Page 114 of Too Close To Home

But Jake went still. Then he drew a long breath, held it and let it go slowly. Some of the tension eased from his shoulders. Not all of it, but enough to take the edge off. And when he lifted his head from Harrison’s, he didn’t step away. Instead, he leaned in. Turned his face into Harrison’s hand until Harrison could feel the heat of his breath against his palm and, a second later, the faintest brush of lips against his skin.

Too close.

That same pull from the night before tightened between them. Quiet. Insistent. Something Harrison seemed incapable of feeling until Jake was near him, and equally incapable of ignoring once he did.

His pulse thudded hard in his throat.

For one dangerous second, Harrison thought Jake might kiss his palm.

Worse, he thought he might let him.

Christ.

Harrison pulled his hand away and stepped back, putting space between them before either of them forgot where they were. “Remember when I said to let me do my job?”

Jake blinked, visibly dragging himself back too. “So you’ve got summat on him?”

“I’ve got enough to warrant an interview.” Harrison smoothed down his tie, grateful for something to do with his hands. “Which I should be conducting right now, not standing here talking you down from a catastrophic mistake.” He softened his voice. “I’ve got this, Jake. I know you don’t know me well enough to trust me yet, but I’m a good detective. Let me go be one.”

Jake closed his eyes and tipped his head back. For a moment, everything moved across his face. Anger. Hope. Dread. Thirteen years of all three, probably, tangled so tightly Harrison doubted Jake knew how to separate them anymore.

Then Jake looked at him again. “Okay.” He gave a small nod. “I’ll trust you.”

Harrison felt the weight of that before Jake had even finished.

Then Jake caught his lower lip between his teeth and, quiet and almost vulnerable, said, “Don’t let me down.”

Harrison’s chest tightened painfully.

He could have said the same.

Not about Robyn. Not about police work or investigations or promises made outside a station.

About this.

Whatever Jake had managed to prise open in him with nothing more than a kiss.

Harrison knew enough about Jake to know physical intimacy didn’t necessarily come with anything attached. Only a few nights ago he’d gone home with a man whose name he hadn’t even bothered to learn.

Harrison had never been able to separate the two.

Perhaps that was why one kiss felt more dangerous than it had any right to.

Because Harrison had let Jake close. Let himself want him. Trusted him with a part of himself he’d kept locked away since Chris, without having the faintest idea whether Jake would give that kiss another thought once Harrison walked away.

Don’t let me down.

Yes.

He could have said exactly the same.

Instead, Harrison nodded and turned to go.

Jake caught his hand.

The contact stopped him dead.

Too warm. Too familiar. Too much for broad daylight outside a police station, and yet Harrison didn’t immediately pull free.