J D Robb Quotes

So, you're dead asleep, and you get a call. Something terrible's happened, and I'm dead. What do you do?"
It took him a moment to quell the terror, to ignore the small, dark place inside him that feared getting that call every day. "Before or after I fall prostrate with grief?"
"Before, during, and after. Do you peruse your wardrobe and select a coordinating outfit - down to the footwear? Do you deal with your hair so it's perfectly groomed?"
"With my considerable skills and innate instincts that would take no time at all."
"Keep it up and I'll dump red sauce all over your fashionable smarty-pants."
"That statement is one of the countless reasons why, under the circumstances you described, I'd be lucky to remember to dress at all. ~ J.D. Robb

She drew in a shuddering breath. "I love you." And let it out. "God." The emotion that swept through him was like a summer storm, quick, violent, then clean. Swamped with it, he rested his brow on hers. "You didn't choke on it. ~ J.D. Robb

You look like a pagan. A pagan warrior queen." He scraped his teeth along her throat. "Naked, glowing, wearing nothing but ropes of diamonds."
"I want you inside me." Breath tearing, she bit at his ear. "Hot, hard inside me."
"My hands are busy at the moment." He filled them with her breasts. "I'll need help getting out of this shirt."
She reached up, tore it open, sending buttons flying.
"Well, that's one way."
"It's how it works when you're a pagan warrior queen. Take me." She gripped his hair, yanked his mouth to hers. "I want you to take me like there's nothing you need more."
"There isn't. It's you. It's always you. ~ J.D. Robb

Roarke called up a blueprint of Hillary Clinton High School. "Certain ~ J.D. Robb

Don't ask. We're all but done for in any case, taking that Fiona couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo, and Paddy and Maureen both cheat like tinkers at a fair."

"What are you talking about? Why would anybody hit a cow with a banjo?

He only smiled. "The point is, Fiona couldn't so we'll be done soon enough. ~ J.D. Robb

In any case, what would be the point of having all that, and you, darling Eve, if I can't have time with you, away from your work and mine?"
"I could probably take a week."
"I was thinking four."
"Four? Four weeks? That's a month."
His eyes laughed over the rim of his cup. "Is it now? I believe you're right."
"I can't take a month off. A month is like ... a month."
"As opposed to what? A chicken?"
"Ha. Look, maybe I could stretch it to ten days, but - "
"Three weeks."
Her forehead furrowed.
"We had to cancel plans for a quick weekend away twice this year. Once for your work, once for mine. Three weeks."
"I couldn't take more than two, even - "
"Two and a half. We split the difference." He handed her a fork.
She frowned at it. "You were always going for the two and a half. ~ J.D. Robb

Watch the road! Don't look at me, look at the road. Except it's not really a road. It's a track. What are these damn bushes, and why are they here?"
"It's fuchsia. Lovely, aren't they?"
They made her think of blood spatter, possibly resulting from a massacre by a battalion of farm animals. ~ J.D. Robb

I'm programming us a couple of spinach smoothies"
"I'll pass. For the rest of my natural life."
"Just what you need," he insisted, tapped buttons manually. And came out with two cups of coffee. ~ J.D. Robb

What you have with her will save her. Just as it saved you. ~ J.D. Robb

We're the blue line, sir, and that will resonate on-screen. But Peabody is the face, the very human element. And she would symbolize who we are, contrast sharply against what Renee Oberman is."
He rubbed his chin, and his lips curved a little above his fingers. "You can carve out an angle like that, an excellent angle, and believe the idea of your ass in the chair someday down the road is terrifying?" He waved off her response before she could make it. "I should have thought of it myself, should have thought it through exactly that way. I'll contact Furst."
Something inside her unknotted. "Thank you, sir."
"Don't thank me. I'm wondering why I haven't assigned you to Media and PR."
"Because, sir, I hope I've done nothing to deserve that kind of punishment. ~ J.D. Robb

I get double credits. First I get the satisfaction credit of being hit on by the sexy DOT inspector, and second I get loyal and true credit for turning him down because I have my personal sexy nerd. ~ J.D. Robb

Eve, I know this continues to astound and baffle you, but I actually like to socialize."
"I know. If it wasn't for that, you'd be perfect. ~ J.D. Robb

People often do the incomprehensible. It's what makes them so fascinating. ~ J.D. Robb

As she read over Eve's shoulder, Mavis let out a low whistle. "Not the Roarke! The incredibly wealthy, fabulous to look at, sexily mysterious Roarke who owns approximately twenty-eight percent of the world, and its satellites?"
All Eve felt was irritation. "He's the only one I know."
"You know him." Mavis rolled her green shadowed eyes. "Dallas, I've underestimated you unforgivably. Tell me everything. How, when, why? Did you sleep with him? Tell me you slept with him, then give me every tiny detail."
"We've had a secret, passionate affair for the last three years, during which time I bore him a son who's being raised on the far side of the moon by Buddhist monks. ~ J.D. Robb

Who's a girl?"
"You're mine." His hands glided down her back, around and up to her breasts. "You're my girl."
"Sap," she said, but in a little sigh as she gave him her lips again.
She'd never been anybody's girl, had never wanted to be. It had always seemed a weak term to her, one of submission and vulnerability. But with him, it was sweet and foolish, and just exactly right. ~ J.D. Robb

Water lapped as she sat forward. "Don't play games with me, Roarke."
"Eve, it's my fondest wish to do just that. ~ J.D. Robb

Criminal activity does have its appeal. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many criminals. ~ J.D. Robb

You need a medic, Lieutenant."
"In a minute. Let me ask you something."
"Ask away." Having nothing else, he tore part of his ripped sleeve to dab at the blood on her shoulder.
"Do I come charging into one of your board rooms when you're having trouble with a business deal?"
His eyes flicked to hers. Some of the fierceness died out of them into what was almost a smile. "No, Eve, you don't. I don't know what got into me."
"It's okay. This once. ~ J.D. Robb

He sipped again, more deeply. "Is this an interrogation, Lieutenant?" It was the smile in his voice that rubbed her wrong.
"It can be," she said shortly.
"As you like." He rose, set his glass aside, and began to unbutton his shirt.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting into the swim, so to speak." He tossed the shirt aside, unhooked his trousers.
"If I'm going to be questioned by a naked cop, in my own tub, the least I can do is join her."
"Damn it, Roarke, this is murder." He winced as the hot water all but scalded him.
"You're telling me." He faced her across the sea of froth.
"What is it in me that is so perverse it thrives on ruffling you? And," he continued before she could give him her short, pithy opinion, "what is it about you that pulls at me, even when you're sitting there with an invisible badge pinned to your lovely breast? ~ J.D. Robb

Worrying about me won't help you get your job done."
"Who says I'm worried?"
He stayed where he was; simply held out his hand.
She crossed to him, took it, gripped hard. "When I met you," she said carefully, "I didn't want you in my life. You were one big complication. Every time I looked at you, or heard your voice, or so much as thought about you, the complication got bigger."
"And now?"
"Now? You are my life." She gave his hand one last squeeze, then released. "Okay, enough mushy stuff. Olympus. ~ J.D. Robb

Eve: "What do you want?"
Nadine: "A man of amazing sexual prowess, great sensitivity, stupendous abs, and the face of an angel. Toss in a wicked sense of humor and stupendous wealth, who adores the very ground I walk on. Oh wait, you already have him. ~ J.D. Robb

And what the hell does that even mean? Why would you serve food for thoughgs, and what kind of food? If you serve spinach, do you get healthy thoughts? If it's ice cream and candy, it is fun thoughts? Why do we say stupid things? ~ J.D. Robb

Roarke made some notations on the fax - a ~ J.D. Robb

Confrontation while lounging in bed. ~ J.D. Robb

We begin to die with our first breath. Death is inside us, ticking closer, closer, with every beat of our heart. It is the end no man can escape ~ J.D. Robb

That works for now." Eve's stomach began to clench and jitter. There were tears swimming in her aide's eyes. Peabody's lips were quivering. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Nothing. Sir."
"How come you're going to cry? You know how I feel about crying on the job."
"I'm not crying." And it appalled her that she was on the edge of it. "I just don't feel very well, that's all. I wonder, sir, if I could be excused from the briefing at sixteen hundred. ~ J.D. Robb

When you find nothing, Morris said, it means you're eliminating what surrounds the something.
Is that a Zen thing? Eve questioned.
If not, it should be. ~ J.D. Robb

Marriage is mostly a sucker bet"
"Spoken by the woman with Dream Husband"
"You just said Dream Husband might take a turn down the road and decide he wants to do a threesome or _"
"Me! Me!" Peabody shot up a hand. "Pick me!"
Eve & Peabody ~ J.D. Robb

You were never what he wanted you to be. And more than even I hoped. In weak moments, I might credit the lieutenant for some of that. ~ J.D. Robb

Roarke had to force himself not to snatch her up as she swept through the hallowed Senate halls. Members of the media were already leaping toward her, but she cut through them as if they weren't there. "I like your style, Lieutenant Dallas," he said when they'd fought their way to the car. "I like it a lot. And by the way, I don't think I'm in love with you anymore. I know I am. ~ J.D. Robb

I'd rather be screwed up with you than smooth with anybody else. ~ J.D. Robb

That makes three suicides without logical explanations. Now, for people like Fitzhugh and the senator, with their kind of financial base, there's counseling at the snap of a finger. Or in cases of terminal illness - physical or emotional - voluntary self-termination facilities. But they took themselves out in bloody and painful ways. ~ J.D. Robb

To have birthed and bred her, beaten and raped her all for selling her to other scum. What god made such creatures as that and set them to prey on innocents? ~ J.D. Robb

How do you know that? You couldn't have finished the book."
"I skipped to the end."
"You..." He closed his eyes as he drank more wine. "Some things are unforgiveable."
--Roarke, Dallas, Roarke ~ J.D. Robb

You staked him. You actually staked him."
"It was handy. Let's get those medics in here. I don't want this guy skipping out on multiple murder charges by dying on me. I want to know the minute he's able to talk. I think we're going to get an interesting confession."
"It's supposed to be the heart." she heard Peabody mutter. "It's really supposed to be the heart."
Eve blew out a long breath. "Keep it up, Peabody, and I may have Mira shrink your head after she's done with the second-rate Dracula ~ J.D. Robb

I think sometimes fate cuts you a break. Like it says, okay, you've had enough of that crap, so it's time you fell into something nice. See what you make out of it. ~ J.D. Robb

Eve: "She had big plans for me. Kind of a pet, I imagine. Like William. Her little trained dog. And with you dead, she figured I'd inherit all your goodies. You're not going to do that to me are you?"
Roarke: "What, die?"
Eve: "Leave me all this stuff."
Roarke: "Only you would be annoyed by that. ~ J.D. Robb

What are you doing?"
"Washing your hair," he murmured and proceeded to stroke and massage the shampoo into her short, sopping cap of hair. "I'm going to enjoy smelling my soap on you." His lips curved. "You're a fascinating woman, Eve. Here we are, wet, naked, both of us half dead from a very memorable night, and still you watch me with very cool, very suspicious eyes."
"You're a suspicious character, Roarke."
"I think that's a compliment. ~ J.D. Robb

Our differences are only skin deep, but our sames go down to the bone. ~ J.D. Robb

She would be a sparkling accent on his arm. She speaks flawless French and Italian, and has a limitless supply of charm when she wishes to dispense it. And'd she'll use him. She'll take, take more. If it was necessary, or if she simply had the whim, she'd toss him to the wolves to see who'd win."
He finished the whiskey. "You, Lieutenant, are often crude, you are certainly rude, and have very little sense of how to be the wife
in public
of a man in Roarke's position. And you would do anything, no matter what the personal risk, to keep him from harm. She will never love him. You will never do anything but. ~ J.D. Robb

Well, hell, Eve. If you need to run off to you dressmaker, or take your cat to therapy, Peabody and I can handle this minor matter of murder."
Eve lips stretched in a vicious smile. "Bite me, Casto. ~ J.D. Robb

Listen carefully. I'd crush you like a bug for causing my wife one single moment of pain. Believe it. Fear it. ~ J.D. Robb

You'll stay in the surveillance vehicle and assist McNab. Any arguments from you, Detective?" she said, looking at McNab.
"No. No, sir, Lieutenant." He patted Peabody on the back. "You okay, honey?"
"No honeys!" Eve pulled at her hair. "There are no honeys on an op, for sweet Christ's sake. Keep it up, just keep it up, and I'm having one of you transferred to Queens. ~ J.D. Robb

When I ducked out, she was talking to Ana Whitney and some Roarke exec about knitting. The three of them were into it like it was their religion. ~ J.D. Robb

If children don't push the edges now and again, what's the point of being a child? ~ J.D. Robb

How white is an Irishman's ass?" Eve wondered out loud.
"You should know, darling. ~ J.D. Robb

He needed to call Eve.
He looked across the field, across the silvered mists and gentle rise of aching green. Rather than pull out his pocket-link he continued to toy with the button. He didn't want to call her. He wanted to touch her. To hold her, just hold her and anchor himself again.
"Why did I come without you?" he murmured, "when I need you so bloody much? ~ J.D. Robb

Eve: "She completely eye-fucked you." Roarke: "I know. I feel so cheap and used." Eve: "Shit. You got off on it. Men always do." Roarke: "True enough, which is why we're so often cheap and used. ~ J.D. Robb

What the hell does it matter who I am or who I'm with? ~ J.D. Robb

When a man is clever enough and knows his quarry well enough to choose such a time and place to propose marriage, well, a woman was a goner. ~ J.D. Robb

Your view on this is narrow. That's how you're built." It didn't feel narrow to her. It felt right. "Marriage is a promise. That's one of the ways you talked me into it. If you break one part of the promise, it's going to crack other parts. ~ J.D. Robb

Do little pink fairies sing and dance in your world, Peabody?"
"Sometimes, when it's very quiet and no one else can see. ~ J.D. Robb

Lord, Give me the strength not to bitch slap this woman. ~ J.D. Robb

Knowing that, too, was one ~ J.D. Robb

Sometimes I just want to gobble you whole, eat you alive. You're so gorgeous. You're so beautiful. ~ J.D. Robb

I like your style, Lieutenant Dallas," he said when they'd fought their way to the car. "I like it a lot. And by the way, I don't think I'm in love with you anymore. I know I am."-Roarke ~ J.D. Robb

A lot of nasty things grow out of love if it isn't ... tended right. Jealousy, hate, resentment, suspicion. ~ J.D. Robb

How does hanky-panky translate to sex? Who comes up with words like that?"
"Probably people who don't have sex ~ J.D. Robb

It was a joint, which put it one slippery step up from a dive. ~ J.D. Robb

Sit up, and no whining."
"I don't whine."
"Rarely," he agreed. But when you do, you make up for the lack of quantity with quality. ~ J.D. Robb

A pity it was so early in the day and I couldn't treat myself to the roller coaster. we'll have to come back, you and I, and make up for it."
"Sure, when I've lost my mind and want to rush screaming through the air in a little car. ~ J.D. Robb

What did she say?" Eve asked when they got into the car. "Here's love, she said, to hold until next we meet and I give you more. ~ J.D. Robb

We're going to go right by a couple 24/7s crossing town. Maybe we could stop and get some hot chocolate."
"That stuff they sell in those places is swill."
"Yeah, but it's chocolate swill." Peabody tried a pitiful, pleading look. "You wouldn't let her give us any of the good stuff."
"Maybe you'd like some cookies, too. Or little frosted cakes."
"That would be nice. Thanks for asking."
"That was sarcasm, Peabody."
"Yes, sir. I know. Responded in kind."
The easy laugh had the black cloud lifting. Because it did, Eve pulled over at a cross-street 24/7 and waited while Peabody ran in and loaded up. ~ J.D. Robb

Roarke leaned over, ~ J.D. Robb

I can't believe I was juiced when they cast her to play me. Please-body," Peabody muttered. "She didn't have any respect for me at all. I wish I'd known what a crappy human being she was before she got dead. I'd have shown her a Pleasebody."
"How long do you figure you're going to stew over this?"
"Awhile. I've never worked on a vic I wished I'd punched in the face before somebody killed her. I've been working on my hand-to-hand. ~ J.D. Robb

I'm so proud of you, and so amused at your discomfort in being recognized for you dedication and skill."
"Amused? Here's another funny for you. You're getting a medal, too."
He dropped her hand. "What? I'm a civilian, as you continually remind me."
"The Civilian Medal of Merit, and they don't given them out like candy, pal, especially to shady characters."
"I don't think it's appropriate."
She loved it, just loved when he turned all dignified.
"Oh, it is, and how I get to be amused. You're the one who started sticking his nose in, then his whole body. Now you're going to have to stand up there on Wednesday afternoon - fourteen hundred, so put that in your book - and take what you get. And I'm pretty damn proud of you, too, so suck it up. ~ J.D. Robb

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was so pissed off at what happened, at myself, I didn't think."
He stroked a hand down her hair first, then gave the choppy ends a quick tug. "I'm not angry with you."
"I know. You could be, but you're not. So I have to be even sorrier."
"Your logic is fascinating, and elusive."
"I can't pay you back with sex or salt-crusted sea bass or whatever because you're too busy taking care of me. So now I've got this black mark in my column against the bright shiny star in yours, and - "
He tipped her head up. "Are we keeping score?"
"No. Maybe. Shit."
"How am I doing?"
"Undisputed champ."
"Good. I like to win." He brushed her bangs back to study the injury himself. "You'll do. Let's eat. ~ J.D. Robb

The man's got more money than God, and he sends you a bag of coffee? ~ J.D. Robb

There's nobody on the job, nobody with a badge I respect more than you." - Eve
"You never were a rookie," he told her in a voice roughened with emotion. "So I saw good, solid cop the minute I laid eyes on you. I gave you a hell of a foundation, kid, a lot of seasoning and pushed you hard because I knew you could take it. You put yourself here. And I'm proud." - Feeney ~ J.D. Robb

No one ever says you're being judgmental if you think something is right or good or healthy. Only the opposite - only if you don't like it and only if they do like it. ~ J.D. Robb

What are those purple things?"
"Carrots."
"Carrots are orange."
"And purple." He didn't mention the turnips and cauliflower in the mix. He knew his quarry.
"Why would somebody dye a harmless carrot purple?"
"They're not dyed, they're natural. Have some more wine," he said, topping off her glass, "and try them out. ~ J.D. Robb

If somebody doesn't call me a bitch once a day, I figure I'm not doing my job. ~ J.D. Robb

She was a cop, a Homicide lieutenant with eleven years on the job protecting and defending the hard, merciless streets of New York. There was little she hadn't seen, touched, smelled, or waded through. Because people, to her mind, would always and could always find more inventive and despicable ways to kill their fellow man, she knew just what torments could be inflicted on the human body.
But bloody and brutal murder was nothing compared to giving birth. ~ J.D. Robb

Tag Feeney," Eve ordered when she was behind the wheel. "Have him run like crimes in and around London."
"It would be my honor, Mrs. Lieutenant Dallas Roarke." At Eve's burning look, Peabody only grinned. "Sorry. I just had to do it once. I'm over it. ~ J.D. Robb

I don't like to think of her as pretend Peabody anymore. The more we find out, the meaner and crazier she gets. It's like it's bad enough fake Peabody got murdered, but now fake Peabody is a dead, blackmailing asshole on top of it. It's depressing."
"Yeah, it's all really too bad for you."
"Well, it kind of is. How am I supposed to enjoy the vid now, when I'll be thinking how behind the scenes I was trying to blackmail McNab into bed, and the whole time he's in love with you? And that maybe there's a vid of the two of you all naked and sexy and - "
"Stop right there before I boot."
"Hey! Maybe there's a vid of fake Peabody and fake Roarke all naked and sexy. That would definitely make up for it. Maybe I can get a copy."
"There's going to be a vid of me tearing strips off your ass then using them to wallpaper my office. I'll make copies for everybody. Get Marlo down here. I'll start on Julian. ~ J.D. Robb

You go in, I go in."
"Listen
"
He took her face in his hands.
"You go, I go. That's non-negotiable. If we're to get blasted to hell or poisoned into lunatics, we do it together."
"Crap, Crap. You have to look less rich and gorgeous."
God help him, she made him grin. "I'll do what I can. ~ J.D. Robb

Look. I'm your expert consultant for a rather pathetic monetary wage, and under that agreement I have the option of selecting a technical assistant. He's mine."

She blew out a breath, paced to the window. Paced back. "Not just yours. It makes him mine, too. I don't know how to deal with a teenaged type person."

"Ah, well, I'd say you'd deal with him as you deal with everyone else. You order him around, and if he argues or doesn't jump quickly enough you freeze his blood with one of those vicious looks you're so good at and verbally abuse him. It always works so well for you."

"You think so?"

"There, see." He cupped her chin. "There it is now. I can actually feel my blood running cold. ~ J.D. Robb

Champagne for my wife," he said without taking his eyes off her. He drew her chair back himself. "Let me introduce you to Natalie and Sam Derrick."
"So this is Eve! I'm just thrilled to meet you." Natalie flashed a mile-wide grin, even as her gaze tracked over Eve's clothes.
"Glad you could join us." Sam held out a hand the size of a rump roast, pumped Eve's twice.
"Roarke's told us it's hard for you to get away from work."
"I just can't think how you investigate murders ."
Eve glanced back at Natalie. "First I need a body." She felt Roarke's hand pat her thigh twice. ~ J.D. Robb

An enormous urn of coffee was being put to use by both cops and servers. One of her own uniforms was helping himself to a tray of fancy finger food and another was already hitting the dessert cart.

It only took her presence to have the room falling into stillness, and silence.

"Officers, if you can manage to tear yourselves away from the all-you-can-eat buffet, take posts outside the doors of both kitchen exits. As cause of death has not yet been officially called, I'll remind you that you're stuffing evidence in your faces. If necessary, I'll have you both cut open so that evidence can be removed. ~ J.D. Robb

He lifted his glass, smiled over the rim at Eve. And when someone said his name, and he glanced toward them, Eve saw something come into his eyes, just a flash of it. A something she'd only seen when he looked at her.
It was gone, shuttered down into polite pleasure. But it had been there. Very slowly, Eve tracked her gaze over, and saw her. ~ J.D. Robb

Clearing her throat, Peabody turned the cube on record. I owe Dallas, Lieutenant Meaniepants Eve, twenty dollars to be paid out of my hard-earned, under-appreciated detective's salary next payday. Peabody, Detective Churchmouse Delia. ~ J.D. Robb

And how does my aide come by this information before I do?"

"Well, you know . . . pillow talk. See, sex - in this case - is an advantage to you. McNab said they'd get through faster, but at data clubs like that, the units are totally clogged. But he's on it and it's his top priority."

She cleared her throat when Eve made no comment. "Should I still contact Captain Feeney?"

"Oh, Feeney and I appear to be superfluous at this point. You and McPecker can fill us in whenever you feel it's appropriate."

"McPecker." Peabody snorted. "That's a good one. I'm going to use it on him."

"Happy to help." She shot Peabody a deceptively friendly look. "Perhaps I'm wasting my time going to the lab. Have you and Dickie also had a liaison?"

" Eeeuw."

"My faith in you is, at least, partially restored. ~ J.D. Robb

Thanks, Lieutenant. Casey's going to be really excited about Saturday. Um, can we bring something?"
"Like what?"
"A dish?"
"We have dishes. We have lots of dishes."
"He means food," Peabody interpreted. "Don't worry about it, Trueheart. They're got plenty of that, too."
"Why would somebody bring food when they're coming to your place to eat?" Eve wondered when Trueheart hurried after Baxter.
"It's a social nicety. ~ J.D. Robb

Love changes everything. I proposed to my wife after we limped away from a physical altercation with another serial killer. Good times." "Feels ~ J.D. Robb

Bet you haven't had time to rub on the breast cream either." She turned on Roarke. "Some reason you can't slap some on your hands before you feel her up?" "I do try," he said, throwing Eve to the wolves without a qualm. "She's a difficult woman." "Let ~ J.D. Robb

He coordinated his socks and underwear," she commented when Peabody came back in. "Colors and patterns. Who does that, and why?"
"I read this article about how what you wear under your clothes is all about what makes you feel empowered and in control. It's the Under You."
"If wearing matching boxers and socks make you feel empowered, you're a weenie. ~ J.D. Robb

She curled up beside him, realizing they both needed this space of intimacy as much as they'd needdd the reassurance and release. Her world had been rocked. She only understood how violent the shake had been now that it was stead again. ~ J.D. Robb

For now, for one night, the pressures of the job were light-years away. He could do that to her, and for her, she realized. He could open little pockets of peace. ~ J.D. Robb

Love, she knew - where once she hadn't believed - could be quiet and sweet, and still hold the world. ~ J.D. Robb

The media's no more objective than the last ratings term. ~ J.D. Robb

Sit down," she ordered Peabody.

"I prefer to stand."

"And I prefer to give you a good boot in the ass, but I'm restraining myself." Eve reached up, fisted her hands in her own hair and yanked until the pain cleared most of the rage.

"Okay, stand. You couldn't sit with that stick up your butt, anyway. One you shove up it every time Subject Monroe, Charles, is mentioned. You want to be filled in, you want to be briefed? Fine. Here it is."

She had to take another deep breath to insure her tone was professional. "On the evening of March twenty-six, at or about nineteen-thirty, I, accompanied by Roarke, had occasion to visit Areena Mansfield's penthouse suite at The Palace Hotel, this city. Upon entering said premises, investigation officer found subject Mansfield in the company of one Charles Monroe, licensed companion. It was ascertained and confirmed that LC Monroe was there in a professional capacity and had no links to the deceased or the current investigation. His presence, and the salient details pertaining to it, were noted in the report of the interview and marked Level Five in a stupid, ill-conceived attempt by the investigating officer to spare her fat-headed aide any unnecessary embarrassment."

Eve stomped back to her desk, snatched up her coffee, gulped some down. "Record that," she snapped.

Peabody's lip trembled. She sat. She sniffled.

"Oh, no." In genuine panic, Eve stabbed out a finger. " ~ J.D. Robb

Don't leave me again. God. God. Don't leave me again."
"I didn't"
"Part of you did." He moved her back, and his eyes swarmed with emotion. "Part of you left me, and I couldn't stand it. ~ J.D. Robb

He knows his father started him on the path of, let's say circumventing the law. That he has a predisposition for violence. He learned how to channel it, as you did. He had a goal – to get out, to have means and power. He accomplished that. Then he found you. He understands where he came from, and I imagine it's part of his pride that he became the kind of man a woman like you would love. ~ J.D. Robb

Then we'd better stop her." Coating the hammering fear with calming ice, Roarke worked precisely. "I'm not losing my wife today. I need more shagging light here. ~ J.D. Robb

Bite me. -Lieutenant Eve Dallas, from any of the In Death books. ~ J.D. Robb

No screen?" She nudged him away, scanned the walls. "Seriously? What kind of place is this?"
"The sort where people use bedrooms for sex and sleep, which is exactly waht I have in mind." To prove it, he tumbled her onto the bed.
It squeaked.
"What is that? Did you hear that? Is there a farm animal in here?"
"I'm fairly certain they keep those outside. It's the bed." He tugged her shirt over her head.
Testing, she lifted her hips, let them fall. "Oh, for God's sake. We can't do this on a talking bed. Everybody in the house will know what's going on in here."
Enjoying himself, he nuzzled at her throat. "I believe they already suspect we have sex."
"Maybe, but that's different than having the bed yell out, 'Whoopee!'"
Was it any wonder he adored her? he thought. ~ J.D. Robb

First, stop talking like that droid Peabody's reactivating. Second, you're not responsible for the flight of this suspect. That's on me."

"Lieutenant, I appreciate you taking my inexperience into consideration in my failure to perform my duty and complete this assignment in a satisfactory manner -- "

"Shut up, Trueheart." Jesus God, spare her from rookies. "Peabody! Come in here."

"I've nearly got the droid up and running, Dallas."

"Peabody, tell Officer Trueheart here how I deal with cops who botch assignments or fail to complete same in what I deem a satisfactory manner."

"Sir, you bust their balls, mercilessly. It can be very entertaining to watch. From a discreet and safe distance."

"Thank you, Peabody. You make me proud. Trueheart, am I busting your balls?"

His flush spread. "Ah, no, sir. Lieutenant."

"Then it follows that in my opinion, you didn't botch this assignment. If my opinion was otherwise, you'd be curled on the floor, clutching said balls and begging for mercy, which Officer Peabody has succinctly pointed out I do not have. Are we clear?"

He hesitated. "Yes, sir? ~ J.D. Robb

Himself first and last. He'd had to, in order to survive and then to succeed. One was every bit as important to him as the other. The habit was difficult to ~ J.D. Robb

Licensed, regulated, taxed, safe. People pay for therapy, for physical training," he added, nodding at the board. "For spiritual guidance, and so on and so on. People pay for all manner of basic needs, and others train to provide those needs. Sex is a basic need. ~ J.D. Robb

Summerset-I see you've destroyed another police vehicle. Perhaps you now hold the record. ~ J.D. Robb