore,” Flint said. “Anna made that quite clear five years ago.”

Max shot him a warning look.

“It’s not going to be a problem for me,” Anna said, sounding more convinced than she was. She’d never dreamed she’d be working so closely with Flint. Was that why Max hadn’t told her? “Were you afraid I wouldn’t take the job? Is that why you didn’t warn me about Flint?”

“Would you have taken the job if I had told you?” Max asked her.

Her quick response surprised her. “Yes. This job is what I’ve wanted from the beginning. I’m not going to let anyone take that from me.” She glanced over at Flint. His jaw was set, rock-hard in anger. She knew that look too well. “I have no problem working with Flint. It’s been five years. I’ve moved past all that.”

Flint turned his head slowly to look at her and his wounded gaze pierced her heart.

“What about you, Flint?” Max asked.

Flint’s dark-eyed gaze was still on her. “Like she said, it’s water under the bridge.”

Anna heard the bitterness and anger. He hadn’t forgiven her for breaking off their engagement. No, she thought, what he hadn’t forgiven her for was not being the woman he wanted her to be. And to think she’d almost married the turkey.

“I need a united front here, Flint,” Max said.

Flint nodded. “I will treat her like my other SWAT team members. No problem.”

Anna recognized that sarcastic tone. Flint would make her life miserable on the team. But she wasn’t about to let him run her off. She wanted this job, she’d worked for it, she deserved it.

“I don’t want any special treatment,” she said, meeting Flint’s gaze. “I’m just one of the team.”

“You’ve got it,” he said.

Max sighed and got to his feet. “I’m going to leave the two of you alone to talk. Work it out between you. I’m meeting with the rest of the SWAT team in a few minutes. I’ll expect the two of you in the briefing room in ten minutes.” His gaze fell on Flint. “You’re both professionals. Act like it.”

Flint grunted.

“That’s the attitude,” Max said, but he smiled as he came around the desk and put his hand on Flint’s shoulder. “It’s great to have you on board, Anna. Five years was too long to be away. I’m glad you’re home.”

7:30 a.m.

THE ROOM SEEMED to shrink the moment Max left it. Flint got to his feet, needing to put distance between himself and Anna. He could smell her shampoo. The same kind she’d used when they’d been together. And her hair was the same: long, shiny, golden brown. Just as it had been the first time he’d seen her.

He’d thought about that day more times than he’d wanted to admit over the years. She’d been walking along the sidewalk by the ball field during one of the police department games. Something about the way she moved had caught his eye. There had been energy in her step. This was a woman who knew who she was and where she was going.

He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her, hoping she would look up. When she did, it had knocked the breath out of him. Her face was striking—the wide, brown eyes, the straight, almost aristocratic nose, the full, sensuous mouth. Her gaze radiated intelligence. Then she’d smiled; a bewildered smile, but still dazzling, blinding, enchanting.

It was as if Cupid had sunk an arrow into his heart. Not that he had ever told his buddies that. They’d have thought him crazy. What? Love at first sight? Get out of here.

He’d been so transfixed he hadn’t heard the crack of the bat, hadn’t seen the fly ball headed to left field, hadn’t seen anything but the woman of his dreams.

He still didn’t remember the ball hitting him in the head. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out. But when he opened his eyes, there she was, leaning over him.

“I’m a paramedic,” she’d said. “Lie still.” She’d gazed into his eyes, so close he could smell her sweet, slightly sweaty scent.

And he’d known this was the woman he was going to marry.

How wrong he’d been, he thought now as he looked over at Anna. The department’s new SWAT team paramedic. Great. He’d spent five years trying like hell to forget her. It could have been fifty years and it wouldn’t have made a difference, but now he would be working with her. The woman who’d walked out of his life after throwing his engagement ring at him. And after he’d spent days looking for the perfect ring for the perfect woman. What a fool he’d been.

And nothing had changed. Not his feelings of pain and regret. Not her lack of feelings for him, that was for sure. Except she was back, and now the SWAT team paramedic—the job he’d never wanted her to have.

He looked into her face, searching for some imperfection that would release her hold on him. She wasn’t beautiful. Not in the classic sense. She was striking, the kind of woman who made you do a double take when you saw her. A face you never forgot. Imperfect and yet perfect for him in a way that made him ache inside.

The more he’d been around her, the more deeply he’d fallen in love with her. He’d gotten caught up in her enthusiasm for life, her generosity, her sense of humor, her do-or-die attitude. He’d once told her that if he could bottle whatever it was that made her so special, he’d be a millionaire.

“Flint?”

He blinked, so deep in his thoughts he hadn’t realized she’d been talking to him.

“I was hoping we could do this in a civilized manner,” she said in a calm voice that irritated him more than if she’d sworn at him.

He stared at her. She didn’t even seem ruffled. Hell, maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she had gotten over him while he’d been wallowing in regret all these years. Maybe he was the biggest fool on the planet. Maybe there was no maybe about it.

“I see no reason why we can’t work together, two professionals, just doing our jobs,” she said.

He snorted. “You have to be kidding.” He was furious at her for walking out on him, for coming back for an even more dangerous job. Didn’t she know how impossible this situation was for him? Did she care?

“Why are you doing this?” he demanded. “You know how I felt about you working with the SWAT team. Are you just trying to rub it in my face?”

“That’s ridiculous. This has nothing to do with you.”

He glared at her. “My mistake.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t think I do.”

She lifted her chin, stubborn determination in her brown eyes and a coolness that had always brought out heat in him. He’d seen that look way too many times. Unfortunately he could also remember desire in those eyes.

“If you’re doing this just to get back at me—”

She laughed and shook her head, eyeing him as if she couldn’t believe him. “You haven’t changed a bit. You still think everything is about you.”

“Damn it, Anna, you’re wrong. I’m concerned as hell for you. You have no idea what you’re up against. I can just imagine what my men are going to think of a paramedic on the team—let alone a woman—let alone you, my ex-fiancée.” He tried to imagine this being any worse and couldn’t.

“You are underestimating your men,” Anna said coolly. “In my experience, the men follow the lead of their commander.”

He laughed. She’d just put it all on him. Anna had always been good at turning the tables on him. He glared at her, wanting desperately to take her in his arms and to kiss some sense into her. If only his love for her was enough that he could talk her out of this.

But it hadn’t been enough five years ago and it sure as hell meant nothing to her now.

“So, is there a man in your life?” he heard himself ask, and mentally kicked himself.