Page 72 of Champagne & Handcuffs

He smirked. “Hearing someone fucking in the next room is a turn on, bro. Gabe and Autumn used to go at it like fucking—”

Joss shooed him away. “I don’t need a visual about our friends, PJ.” He went upstairs muttering to himself. “We can make this fast,” Joss stated to me. “You’ll be briefed tomorrow at headquarters.”

I nodded.

“Long story short, everyone was arrested. Tony and that Reggie guy are dead, and Bryce was booked for a double homicide.”

“Fuck,” I breathed. Yes, Bryce had killed Tony and the pimp who had bought Cat, but he saved her life. Probably saved mine and Paul’s too.

“Charges won’t stick.”

My eyes darted to hers. “It won’t?”

“Somehow the feed of him pulling the trigger got interrupted, and it just shows Tony with a gun to Cat’s head and then you rushing over to her.”

“Interrupted how?”

She shrugged as though she had no idea, but by the smirk on her face, I knew she’d made that happen. “Even his prints were wiped.”

I snorted. “So what will happen to Bryce?”

“Well, since he was our informant on the case, he’ll either get probation or one to five for soliciting prostitution.”

The FBI had authorized informants to break the law over twenty-two thousand times in a four-year stretch a few years back. I didn’t know if that meant murders or what, but given that Joss was in on the case, I was sure she had pull of what would happen to Bryce.

“Why did he kill Tony?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she sighed. “I wasn’t able to talk to him, and probably won’t be able to because it’s a conflict.”

“You really doing okay after all of this?”

Joss nodded. “If it weren’t for Paul, my answer would be no. But having him with me and loving me, makes me feel protected. Crazy as it sounds, I feel safer now with him than I ever did with my training.”

I sighed. “I hope that’s the same for Cat with me.”

“Are you going to move to Florida? Is she going to move to D.C.?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but it will be a long fucking time until I’m ready to have her out of my sight.”

20

Cat

I wokewith arms wrapped around my body.

At first, visions of the night before clouded my judgment and I’d almost jumped out of bed screaming. Then I realized the arms that held me were Seth’s. I sighed and sank back into him, loving the feel of him.Allof him. Though, as I felt his morning erection pressing into my butt, I thought about the faceless man as he cupped my pussy. If Paul, Seth and even Bryce hadn’t come into the room at that exact moment, there was no telling what would have happened—other than the obvious.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

A tear slid from my eye.

“Shh. It’s okay. You’re safe,” Seth whispered, kissing my shoulder.

“I know,” I whimpered. I thought he was sleeping, but even with a sleeping aid, I was certain I hadn’t slept more than a few hours too.

“It will take some time. You’ll never forget, but it should get better.”

“I hope so.”