Excerpt :

"What? You don't like to be smashed next to hundreds of other people, drinking high priced, watered down drinks, and screaming above a thumping bass line? Where's you sense of adventure?"

Talia felt his laugh right down to her toes. Being with him was better than thermal underwear; she hadn't been this warm all winter.

"It's tough, but I can usually manage to hold myself back."

Absently, Finn put his hand on her lower back to steer her around a pile of garbage bags on the sidewalk. It was ridiculous, but she could swear she felt the imprint of his hand through her heavy winter coat, sweater, tee shirt and tank top, straight to the skin underneath. Did he have any idea the havoc he was causing to her dormant libido?

Talia bit her tongue as they approached the subway station. How did he feel about her? When she was shielded she could only feel really strong emotions. The regular play of emotions that went on around her bounced off her mental walls without much notice.

Her mother had taught her to keep her shields up at all times. Probing someone's emotions without permission was like reading someone's diary. You just didn't do it unless it was absolutely necessary.

But would a peek really hurt? She'd just take a quick glimpse before she caught her train. He was going in the opposite direction, she might never see him, and he wouldn't know either way.

"Here's where we part ways Miss Talia. It was a pleasure bumping into you again."

"Likewise. Thanks for walking me to the subway. You can shine up your boy scout badge now." Without thinking any more about the rights and wrongs of what she was doing, Talia opened her shields just a crack-- and felt nothing.

Nothing? She opened them a little bit more. It was like there was a blank spot where Finn was standing.

Duh! He's a cop. Shielding his emotions probably came naturally to him. Lots of people who worked in human services like firefighters, doctors, and nurses, seemed to have shields in place to protect them from the emotional burnout that came with their jobs.

Well, that's what she deserved for trying to sneak a peek anyway. She was putting her shields in place when a wave of need and anger hit her.

"Look out!" Talia didn't know what made her do it, but she pushed Finn away just as a knife came arching towards him.

A kid in baggy clothes and a skullcap pulled low over his forehead was waving a knife around wildly. Talia was trying to stay out of the way and put her shields back up at the same time.

Her head hurt from the emotional punch she received, but she knew enough to get the hell out of the way. Finn was much better at handling this type of situation than she ever would be.

Finn was circling the kid, keeping his distance, and staying light on his feet. His hands were up in front of him, but he wasn't moving in to attack or try to disarm the little thug. "C'mon kid, there's nothing for you here. Run while you can."

"I can't, man. I need the money. If I don't get a fix soon I'll die." The kid couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. Talia could see the signs of hunger all over him, and his hair was greasy and hung out from under the cap in clumped strands. The hand holding the knife was shaking, and he was hunched over like he was in pain.

"I can get you some help, but you have to put the knife down. Let me take you to the hospital." Finn wasn't backing off, but neither was he attacking.

"I don't need a fucking hospital! I need a hit, and you're gonna be the way I get it." In more of a stumble than a lunge, the kid jabbed the knife at Finn's stomach.

In a movement so fast and so fluid Talia barely registered it, Finn kicked the knife out of the junkie's hand, grabbed him and spun him around until he had the kid pressed against the wall with his hand locked up behind his back.

"Do you want me to call the police?" Talia wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. She'd never been mugged before.

"I am the police, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, what do we do?"

"We call an ambulance and get this guy to a clinic where he can get some help."

"I don't want help!" The would-be assailant was sobbing and shaking now. His knees were folding, and Finn's support was the only thing keeping him off the subway floor.

Reaching into the pocket of his coat, Finn pulled a set of handcuffs out and snapped them on the kid's wrists.

"Do you always carry handcuffs when you go to a bar on a Friday night?"

"Don't leave home without them."

 

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