Page 39

Chapter Seventeen

As Gina walked to the sofa, favoring her twisted ankle only slightly, he was glad to see the injury wasn’t serious.

She sat and lowered her head to her hands.

They’d both been awake for twenty-four hours.

She’d insisted on one of them remaining with Kinsey at all times, at least until she was feeling better.

Naturally , Gina had insisted on taking the first shift, and he’d stayed with her while Margo and Anna went home to get some shut-eye.

He sat beside her and tugged her to his side. Despite the lack of sleep, his mind still spun with the vital information he’d just obtained.

Jim Spencer’s wedding ring— and his finger—are in Tino’s shore house.

He should be jacked up and banging on a federal judge’s door for a search and an arrest warrant. Locking up Tino for Jim’s murder was why he’d been working his ass off for the last six months. Gina had just dropped the probable cause he needed right in his lap. And he couldn’t use it.

She’d described details of the ring to a T .

To establish a fair and reliable eyewitness identification, he’d followed protocol and shown her a photo array of six rings, including Jim’s , and five fillers—rings similar in overall appearance to the one Spencer had been wearing.

Gina positively identified Jim’s ring. Problem was, if he used her ID as probable cause for the warrants, he’d have to explain where the information came from and the circumstances under which it had been obtained.

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

He’d been over and over it in his head. He had to keep her out of it.

He hadn’t been exaggerating. Even from a jail cell, Tino would send someone to kill her, and Jack couldn’t protect her 24/7.

He could try to persuade her to go into witness protection, but he wouldn’t do that to her either.

Besides , she’d never agree to it. Gina could never be confined to a life she didn’t want to be in.

She was too stubborn, too unpredictable and spontaneous, everything he wasn’t.

They were polar opposites in every way, but the laws of physics never changed.

Polar opposites always attracted, and that was the way it was with them.

No matter what she did to turn his world upside down, he wanted her like nobody’s business.

A strand of thick, silky hair fell in front of her face, and he tucked it behind her ear.

When had she gotten so far under his skin that he’d do anything for her?

Including giving up the most important evidence of his career.

There had to be another way. Whether it took another six months or six years…

If it took the rest of his life, he’d find a way to nail Tino Falzone .

“ C’mon ,” he said. “ You need to get some rest. I’ll send someone out later today to fix the window on the Charger .”

Tired eyes pinned him. “ You’d do that? Why ?”

“ So you don’t have to answer questions about what happened to it.” He’d do everything possible to distance her from his investigation and the Falzones .

“ What does that matter anymore?” She shook her head in confusion. “ I’ll have to give a statement about the ring I found and where I saw it.”

“ No . You won’t. I can’t use the information you gave me. Ever .”

“ I don’t understand.” Her brows furrowed. “ Why not?”

He touched his fingers to her cheek, loving the softness of her skin. “ I’d have to turn over your statement to defense counsel during discovery.” Not for the first time, the image of her cold, lifeless body came to him with such vivid clarity his throat constricted.

“ Oh .” Understanding flared in her eyes. “ I’m sorry.”

“ I’m not.” The Falzones were responsible for so much death. He didn’t want to add to the body count. Especially , not with her.

He stood and held out his hand. When she rose and wavered on her feet, he picked her up.

“ You don’t need to carry me,” she protested.

He arched a brow. “ You’re still limping.”

“ Okay , fine.” She uttered an exasperated breath as he carried her to her bedroom. “ I don’t think I can fall asleep. I can’t stop thinking about everything.”

He knew the feeling. “ Try .” He unzipped her sweat suit jacket and tossed it on the bed.

Then he knelt and tugged off her black sneakers.

When he peeled down the matching pants, his hands slid along the smooth, snug material of her catsuit.

As tired as he was, his dick jerked. Sex wasn’t what she needed, and he wasn’t that much of a dickhead to take advantage of her after everything she’d been through.

“ I’m going to run you a bath, then I have to go take care of things. ”

Without waiting for a response, he went into the bathroom and turned on the taps in the giant soaker tub that was big enough for a small rhinoceros.

He didn’t dare go back into the bedroom just yet.

One look at Gina’s naked body and his stalwart determination to remain honorable would go south in a heartbeat.

While the pounding water filled the tub, he checked his phone for emails and missed text messages. No news regarding the break-in at Tino’s or from the Sea Bright PD or the state police. A little of the tension that had been grinding away on his nerves for the last twenty-four hours eased.

A flash of green had him looking up to find Gina standing in the doorway. She’d artfully arranged her hair on top of her head, with thick, wavy strands framing her face. Though he willed it not to, his selfish dick jerked again.

The shiny, midthigh satin robe wasn’t nearly as tight fitting as the catsuit, but the way it draped lovingly over her breasts, outlining their taut nipples, didn’t help his honorable intentions.

If only he didn’t already know how good it felt to bury himself inside her while she clutched at his ass, pulling him in deeper until?—

The zipper of his jeans tightened over his crotch, and he stuffed his phone into his jacket pocket. “ Your bath is ready. Relax , then get some sleep. I’ll call you later.”

He started past her when she untied the robe and let it slip from her shoulders. Jack swallowed. I’m toast.

“ Jack , don’t.”

“ Don’t what?” His voice sounded strangled.

“ Leave .” She stepped into the tub and held out her hand to him.

He swallowed hard, taking in the lushness of her creamy breasts with their dark, rosy nipples, her flat belly, and the sleekness of her thighs and dark curls—the doorway to heaven on earth.

With a groan, he shook his head. “ Gina , no. What you need is a relaxing bath followed by sleep.”

“ I know. I just don’t want to be alone. Please stay.”

Oh , Christ . How could he get naked in that tub and not make love to her? It would be torture, but he’d do it. For her. Because she asked. Because she needs me.

While she settled in the tub to wait, he shrugged out of his jacket, then shucked every stitch of clothing while she checked him out.

“ Tit for tat.” She gave him a sexy smile, and two seconds later he went from half-mast to full mast and a half.

He stepped into the hot water, and when he would have seated himself facing her from the opposite side of the tub, she shifted position, indicating he should sit behind her.

When she leaned back against his chest, her buttocks settled against his iron-stiff cock, sending a jolt of arousal to every cell in his body.

He tensed and groaned audibly. Luckily , his cast was waterproof and wouldn’t disintegrate into a lumpy mess.

He wrapped his arms around her torso beneath her breasts, then buried his face against her neck, inhaling her sweet scent deep into his lungs.

“ I’m sorry.” She shifted, the movement snuggling her ass more firmly against his groin. “ I should have listened to you. If I had, none of this would have happened.”

“ That’s true.” There was no sense denying it, and they both knew it. “ But you can’t beat yourself up over it for the rest of your life.” Or she’d wind up a shell of a human being. Like him. Although , around her, emotions he’d thought dead had been slowly coming back to life.

Beneath the water, her hand skimmed down the side of his thigh, which didn’t help his horny predicament. “ You didn’t pull the trigger,” he said. He hadn’t pulled the trigger that sent a dozen bullets boring into Jim’s body, so why couldn’t he take his own advice?

“ No , but I put Kinsey in front of that speeding bullet.”

“ Only time can erase the guilt you’re feeling right now. So give it some. Time , that is.” As if it were the most natural thing to do, his hands splayed over her breasts, massaging them lightly and rubbing his fingers over her tight nipples.

“ Mmm .” She covered his hands with hers, urging him to continue. “ That feels nice.”

Sure does.

She hooked her legs over the tops of his thighs. “ Did you know Jim Spencer well?”

His hands stilled on her breasts. “ Yeah .” He couldn’t explain why…maybe it was the beautiful woman draped over his body… His mouth opened and he began spilling his guts. “ Jim was my trainee. He died on my watch because I sent him in undercover. Somehow they found out who he was.”

“ And you feel responsible.”

“ Of course I do. It was my fault he was killed.”

“ Did you pull the trigger?” She twisted her neck to look at him.

Even though he’d just thought the same thing, hearing his own words flung back at him was a slap in the face.

It was on the tip of his tongue to regurgitate what he’d been torturing himself with for months.

Jim was too inexperienced and Jack had been in too much of a hurry to get someone on the inside.