He was as restless and ready to work as the muscular German shepherd lying beside his handler’s feet at the end of the conference room table. At least the dog got to pant and gnaw on his knotted rope to disperse some of that energy. Sitting through long meetings had never been Nick’s favorite thing on the best of days, but everything about this morning’s task force meeting reminded him of all the should-have-dones he’d mishandled since getting Spencer’s phone call New Year’s Eve. He should have known Nell was sneaking out to see her bad-boy boyfriend. He should have been in that alley with Annie to keep her from getting hurt and to protect the crucial evidence they’d lost. He should have kept his hands to himself and never touched her, never kissed her, never got it into his head that sweet, soulful Annie Hermann was a lot more than the nerdy lab rat he had to work with on the task force. Even now, he was having a hard time keeping his gaze from sliding across the table to watch her lift her coffee mug to those softly bowed lips that said a lot of smart stuff and tasted even better.
