Page 26

True to his word, Jack and Kinsey waited for her in the Expedition not ten feet away.

She sprinted for the passenger door, opened it, and practically flung herself inside.

“ Let’s go!” Damn , she sounded freaked out.

She grabbed her warm-up jacket from the seat and shoved her arms quickly inside, zipping it straight to her throat.

Anything to hide the telltale bulge beneath her suit.

Jack turned in his seat. “ What took you so long?”

Kinsey hit the gas, and the SUV shot forward.

“ Nothing . I just needed to make sure I left everything the way it was when I came in.”

In the dim light, Jack sent her the same penetrating look he’d given her that first night in his apartment. Like he could see right through her.

He knows I’m lying. Probably scored another perfect ten on his poop-o-meter.

Just before he turned away, he gave her one last meaningful look. The kind that unequivocally shouted: We will talk later.

Her head began pounding with the mother of all headaches. God , I need chocolate .

Jack keyed his radio. “ We’re done,” he notified Margo and Annabelle . “ Head back to the city.”

“ Ten -four,” Anna responded.

Forty minutes later, they parked outside Gina’s apartment building, where Jack thanked the women for their assistance. When it was obvious to her friends that he planned on debriefing Gina — alone — Kinsey winked at her, Anna smirked, and Margo gave her a hug.

“ We’re outta here.” Kinsey latched onto Anna and Margo’s arms, pulling them away. “ Gotta return the rental car.”

Seconds later, she stared at the Charger’s red taillights as Kinsey took the corner at about twenty miles above the speed limit. She turned to leave, hoping in her fantasy world that Jack would just let her go.

No such freaking luck .

“ Not so fast.” He fell in step beside her, holding open the heavy glass door to the lobby of her building. “ I’m going up with you.”

“ Why ? I thought we were done. Mission accomplished. Ten -four, good buddy, over and out.”

Undeterred , he stepped into the elevator with her. By the time they reached her apartment door, she was biting her lower lip so hard she drew blood. The stack of cash beneath her suit was burning a hole in her chest. The only thing covering it from Jack’s scrutiny was her warm-up jacket.

As expected, he followed her inside her apartment. She didn’t bother trying to keep him out. He’d only force his way in.

The door clicked shut behind them, and she kept going through the living room, heading for the kitchen. The only thing that could possibly ease her nerves was chocolate, something with a lot of cocoa solids. Tonight was an 80% night if ever there was one.

“ Gina .” Jack grasped her arm gently but forcefully enough to turn her to face him.

The movement caused the zipper of her jacket to slip down a few notches.

Please don’t look . If he found out she’d taken any cash—no matter the circumstances—she’d be toast. “ What were you really doing snooping around in the freezer?”

“ I told you already. I was curious, and I was bored. I heard a sound, so I opened it.” His eyes narrowed to gray slits, a clear sign that meter of his was pinging into the red zone.

Not that she could blame him. Her story sounded lame and ludicrous, even to her.

She shoved a hand through her hair and flinched.

He touched his fingers to her head. “ You’re hurt. How did you get this?”

She reached up to feel the beginning of a good-sized goose egg. No wonder her head pounded so badly. “ When that snake lunged for me, I fell.”

The look in his eyes softened. “ And how did you get this?” He grasped her hand, the one she’d held to her forehead.

She blinked. On the top of her hand, midway between her knuckles and her wrist, was a long red mark. “ Oh , no.” That snake’s fang must have grazed her skin, and she’d been too juiced on adrenaline to feel it.

“ Did a snake do that?” His brows furrowed deeper. When she nodded, he examined the mark more closely and inspected both sides of her hands. “ It doesn’t look like it punctured the skin. If it had injected you with any venom you’d have felt it by now.”

Realization of just how near she’d actually been to dropping dead on Psycho’s kitchen floor had her sucking in ragged breaths. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

“ What the—” Jack focused on her chest where her jacket zipper had descended farther.

She swallowed. The bulge beneath her sweat suit was clearly visible.

He yanked the zipper to her waist, then did the same with the zipper of her catsuit. The bundle of cash fell out, making a smacking sound as it landed on the floor.

She thought she’d been freaked out by those snakes, but the furious look on Jack’s face was far more frightening.

“ What did you do?” She opened her mouth to explain, but he cut her off. “ You couldn’t let it go, could you? Was the money calling your name? Last I checked, cash can’t talk.”

“ It wasn’t like that,” she cried. “ I didn’t break my word to you, I swear it.

I only went back into the kitchen to get my penlight, and I found the cash on the floor.

I couldn’t very well open that freezer door again, could I ?

” Tension from everything that had transpired over the last week slammed into her like a two-ton safe.

“ Fine . Don’t believe me. Throw me in jail, but keep my friends out of this. ”

Leaving him standing in the living room, Gina spun and dashed into the kitchen. She whipped open the pantry doors and grabbed a bar of 80% Brazilian chocolate. She tore off the wrapper and broke off a chunk, about to shove it into her mouth when Jack ripped it from her hand.

“ Did you eat any of that stuff yet?” He threw the chocolate bar to the floor. The look on his face was ten shades past furious. It was...dangerous. “ Did you?”

“ No , not that it’s any of your bus?—”

He pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. For a microsecond, she resisted, shoving her hands against his iron-hard chest. When she opened her mouth to tell him precisely what she thought of his manhandling her, he took full advantage and slipped his tongue between her lips.

Any resistance on her part died then and there.

She melted into his warm body, absorbing his heat, his very breath, as he kissed her deeper.

His big hands threaded through her hair, and he groaned into her mouth.

The kiss became feral, all-consuming. Her mind went totally blank, but every square inch of her skin shimmered with sparks igniting simultaneously.

In one split second, Jack had accomplished what no man ever had.

Gina felt alive in the arms of a man. Really alive.

She slid her hands beneath his sweater, awed by the flex and play of thick muscles beneath her fingertips. Moaning , she dug her nails into his firm flesh, wishing she could get closer, tighter against this man who inflamed her body with desire she’d never experienced.

His hands roved her back, massaging, caressing, burning straight through the fabric of her jacket and catsuit, and all the while his incredibly talented mouth and tongue continued their assault on her mouth.

He cupped her buttocks and hauled her against his arousal. More . She craved more. All she wanted was to wrap her entire body around him.

Suddenly , he broke the kiss and eased away. She nearly cried out from the loss of his body heat, his fiery touch, and the promise of something incredible. Her chest heaved, and she stood there, gasping for air.

He stared at her, his back pressed against the kitchen counter as he sucked in ragged breaths. Even with his eyes hooded as they were, the burning need in those gray depths mirrored her own. They might be standing four feet apart, but she still felt his touch straight to her core.

“ That shouldn’t have happened.” His voice was hoarse, and she could have imagined it, but he seemed as confused as she felt right at that moment.

That theory went out the window after he cleared his throat.

“ You’ve fulfilled your part of our bargain.

Consider your debt to the FBI and to me paid in full.

” The look of regret on his face intensified, and the tone he’d used was about as passionless as a roll of duct tape.

He’d just given her the most incredible, soul-rocking kiss of her life, and just like that it was over, back to business. Guess that’s all she’d ever be to him. Business .

He grabbed the towel hanging on the oven door, then went to her freezer and dispensed ice onto the terrycloth. Wordlessly , he gently pressed the makeshift ice pack to the bump on her head.

“ I believe you,” he said, clenching his jaw. “ About what happened tonight. You can keep that stack of cash, but remember…no more rips until my investigation is over. After that, what you do is at your own risk.”

Anger , mixed with a healthy dose of rejection, fueled the bite in her next words. “ And how will I know when your investigation is complete? Will you send me a memo?”

“ You can read about it in the papers. In the meantime, it’s too dangerous for you to continue ripping off mobsters. If you’re smart, you’ll call it quits. For good.”

She took control of the icepack. “ What do you care?”

For a moment, he didn’t say a word. “ I just do.”

“ That’s a laugh. From the look on your face, you’re thrilled to be rid of me.”

He gave her another look, this one different—and one she couldn’t decipher. On anyone else, she might have thought it was…longing.

Then he was gone. A moment later, her front door slammed shut.

Shock hit first, followed by so much numbness she nearly slid to the floor.

The sensible thing would be to shrug it off.

It was just a kiss, after all, one that clearly meant nothing to Jack .

It was merely a sudden urge, an adrenaline rush between two people who were physically attracted to each other.

Her belly quivered. The urge to cry was overwhelming. Rather than give in to tears, she wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the floor. She shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold tile beneath her. It was from the unforgettable desire Jack’s touch had awakened within her.

Worse , she’d gone and done the stupidest thing possible.

She’d actually begun to like the muscle-bound fed.

He might be a stern, hard-assed pain in the butt, but she’d glimpsed the other side of his personality, the one buried deep beneath his exterior wall of iron. That man was caring, passionate, and?—

Had rejected her. Completely and totally.

She was a fool for considering there could be more to that kiss than there so clearly wasn’t.

Just as well . Like all the good men in her life—the few that there’d been—he eventually would have done what they all did.

Leave . Not that she’d really been thinking about Jack in those terms.

She pressed the ice pack harder against the goose egg and flinched.

It was time to face facts. Time to move past this little glitch in her life and focus on what was really important.

Helping Marilyn and the other women at the shelter.

That was all that really mattered. She could continue getting by in life and being happy just by helping others who couldn’t help themselves.

Who needed love, anyway? From what little she’d seen of it, love was not only seriously overrated, but it never lasted.

With more rips out of the question, she’d have to be at her smooth-talking best at the fundraiser and sweet-talk all those rich people into writing big fat checks.