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The light was on, and he’d already pulled down the duvet on her bed.

He laid her on the mattress, then came around the other side and slipped in, tugging the duvet over their bodies.

Leaning on one elbow, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

The look on his face was so tender it stole her breath.

When he skimmed the backs of his knuckles over her cheek, her heart did a little somersault.

“ Let me stay the night,” he whispered as he trailed sweet, gentle kisses along the curve of her neck.

No , her mind screamed. This can never be . Yet she wanted it to be. Whatever it was with Jack , she wanted to find out. “ Yes .”

* * *

What am I doing?

Jack kissed the hollow below Gina’s ear. Even as he dropped more kisses on her smooth skin, warning flags snapped wildly in the back of his mind.

He’d gone soft. Marshmallow soft. For one na?ve moment, he’d thought he could resist her.

When she began kissing him, her sugary vanilla scent filled his lungs and every pore of his body until he’d lost all control.

And every stitch of common sense. Then he’d gone and opened his big mouth.

Spending the night? An even bigger mistake.

What he ought to do was bolt out the door.

From the look on her face moments ago, that was exactly what she’d expected him to do, but he couldn’t.

More importantly, he didn’t want to. Why , he didn’t know.

The only thing he was certain of was that he cared for Gina .

A lot. There’d been something electric crackling between them since day one.

The timing sucked, and one thing he had no time for was complication.

He had to finish his investigation before even thinking of getting involved with anyone.

Then again, he was already involved. He could easily get uninvolved by getting dressed, walking out the door, and never seeing Gina again.

The thought had his gut clenching with… Fear .

Fear of missing out on something good in his life.

As he inhaled her scent deeper into his lungs, he held back a chuckle.

If nothing else, he could justify sticking close so he could keep tabs on her.

Keep her safe . Unlike what he’d done by sending her into Psycho’s house.

Making decisions that led to someone dying filled him with the kind of desperate fear he couldn’t live through again.

He pulled away as a not so deeply embedded suspicion crept into his brain.

Big , soft, brown eyes peered up at him. “ What ?” she asked. He didn’t answer right away— couldn’t —because damn . His throat was clogged with six kinds of emotions he couldn’t name. Didn’t want to name. “ Ah , I see.” She nodded and rolled her lips inward. “ You regret what we just did.”

“ What ? ” he blurted out. “ I not only don’t regret it, I’m thinking about us doing it again.” Even as he said the words, his dick began springing back into full fighting form.

“ Then why do you look like you want to vomit?”

He hadn’t realized he had any look on his face. Except worry, maybe. “ There’s something personal going on with you and Franco . What is it?”

She tensed. “ He’s a mobster. A criminal posing as a pillar of society. Showing up at our fundraiser was an insult to all of us.”

Her gaze was rock steady, and he already knew she wasn’t a good liar. Every fiber of his being sensed there was more to it. Her reaction to Franco had been off the charts. “ What else aren’t you telling me?”

She took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling. “ Nothing I want to talk about. Please , let it go.”

It was the pleading tone in her voice that got to him.

“ Okay .” For now . Eventually , he’d get to the bottom of why she’d gotten so stoking hot.

“ My investigation aside, I’m worried you and your friends will get hurt.

” Or worse . His stomach rolled at the idea of Gina or one of her friends lying dead in a cornfield.

When she refused to look at him, he had the answer to at least one of his questions. She’d never stop. “ You know I can arrest you if you impede my investigation again.”

“ Jack ,” she said, a grim expression overtaking her features, “there are women and children out there who will suffer if we can’t get more money.”

“ How much does each person need to get set up somewhere?” He honestly didn’t know. Kyle probably did.

“ A lot . Discretion and secrecy are expensive.”

From the determined look in her eyes, he could see where this was going, and the direction wasn’t good. He shook his head. “ You can’t keep doing this.”

“ I have to,” she whispered. Tears glistened in her eyes. “ I can’t stop.”

He clasped her chin. “ If you and your friends get caught, there’ll be no police, no charges filed, and no trial.

Tino Falzone’s nickname is cx ‘the Beast .’ If he catches any of you, he’ll torture you just for fun.

That’s what that sadistic bastard does. He collects body parts from his victims—fingers and toes, souvenirs from everyone he’s ever clipped.

Did you know that?” She shook her head, and he released her chin.

“ He cut off my colleague’s finger and blasted him full of holes.

Taking out a federal agent meant nothing to him.

Trust me, he won’t hesitate to kill you or your friends.

If you don’t stop, eventually you will get caught.

I don’t want to lose you.” Did he really just say that? Yeah , he did.

Her lips flattened. The tears he’d glimpsed were quickly replaced by something else. Exactly what that something else was he couldn’t pin down. “ What’s really going on here?”

Again , her eyes glistened, but she blinked the tears back. “ You wouldn’t understand.”

“ Try me.” Right then, he’d do anything to ease her pain.

“ I can’t lose them,” she answered on a shuddering breath.

“ Lose who? The families at the shelter?”

She shook her head. “ No . My friends. We have a common goal that bonds us together. Once we stop doing this, I’ll lose them.” She covered her face with her hands, and her shoulders quaked with quiet sobs.

His mind fought to understand, but he was still missing something major here. “ Why do you think you’ll lose your friends if you stop stealing?” He tugged her hands from her face and stroked her cheek. “ Help me understand.”

Tears streamed freely from the corners of her eyes. “ You have family. Your mother and your brothers. Without Margo , Kinsey , and Annabelle , I have no one. They’re the only family I’ve got. Without them I’d have nothing. I’d be nothing.”

Jesus , what in the world had Gina gone through that she actually believed she was nothing without her friends?

He shoved his fingers through his hair, struggling for the right thing to say and coming up blank.

With every passing second, he watched her pull away from him both physically and emotionally. The misery on her face gutted him.

“ I’m sorry.” She waved a hand. “ I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s my problem. Not yours.”

Somehow , it was his problem. He ran his fingertips down her cheek.

“ I don’t think you’re giving your friends or yourself enough credit.

I’ve seen the way you are together. You’re as tight as any blood sisters.

Maybe tighter. As for you being nothing without them, that’s baloney.

You’re smart, talented, a successful businesswoman.

You’re amazing, and people care about you.

I care about you.” He hadn’t meant to say that last part.

“ Why ?” Her voice took on a bitter, challenging edge. “ Why do you care?”

“ Because —” It was killing him more than he could admit to see her in so much pain. “ I just do.” No , he more than cared, and he didn’t know how or when that had happened.

Gently , he rolled her onto her back and kissed her until she sighed and parted her lips, allowing his tongue to tangle with hers.

The second he settled between her thighs his dick hardened painfully.

He could easily push inside her the way he’d done on the sofa.

Now that they’d gotten all that pent-up passion and emotion out of the way, he wanted to make love to her properly.

Slower and sweeter, and he wanted it to last.

“ Jack .” She sighed as he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking on the tight bud and rolling it around with his tongue.

Condom .

“ Be right back.” Seconds later, he had a fresh condom rolled on and was pushing inside her incredibly wet heat.

She gripped his ass, and he loved the way her fingernails dug into his muscles. When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he angled deeper, thrusting slowly, deliberately, gauging her responses by every intake of her breath and every tightening of her body around his.

“ That’s it,” he murmured against her ear, knowing she was close. Knowing he was even closer to losing it and going straight over the edge.

Beneath his weight, her breasts mounded, her nipples rasping against his chest as he moved and making him impossibly harder inside her. He gritted his teeth, willing himself not to come before she did.

“ Oh . Oh , Jack .” She clamped her thighs around his waist and came hard, arching her neck and back.

Her tight walls squeezed him, sending bolts of pleasure shooting to his cock and up his spine. He groaned and let himself go.

Jack pressed his face to Gina’s neck, breathing as heavily as she was. He should run from her. Run hard and run fast.

As he touched his lips to hers, he doubted he had the strength of will to take his own advice.