Liz is at Brady’s, too. I’ll meet you there.
“I’m about five minutes out. I’ll meet you there.”
He disconnected with Quinn as he wondered, was Mike planning to protect his sister, or himself? At this point, he didn’t much care, so long as Gina was okay.
Four minutes later, he exited the highway and cruised through the neighborhood a good fifteen miles over the speed limit. He saw Quinn’s Blazer half a block away from Brady’s house and swerved to park behind him.
The PI was in his mid-thirties. His military background remained evident by the dark hair in a high and tight, as well as the T-shirt, tan camo pants, and sand-colored boots he wore. The guy looked like he was ready for a mission and Dean was grateful for his backup.
Quinn met him as he got out of the car. “I did a little recon. The three of them are inside—”
“Is Gina okay?” he demanded.
The man nodded. “She appears unharmed.”
His resolve strengthened. “She better stay that way.”
“She was working on a laptop while the other two were off to the side talking.”
“Then Liz is the leak.”
“Appears so. Two other things. Brady has a gun, and there’s an unlocked window in one of bedrooms.”
Mention of a gun wiped out every shred of relief in his body. Jaw and fists clenched, Dean started toward the house, but Quinn’s caught his arm.
“The police are on the way.”
“Good.” He met the guy’s intense green eyes, his resolve equally firm. “But you didn’t tell me about the window so we could wait for the cops.”
His PI gave him a grin. “No, sir. However…”
The sound of another vehicle had them both turning to see Mike’s car pull up to the curb behind his Mustang. His VP hurried over, concern etched in his features. Dean studied him for any sign of deception.
“Do we know what the hell is going on?” his friend asked.
He gave him the abbreviated version. “Jack has a gun, he and Liz are holding Gina, and we’re going in.”
Mike gaped at him, took in Quinn’s severe mask, then turned back to Dean. “You’re serious?”
“As serious as the gun,” he shot back.
His hands rose to rake through his hair as he stared toward the house. Dean read the dawning realization in his eyes. “Man, I don’t know what to say. I…I’m sorry. I swear to God, Dean, I had no idea.”
The tremble in his voice and anguish in his eyes wasn’t something a man could fake. Dean took a breath and reached out to grasp his shoulder. When Mike’s gaze met his, he gave a nod to let him know he believed him.
“Did you call the police?” he choked out.
“They’re on the way, but I’m going in through a back window.”
“We’re going to need a distraction,” Quinn advised. “Plus cover for any noise.”
“I’ll go to the door,” Mike offered. “They certainly won’t be expecting me, and maybe I can talk some sense into my sister.”
“You did hear the part about the gun?” Dean reminded.
“Yeah, but who do you think is less likely to be shot on sight by the bastard?”
He had a point. Getting shot wouldn’t do a thing to help Gina. “I’d like to think Jack isn’t that stupid.” Or desperate. “Unfortunately we all know better. So, Mike’s got the door and Liz. Quinn, you’re with me, but your top priority is keeping Gina safe.” He fixed him with a hard look. “No matter what, she comes first. We clear?”
The PI gave him a tight nod of agreement.
A muffled gunshot sounded in the quiet of the residential neighborhood.
Dean froze for a split-terrifying-second, then took off for the house at a dead run.
Chapter 25
Gina screamed as she ducked and covered her head. Tiny bits of plaster fell into her hair while a dusting of white powder floated down around her. The close-range explosion left her ears ringing and the sulfuric smell of the gun stung her nose.
She remained in her crouch, part way between the toilet and the wall, bracing herself for the next shot that would surely end her life.
“Oh my God, Jack, what the hell did you do?”
She cautiously lowered her arms as Liz arrived in the doorway. Terrified blue eyes met Gina’s, then filled with relief when she saw her unharmed.
“Thank, God,” she breathed, pushing past Jackson. Gina bumped her head on the toilet paper dispenser as the redhead helped her to her feet.
“She had her phone,” he accused. “That’s why she asked to use the bathroom.”
When he’d kicked in the door, she’d lunged backward at the sight of his gun pointed right at her. Her phone had hit the floor and skidded across the tile. He stepped forward and smashed the screen with his heel. Damn it. She hadn’t even managed to get the second number keyed in before he’d scared the hell out of her.
A glance back to see the bullet hole a mere six inches above the roll of toilet paper made her knees wobble.
“Next time I won’t purposely miss,” he warned with icy calm before moving back into the hall.
When Liz took a step to follow him, Gina grabbed her arm. “You can’t trust him,” she whispered urgently. “He’ll kill you too if you get in his way.”
Worry flashed in her eyes, but she shook her head and jerked free. “He loves me.”
“And you’re fine with an open relationship?”
Confusion filled Liz’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, I thought you knew he’s been sleeping with my former assistant for the past six months.”
The stunned expression on her face confirmed she hadn’t known. She glanced toward the hallway as her expression hardened.
“You can’t trust him,” Gina repeated.
“Just get out here and fix the program.”
She moved past the rigid woman and returned to the couch while Liz went to stand in front of Jackson. “You can’t go around firing shots off,” she snapped. “Your neighbors probably called the cops already.”
“There’s a firing range just down the road,” he retorted, waving off her concern. “We’re leaving here anyway. You were right about now being—”
The musical sound of the doorbell jerked Gina’s head up from the computer screen. Jackson stiffened as Liz whirled around. “I told you!”
“The fucking cops wouldn’t be here that soon.” He sidestepped over to the couch and jerked Gina to her feet by the arm. Pulling her back against his front, he put his left arm across her throat. She instinctively grappled for his forearm with both hands to keep him from closing off her airway, only to have her breath hitch when the cold barrel of the gun touched her temple.
Swallowing hard, she strove to remain calm when his harsh command assaulted her eardrum. “See who it is.”
Dean.
But in the next second, she prayed it wasn’t him—not with Jackson so tense and trigger happy.
Liz crossed to the door and rose on her tiptoes to peer through the tiny eye on the door. She twisted to face them with a frown as the doorbell rang again, a couple times in a row. While she turned back and reached for the door, Jackson covered Gina’s mouth and pulled her backward with him, into the shadowed hallway leading to the bedrooms.
“Keep your damn mouth shut,” he rasped in her ear.
Mike’s voice registered from the front door at the same time Jackson bumped the door of his bedroom open with his shoulder.
Gina caught a split second glimpse of Dean pressed back against the wall and immediately let her body go limp. The unexpected shift of her weight threw Jackson off balance and dislocated the tip of the gun from her temple. He stumbled and let her go as Dean lunged forward.
His hand locked on the wrist with the gun as the two crashed against the footboard of the bed. She’d scrambled to the side and heard Dean grunt as his ribs took the brunt of both men’s weight.
Strong hands reached out to pull her farther away from the violent struggle as the
gun went off, shattering one of the bedroom windows. Her mind registered her new captor as a tall man dressed in military gear, and she struggled against his grip.
He tightened his hold and set her behind him. “I’m with Dean.”
She tried to push past his solid bulk. She needed to help Dean. He should help Dean!
Police sirens sounded in the distance as Liz and Mike burst into the room. The redhead cried out Jackson’s name. With the distraction, he managed to bring up a knee into Dean’s side, causing him to stumble backward. Pain twisted his features as he gasped for air.
Gina watched in horror as Jackson raised the gun. The man in front of her shouted as he lunged forward at the same millisecond Liz’s momentum put her between Dean and Jackson.
The gun went off and her body jerked before tumbling to the floor. Jackson froze long enough for Dean and the military guy to take him down. Mike rushed to his sister’s side.
Blood welled up from the wound in her chest as Gina stripped off her coat and wadded it up to press against the wound as she knelt beside her. Liz’s already drawn features twisted as she cried out in pain. Once she caught her breath, she met her brother’s tear-filled blue eyes.
“I’m sorry. I thought…” She coughed and gasped. “I thought he loved me.”
“Shh,” Mike comforted. “We’ll sort it out later.”
Keeping pressure on Liz’s wound, Gina glanced over to see the military man scoop up the gun as he straightened with the phone to his ear. “Cops are coming in,” he said to Dean. “I’ll meet them out front.”
Dean had a knee planted in the middle of Jackson’s back, and one arm wrenched up high enough to make him gasp in pain. He nodded to the guy in camo pants before turning his concerned brown eyes to her.
“You okay?”
She gave a nod and a shaky smile. Her heart thumped at the way his gaze still greedily took her all in, as if making sure for himself she hadn’t been hurt. “You?”
“I’m good now,” he assured her, his voice low and gruff. He shifted slightly and she noticed an involuntary grimace tighten his features.
She met his gaze once more, doing nothing to hide her feelings. “You got my message?”
The light in his eyes answered before his mouth, and her heart soared as he smiled. “Yeah, I—”
Noise from the living room grew louder and quickly rushed down the hallway. He gave her a rueful smile as the police entered the room.
* * *
The next hour passed in a blur as the police took Jackson into custody while the paramedics stabilized Liz before rushing her to the hospital. Mike was allowed to ride along with the accompanying officer.
Gina caught Dean’s gaze more than once across the driveway as they each gave their statements. Officers Nilsen and Mueller were not on duty, but the men she talked to were just as efficient. Finally, she was free to go with the warning they would be in contact should they have any more questions.
She shook the officer’s hand, then turned to see Dean leaning against her car. He’d slipped his hands into his front pockets while waiting for her to finish up. Sunlight hit him from behind, casting his face slightly in shadow. He wore his usual, the jeans as faded as ever, the T-shirt dark gray today. His hair was a tousled mess—exactly the way she liked it.
He didn’t straighten as she approached, just widened his stance to give her plenty of room to step between his legs. His gaze held hers captive, the same as the rest of him held her heart. As she leaned forward to brace her hands on his chest, he pulled his hands from his pockets and rested them on her hips. The steady beat of his heart grounded her.
“Crazy morning,” she quipped.
“I prefer the excitement of last night to today,” he replied with a subdued grin.
Heat flared as she returned it, but then her smile faded. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. With the note, I mean.”
He shook his head, his hands tightening on her hips. “Don’t apologize. I should’ve woken you up before leaving with the cop to take care of my SUV.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s where you went?”
“Yeah. And after seeing the email, I decided a little bit of time might clear my head.”
“I can’t believe you thought I would betray you.” Not after last night, she added silently as she dropped her gaze slightly.
“I didn’t want to believe it, especially after last night.”
He’d read her mind. She noticed his heart rate pick up beneath her palm as he slid his hands up her back and then used his thumbs to tilt her face back up to his.
“There are two things I need to get on the record. First, I figured out you’d been set up before I listened to your message.”
The reference to her voicemail made her heart skip a beat. Then it tripped along at a speed that matched his. She raised her eyebrows the tiniest bit. “And the second?”
He brushed his thumbs along her jaw line while drawing her near. His head lowered and his lips hovered just above hers. He paused a breathless moment, then the smile that curved his mouth against hers lit up his eyes.
“I love you, too.”
His mouth captured hers, and she slid her arms up to encircle his neck, leaning into him, returning the kiss with all the love she had inside. In his arms, everything felt right, like love should feel.
A minute or so later, he drew back and rested his forehead against hers. She grinned up at him. “You know, you might be Prince Charming, after all.”
“Mike would tell you that’s not possible.”
“You did come to my rescue,” she reasoned. “For which I love you all the more.”
“That is true.” He nodded, pretending to seriously consider her argument. Then he laughed and kissed her again. This time when he pulled away, they were both more than breathless.
“Definitely charming,” she whispered.
“When I left you in my bed this morning, I’d planned to work until you woke up, then take the rest of the day off.” His voice was low, husky, and sexy as hell. “So, what do you say we go home, Cindy?”
She tilted her head back with a laugh of her own. “Lead the way.”
Epilogue
“By the way,” Gina called from the bedroom as Dean wiped his face dry after shaving. “I talked to Officer Nilsen and she said that tip about the children’s charity was the missing link they’d been searching for. Jackson had it so well buried they’d never connected it to him.”
“Sounds like Jack.”
“Well, she said it was just what they needed to cement the fraud case against him. Liz didn’t even hesitate to spill once she found out Jackson was trying to get a plea bargain by blaming her.”
He bunched the towel in his hands, still amazed at the way that bastard had managed to turn his friend against him. But as he could well attest, the heart wants what the heart wants. Too bad for Liz it hadn’t been real. Almost a month later, she was recovering from her bullet wound in jail, and he actually felt a little sorry for her. Jack had screwed her along with everyone else.
Mike still apologized for his sister’s betrayal just about every day, despite Dean’s assurance he held absolutely no blame. After what they’d been through, he trusted his VP, and valued his friendship as high as family.
Dropping the damp towel on the sink, he moved into the bedroom in a pair of clean boxer briefs. When he saw Gina standing in front of the mirror, arms lifted to fasten the hook for her dress at the nape of her neck, he made a low sound of approval.
Her gaze rose to meet his in the mirror as he came up behind her. “Let me.”
She scooped her hair out of the way with both arms still raised. His attention dropped to the reflected stretch of fabric across her breasts, and instead of fastening the little hooks, he dipped his head to press a kiss on her warm, sweet-scented skin.
Sucking her scent into his lungs, he raised his gaze to hers in the mirror once more and murmured, “Have I told you I absolutely love this dress?”
<
br /> It was the black creation from the night of the art show that had him thinking of sex again.
“No.”
“Well, I do.”
Releasing the sides, he lightly trailed his fingers down the length of her bare spine. Her reactive shiver and the flush of awareness brightening her face delighted him. Recalling vividly that the bare back and plunging neckline did not allow for a bra, he slid his hands inside the material, around to her stomach, and lifted them to cup her bare breasts.
“Dean…” Her breath caught as he aligned his body with hers from behind, letting her feel his aching arousal.
“Gina,” he countered before giving her a soft little nip on the side of her neck. A soft moan escaped her parted lips as her hands twined in his hair and held him right where he was. Her breathing had turned shallow, and her nipples were pebbled hard against his palms.
“We…we can’t right now.” She tilted her head to give him better access to the sensitive spot below her ear.
He pinched her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, making her gasp, then moan as he rolled them back and forth. “Why not?”
“Because…because we’ll be late for your own party.”
He rotated his hips against her backside. “I’ve heard it’s fashionable.”
She laughed. He slid his hand down in search of her panties, then stilled with the discovery she wasn’t wearing any. When he caught sight of her wicked grin in the mirror, he gave her a mock glower.
“Sonofabitch, Gina, we’re definitely going to be late.”
* * *
He’d swept her up into his arms and carried her to their bed, then ravished her like a pirate. As usual, she’d loved every minute of it. Later, she promised him, she’d get her payback. His wolfish grin told her he couldn’t wait.
As she pulled her dress back on, the increased sounds of guests downstairs confirmed he would have to. She fastened the hooks herself, then fumbled with the clasp of her necklace while he stood beside her, adjusting his sport coat over the black, button-up shirt underneath. They shared a smile, then he moved in front of her and reached to take the delicate chain from her grasp.
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