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Chapter Thirteen

Jack didn’t give a damn what Paul’s answer to his question was and didn’t wait for it.

Blondie opened his mouth to object, and Jack ignored him, whisking Gina halfway across the dance floor before the guy could utter a word.

He cast a glance over his shoulder and smirked at the annoyed look on the pampered moron’s face. Too bad. Mine now .

Gina’s slim fingers were warm, as was the bare, silky skin of her back. When they’d been standing together, he’d stroked her back just to piss Blondie off. But the more he’d touched her, the more he liked it.

“ You know that was quite rude.” She shot him a look of indignation.

“ It was, wasn’t it?” He grinned. “ Who is that guy?” Not that he cared. He was only curious. Maybe a little jealous, he had to admit.

“ Paul and I dated for a couple of months.”

“ Then you should thank me.” He tugged her closer, trying not to gouge her with the edge of his cast, while at the same time discretely scanning the crowd for his targets: Franco and Tino Falzone .

They hadn’t shown yet, and that was a good thing.

He’d have a tough time concentrating on the job with Gina’s soft, curvy body molded to his and her scent penetrating his body like a . 40 caliber bullet.

“ I should thank you ? Why ?”

“ Blondie’s pathetic groping was making a scene.

” And he hadn’t liked the way the guy’s hands had slithered up and down her back.

He’d wanted to rip the guy’s nuts off. As an FBI agent, he could make Paul disappear and no one would ever find his body.

He’d learned a thing or two from investigating the mob.

He intentionally twirled her back to where Paul stood scowling on the edge of the dance floor. He adjusted his hand, making a show of caressing her back. Paul’s scowl deepened and yeah, it was juvenile, but he couldn’t keep from smirking. Amateur .

“ What’s the difference between what he was doing and what you’re doing right now?” Gina threw back at him.

“ You tell me .” He grinned again as he maneuvered them away from the orchestra so they could hear each other better.

Her mouth opened, then closed, as if she was about to answer his taunt but rethought the wisdom of it. To his amusement, the barest hint of red crept up the smooth line of her neck.

He chuckled. “ Fine , don’t answer. I already know.”

“ Know what?” When she angled her head to look up at him all he wanted to do was kiss her incredible lips again. “ What are you talking about?”

“ A person’s body language says a lot about what they’re thinking and feeling. Yours , for example.”

Her eyes narrowed. “ What about mine?”

“ When I touch you, you relax. When that soggy-faced wimp lays hands on you, you get stiff and resistant.”

She smiled, and a look of satisfaction bloomed on her face. “ I hadn’t realized you were watching us that closely.”

Yeah , right. The slight twitch of her lips told him she knew full well he’d been watching them, and that he hadn’t liked it one bit.

Truth was, he didn’t like the prospect of any guy laying hands on her, especially not after that kiss.

Not even the best sex of his life had haunted his every waking and sleeping moment the way that one kiss had for the last three days and nights.

“ Truce ?” he asked, seriously needing to change the subject. Making out with an FBI cooperator had definitely not been the most stellar point in his career. Then again, she wasn’t a cooperator. Not officially.

“ Truce .” When she returned his smile, his heart squeezed, a sensation he’d never felt before. Except right after running ten miles.

Shaking it off, he rescanned the room, dissecting it into quadrants.

Ironic that Franco Falzone , a man who had undoubtedly ordered the deaths of over a hundred people during his criminal reign, was a staunch opponent of violence against women.

Also ironic was that Gina and her friends were ripping off the Falzones and giving the money to a women’s shelter.

In the recesses of his mind something bugged him about that, some piece of a puzzle that refused to slide into place.

According to Meat , Jack’s informant, Franco and his entire family would be in attendance tonight. Franco liked a public show of family solidarity, anything to bolster his whole pillar-of-society image. Ridiculous , since it was no secret he was a mob boss. Sadly , the public ate that crap up.

If only he could keep his mind on the job. Being near Gina undermined his normally fully focused, one-track mind.

The orchestra transitioned into a sultry rendition of “ Smoke Gets In My Eyes . ” When their thighs touched, he nearly groaned. He took what was supposed to be a steadying breath but wound up making him feel as if he were wading into quicksand and sinking like a lead brick.

He’d known running into her tonight was a distinct possibility.

When he’d caught sight of her in that incredible dress with the slit up the side, his heart started pounding like a Gatling gun.

Seeing her again had lit the fuse on his libido and made him realize he not only wanted her but missed her.

It had been regret he’d experienced when he’d left her apartment, but not for kissing her.

His only regret was that he wanted more.

If he hadn’t stopped when he had, he wouldn’t have stopped at all.

They were better off not going there. He was the proverbial moth attracted to a flame, and that flame had a name: Gina Perot .

If only it were just physical attraction. That he could deal with. Once or twice in her bed and he’d have her out of his system. For him, that plan would never work, because there was so much more to Gina than physical allure.

She had everything a man could wish for—intelligence, guts, staunch loyalty to her friends.

She was a successful businesswoman and philanthropist, donating her time and energy to a seriously worthy cause.

He admired her for that. He’d even begun to enjoy the way she constantly wriggled under his skin.

Her tongue was as sharp as a bullwhip, flaying him wide open one minute and making him laugh the next, something he’d forgotten how to do.

Doing his best to ignore the enticing way her hips undulated, he searched the room again. Part of him wanted the Falzones to be a no-show so he could spend the rest of the night with Gina in his arms.

“ Are you going to tell me who you’re looking for?” she asked.

“ What makes you think I’m looking for someone?”

She gave him a duh look. “ To anyone else, you probably seem like a really smooth dancer in an expensive tuxedo, but I know better. You’re in work mode.

Alert . Serious . Ready to kick ass any second.

And while I hate to use such a tawdry cliché, ‘ Is that a gun on your belt or are you just happy to see me?’” Her chin dipped to the slight bulge beneath his jacket.

“ I am happy to see you.” He couldn’t stop the smile tugging at his lips.

“ Maybe I’m just here checking up on you and your friends.

” He’d meant that crack to change the direction of their conversation away from his mission tonight.

Instead , her eyes flashed with something he couldn’t identify, and she went rigid in his arms. “ The gears in your head are churning so loudly I could hear them over a barrage of gunfire. What’s on your mind? ”

“ Nothing .”

The hesitant look on her face told a different story. She was lying. He wanted to pursue it, but with every step they took to the music, her hips brushed against him, and he couldn’t help noticing her long, slim leg provocatively exposed by the slit of that jaw-dropping dress.

“ See something you like, sailor?” Her eyes twinkled.

He laughed. Tonight had started off all about work and would most likely end that way. Right now, he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“ No thigh-highs?” he asked innocently.

“ Ahhh .” When she smiled, it ignited something warm inside his stomach. “ So you did look at my legs the other day.”

“ How could I not?” He grinned again like a damned school kid. He’d never grinned so much in his life.

She readjusted her fingers in his, calling attention to the fading mark on her hand where the rattlesnake had nearly bitten her.

All humor fled. When she told him that seemingly absurd tale about the snakes in Psycho’s freezer, he’d been about to cuff her and lock her up for breaking their deal.

Then he’d glimpsed the mark on her skin, and the truth of her story became apparent.

All he could think about then had been how close he’d come to losing her.

His heart lurched. Losing her? He never had her and never would.

“ How’s your bug?” she asked. “ Getting anything juicy?”

“ Let’s just say the device is operational and we’re getting useful information.” Not enough and not fast enough. If that bug didn’t get him some pretty hot intel and soon, he’d have nothing to show for their efforts. He was not a patient man, and that’s why he was here tonight.

“ Are you going to tell me why you’re really here?” she asked.

To provoke the Falzones . “ So I can enjoy dancing with a beautiful woman.”

She pursed her lips. “ Liar .”

“ Yeah .” That makes two of us, babe. He knew what he was lying about. What was she holding out on?

Franco played things close to the breast, but Tino was a hotheaded prick, and Jack intended to push every one of his buttons until he said something stupid or did something reckless. Might not work, but it was worth a shot.

“ How’s the view from up there?” she asked a minute later.

He lowered his gaze first to the yellow gemstones twinkling on her earlobes, then to the matching pendant dangling just above her cleavage.

“ Outstanding .” Did the woman live to torture him?

He imagined dancing her out to the balcony and kissing her for a solid hour.

Taking her home, stripping off that dress, and making love to her all night had serious merit.