Page 43 of Secret (Chicago Underground 6)
“Why so accommodating?”
“Would you rather I drag you back to the city and demand you have supper ready on the table?”
It didn’t sound so terrible. Maybe what I had really meant was that I wanted to go back. “I think the work you do would be more meaningful there. I think you’d prefer it.”
“But…” He raised his eyebrows.
“You might be ashamed of me. Word will get out about me in the department. It’s one thing to grab a quickie on patrol; it’s another to date me.”
“Marry,” he corrected.
My breath stuttered. “Excuse me?”
“It doesn’t have to be now, but it will happen.”
I blinked, incredulous and giddy that he would propose to me. Though he hadn’t, really. “Isn’t it supposed to be a question?”
“Would you have preferred rose petals and champagne?”
“God, no.” I’d had more than enough seduction in my lifetime, more than enough false charm. I wanted the real thing. I wanted forever. “So what now?”
“Now we go back. I’ll do the work I’ve been doing, cleaning the streets—” His hold tightened as I tried to object. “And if anyone has a problem with my wife, we’ll deal with it like adults.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. I don’t want any more violence.”
He chuckled softly. “At night, I’ll come home to you.?
??
“Naked, except for my apron and high heels.”
“Wearing whatever you want, doing whatever you want.”
Which was what, exactly? That wasn’t a question for Luke but for myself. I had never been the domestic type, and hadn’t I already figured out that a regular job wasn’t for me? I had been raised to do one thing only. Even the love of a good man couldn’t make me forget all my training.
The bookstore was ages ago, a million miles away, but I might as well have been walking out the door, the rejected application damp in my hand. The life was the only thing I knew, the only one I had.
Chapter Twenty
I stared at the unmarked building, red brick and blackened bulletproof glass. Luke sat quietly in the driver’s seat beside me, giving me the space I needed.
“It’s a little depressing,” I muttered.
He made a small sound that could have been assent. Or not.
“I mean, just because it’s a new start doesn’t mean it’s a better one. How can I know this is the right thing for them?”
Was it the right choice for me? I’d wanted so badly to make this right, without fully understanding what was wrong. I knew better now. It wasn’t the actions of a single man. This would happen again and again, unless we did something. One girl, then another. With relief, I realized I hadn’t been wrong before, bringing them here, supporting this place. But it had been a halfhearted effort. I hadn’t been able to make the next step of helping them build a new life, because I hadn’t been able to build a new life for myself.
“Wait here?” I asked softly.
His eyes shone with acceptance, approval. He pressed a kiss to my lips before I got out and rang the little doorbell. The wait was longer than usual, but I stood still and patient. Finally the door opened, just a crack. Marguerite was draped in shadows.
She squinted through the glare on the windows. “I shouldn’t even have opened the door.”
“Thanks for trusting me on this.”
“That’s your cop, I’m guessing.”
