Chapter 2

Blake made a quick stop in his office to hang up his winter gear and exchange his boots for sneakers. There was nothing he could do about the wet splotch on his hip. It would dry eventually. He didn’t linger, though he wanted nothing more than to hide there. His nerves increased tenfold, and his stomach jittered as though he’d swallowed hundreds of live butterflies. Blake took another minute just to try and gain his composure. Then he sucked in a deep breath, pulled open the door, and headed down the hall.

The conference room was usually only used for meetings. Once a month they had a whole-department staff meeting, and occasionally there was reason to gather there, but mostly the room remained unused. Blake felt awkward heading there—a bit like he was being called into the principal’s office. More than once he had to remind himself he wasn’t in trouble. He’d done nothing wrong.

He was just getting a new partner.

That was the hardest part about the whole thing. Blake had been working for Requiem for fifteen years, and in that time, he’d only had two partners. His first, Elizabeth, had trained him, but that was her last task before she finally retired. For the past fourteen years, he’d worked side by side with Catherine, and they had a very close relationship. When she decided she’d had enough of the life and it was time for her to retire as well, Blake was devastated. As happy as he was for his friend, he was selfishly upset to lose her. He knew their friendship would remain, but he couldn’t stand the thought of having to start all over again with a new partner.

Blake took one more steadying breath as he pushed open the conference room door. And promptly lost it all when he saw the African-American man standing by the bank of windows, watching the snow fall. He had expected his boss, Michael King. But what he got was someone else entirely.

Blake’s heart picked up as he let his gaze drift down the length of the man’s body. He was tall—at least several inches over six feet—and broad shouldered. The fitted long-sleeved shirt he wore clung to sculpted muscles in his pecs, shoulders, and arms, and accentuated his flat stomach. His skin was a warm, honeyed shade of brown and looked perfectly smooth. Blake’s fingers ached to reach out and touch—to trace the strong jaw, the corded neck, and rub along the closely shorn dark hair.

As though he sensed Blake’s presence, the man turned and graced Blake with a wide, blindingly white smile. His dark eyes were warm and inviting and sparkled in the overhead light. Lust hit Blake hard, tightened in his gut, and made his blood flow south. He had to swallow and then lick his lips.

Good lord. The man was simply gorgeous.

Blake tried and failed to think of the last time he’d reacted so strongly to another man. He’d never felt lust so intensely just on sight. Usually that kind of attraction built over time, after he’d really gotten to know someone. But if this guy told him to get naked and bend over the table, Blake would have done it eagerly.

“Hello there.” The man had a deep bass rumble of a voice, but it still held a brightness that surprised Blake. His tone was as open and inviting as his face, and Blake actually swayed forward before he caught himself.

“Hi.” Blake, on the other hand, could only manage a breathless whisper.

The man’s smile grew even wider. “Are you Blake?”

Blake nodded, entranced…and then realization dawned. How did the guy know his name? He had to be new. Blake would have known if someone that beautiful worked for Requiem. Maybe he was starting at the same time as Blake’s new partner, and they would all be meeting together.

Wait a minute.

Blake squinted, and his lust vanished in a flash. He blamed the pretty man for addling his thought process. That’s why he hadn’t put two and two together right away. Blake took a step back to put more distance between them, even though they were standing on opposite sides of the room.

“Who are you?”

The brightness in the man’s face dimmed just a fraction. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, but the answer came from the doorway behind Blake as his boss finally entered the room.

“This is Derek Scott, your new partner.”

Blake whipped around and faced Michael King. Didn’t matter that his boss was all muscle and height and towered over Blake’s five-foot-nine frame. It didn’t even matter that King had all the authority as the department head.

“No.”

“What?” Derek asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Blake didn’t spare him a glance. “Absolutely not.”

King levelled Blake with a patronizing look. “Yeah. You don’t have a choice. Suck it up.”

“I can’t.” The panic bled through into Blake’s voice, and he didn’t even try to stop it. “I only have girls as partners. You know this. I can’t have a guy.”

“Why not?” Derek sounded curious…and a little hurt. Blake didn’t care.