Your To Take - Connaghers 03

by Joely Sue Burkhart

Elias snorted. “Vicki’ll kick my ass if I let anything happen to you.”

  When they walked up to a dingy, tiny apartment, Jesse had no idea it was Elias’s until he used his key to open the door. Inside wasn’t much better, just more beige. No pictures on the wall or any color softened the room. The only bright spot was a picture of him with Vicki. Elias was decked out in his dress uniform, and Vicki wore a gorgeous but simple black dress. The smile on her face warmed the room as much it touched Jesse’s heart.

  “Pretty shitty, I know.” Elias tossed his keys on the counter and jerked his head toward the table in the corner where he’d set up the game. “That picture’s from the Policeman’s Ball two years ago. I didn’t go last year.”

  His last partner’s death hung in the silence. For some reason, Jesse felt compelled to say something in her defense. “She cried that day. She kept asking herself over and over what she’d do if that’d been you.”

  Elias let out a noncommittal grunt, gruff and brash as usual, but Jesse noted the man kept his back to him as he pulled beers out of the fridge.

  “If anything ever happened to you, she’d be devastated,” Jesse added softly. “But she’s proud of what you do.”

  Elias was saved from having to answer by the doorbell. Colby walked in with another man, but it was clear from their body language that they were far from friends. Rodgers was a meaty, balding man with the reddish nose and cheeks of a hard-core alcoholic. He set those bloodshot eyes on Jesse and guffawed. “I never thought you’d find a more useless excuse for a man than Wade here, but I do believe you’ve achieved the impossible. Who’s this little cream puff?”

  “Jesse, meet Detective Frank Rodgers. Frank, this is Jesse Inglemarre, a friend of Vicki’s.”

  Rodgers took a seat directly across from Jesse and helped himself to a beer. “You marry that broad yet? Wait, I know that answer. By the looks of this dump, you haven’t.”

  Colby smiled, just a good-old boy innocent grin that didn’t fool Jesse one minute. This man had killed in the line of duty and burned to do it again. “Isn’t that why we’re not at your place, Frank?”

  Rodgers harrumphed beneath his breath. “Are you going to hand over this month’s pay to me or what?”

  As they started playing, Jesse concentrated on simply watching, quiet and unassuming. Elias and Colby joked about people at work and their various cases, but Rodgers had nothing positive to say whatsoever. For the first three hands, no one even spoke to Jesse. However, he didn’t miss the surreptitious looks from Rodgers, slow and reluctant, as though he hated looking but couldn’t help himself.

  With each look, the man’s eyes burned darker with ugly emotion, and Jesse felt himself shrinking moment by moment, hiding, trying to disappear as he’d done on the streets. Lost, dirty, weak, feelings he’d thought he’d left outside of Vicki’s home.

  Unfortunately, he knew this sort of man all too well.

  Rodgers was the kind of man who’d beat the crap of out him…while raping him.

  Never again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and then relaxed it slow and easy. He already knew he could survive just about anything, but this time, he had friends. No one was going to hurt him. As Elias had said earlier, Vicki would tear a new hole for anyone who even thought about it. I don’t have to take anyone’s shit anymore simply to survive.

  Just thinking about the way her eyes would spark, her body tight and controlled as she stomped over to plow her fist into Rodgers’s meaty gut made Jesse smile.

  He caught Rodgers’s glance again. The man didn’t like that smile for all the wrong reasons. So Jesse smiled more. He deliberately made his bottom lip pouty. Thinking about Vicki, he let his eyes smolder. Just let this asshole try something.

  The more he smiled, the heavier Rodgers bet. And the more he lost.

  When Elias’s phone rang, he called a pause to the game so he could take the work call in the other room. Jesse took the opportunity to slip into the dark galley kitchen. Breathing rapidly, he rested his head against the fridge and concentrated on deepening each breath. He almost felt high, his brain buzzing, his muscles so loose he didn’t know if he could stand for long.

  He wanted to laugh. He wanted to call Vicki right now and tell her how afraid he’d been, but how she’d helped him get over it without even being here.

  The memory of her scent washed over him, hot and spicy, her hands strong as she held him, her reluctant passion that blasted them both. She made him feel confident, powerful in a way he’d never known before. She gave him the safety to ask for exactly what he wanted and needed, without fear or shame.

  How could he ever be afraid again?

  A hard hand seized his shoulder and whirled him around. Rodgers loomed over him, trapping him in the dark shadowed corner, his breath sour with beer. “Exactly who are you, boy?”

  His life on the streets flashed through his mind. Trapped in a dark alley, hard hands forcing him to his knees, the reek of fear and rotting trash and old whiskey in his nose. The sick pit in his stomach as a stranger jerked open his pants and grabbed his head.

  Instead of fear, rage bubbled up inside him. He shoved Rodgers hard enough the man reeled and cracked his head on the cabinet behind him. “Don’t touch me!”

  Deadly fury twisted Rodgers’s face.

  Time slowed. Jesse saw the fist coming, but fear didn’t cripple him. He ducked enough that the meaty fist only grazed his mouth, while he jerked his knee up into the cop’s crotch. It might be a girly move, but nothing disabled a man faster than a hard knee to the family jewels.

  Rodgers let out a guttural roar. His face blazed red, his fists ready to pound Jesse into a pulp, but for once in his life, he didn’t back down. He even managed to smile at the man despite his sore lip, deliberately emphasizing his dimples. “Come at me again, you son of a bitch, and I’ll—”

  Suddenly Elias slipped in front of him so fast that one minute Jesse was glaring at the belligerent cop and the next he could only see Elias’s broad back. He lunged and Rodgers crashed against the table. Chips clattered to the floor. “What the fuck is going on in here?”

  Rage pulsed in Elias so thick and dark he couldn’t breathe. He’d neglected to protect an innocent person, let alone a friend, in his own home. Worse, he was the one who’d brought Jesse into harm’s way. He’d known exactly what sort of asshole Rodgers could be. Anyone stupid enough to hassle Colby—a former Marine with combat experience—would chew Jesse up and spit him out.

  “Hey!” Jesse tugged on his arm, trying to pull him away from the other cop. “I don’t need your help.”

  Elias turned enough to look into Jesse’s face and his blood ran cold. “You’re hurt. That son of a bitch hit you!” Whirling around, he seized a handful of Rodgers’s shirt and jerked him up on his toes, shoving his face down toward the other man’s. “How dare you come into my house and put your hands on my guest?”

  “The fucking pansy came on to me!”

  Jesse surged forward, fists clenched at his sides. Now it was Colby’s turn to hold him back. “That’s a lie!”

  “He was flirting with me! You both saw it, unless you’re as blind as a bat.”

  “So that explains it,” Colby drawled.

  “What?” Rodgers retorted.

  “Why you lost so much.” Colby winked at Elias and gave Jesse a friendly slug on the arm. “You were too busy making eyes at our good-looking friend to pay attention to your cards.”

  Reining his temper back was like holding on to a snarling rabid pit bull with a single strand of thread, but Elias forced out a hard laugh. He eased back on the intimidation factor and released Rodgers. “I can’t wait to tell the boys downtown. We finally know Frank’s weakness.”

  Rodgers flushed so dark that his cheeks were a vivid purple. “Not a word, Reyes, or you’ll both regret it.”

  Elias burned to simply snarl and bite a hunk out of the bastard. “Everybody knows you’re just driving a desk until you can take your pension. Don’t fuck i
t up by pissing in my territory again, Frank. You leave my friends alone, whether we’re on the job or not.”

  “This little—”

  Elias could see the slur forming in the man’s eyes. Before he could say it, Elias stepped back into the man’s space, chin jutting, fist aching to slam into the man’s mouth to shut him for good. “Don’t even think about it, Frank.”

  “I’ve got pull with the lieutenant. I can get you thrown back on a beat over in Fort Worth with a snap of my fingers.”

  So much for his plans to keep this away from office politics as much as possible. It was all Elias could do not to drag his fingers through his hair and curse. He shouldn’t have put Jesse in harm’s way. Then he’d compounded that mistake by losing his temper and putting his hands on Rodgers.

  Son of a bitch. I fucked myself into a corner.

  “Oh, now, detectives, we don’t have to get nasty, do we?” Jesse drawled in a buttery purr that made Elias’s eyebrows rise. With a coy little pout, he sidled up to Rodgers and playfully walked his fingers down the man’s chest. “You like it rough, huh? How many times has someone noted that you roughed up a witness, just a little? I bet they’ll all believe me when I admit that you bloodied my mouth before trying to force me into sucking you off.”

  Rodgers sagged against the wall. “Never. They’d never believe it.”

  “He has witnesses.” Colby looked over at Elias. “Don’t you have a camera handy so we can take a picture of the evidence?”

  “You didn’t see a thing!”

  “It was so dark in that kitchen,” Colby replied, his voice going hard and mean. He’d been chomping at the bit to get back at Rodgers for too long. He sure wasn’t missing out on his chance now. “I’m not sure what all I saw but it won’t look good for you.”

  Elias could see through Rodgers’s bluster. His eyes darted toward the door and sweat poured down his meaty face. If the bastard didn’t get his blood pressure calmed down, he’d probably have a coronary before he got home.

  All he wants to do is get out of here and forget it ever happened.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Jesse said in an even, calm voice that still echoed with an undercurrent of power. Elias had to do a double take, because he’d never heard the kid talk in such a confident, nearly aggressive way. “You lay off my friends, and I’ll forget about getting backed into a dark corner in the kitchen. Deal?”

  Rodgers straightened and ran a hand over his balding head to smooth back his comb-over. He studiously avoided meeting any of their gazes as he headed for the door and walked out.

  “And I was never here,” Colby said in a dramatic voice, breaking the ice.

  Laughing, Elias started to clear off the table. The other two men helped in companionable silence. A new sense of equal footing echoed between them. Jesse had managed to surprise him yet again, confidently dealing with Rodgers’s violence and hatred without falling apart. He must have seen a lot of crap like that on the street. Yet he’d managed to clean himself up and had stayed drug free. He’d gotten his life back on track. Yes, Vicki had provided the opportunity, but Jesse was doing the work himself. He’d even managed to help Elias out of the nightmare he’d created by losing his temper.

  “Hey, thanks,” Jesse said quietly once Colby had moved into the kitchen.

  “For what?” Bringing you here to deal with an asshole and getting your lip busted open?

  “For protecting me. That means a lot to me.”

  “No sweat,” Elias replied in a gruff voice that made Jesse roll his eyes and laugh. Good. The kid was beginning to figure out he wasn’t all bite after all.

  Colby tossed an ice pack to Jesse. “Yeah, we’ve got your back, Jesse. But you might want to take care of that lip before you get home, or Vicki’ll rip poor Elias limb from limb. I’m out of here.” He shook hands with both of them. “I’ve got a hot date.”

  Elias groaned. “You’re not going out with Mal, are you?”

  Colby winked at Jesse. “Maybe.”

  Elias called after him. “Then you’ll be the one ripped limb from limb!”

  Surely he was mistaken, because he thought Colby muttered, “God, I hope so.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The phone would not stop ringing. Harried and stressed with last minute preparations for the fashion show, Vicki finally turned the phone off until she could hire a secretary. The ad had been running on VCONN all week and boy, was it paying off. Shiloh’s idea had generated hundreds of orders already.

  How am I ever going to keep up? Vicki stared at the stack of forms and despaired. It was a wonderful problem to have, definitely. More hiring is in my future.

  After this damned show.

  She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, twisting so she could see the sides and back of the gown she’d crafted. Pride brought tears to her eyes. After all these years, she’d finally made something she was proud of. It made her feel beautiful, powerful, invincible, everything she’d need to get through the clamor and glitz tonight. Victor had warned that the media attention would be fierce and the questions might get too personal.

  What could she expect after starring in the ad? She could stand there and protest it didn’t mean anything, it was just an ad. Or she could smile mysteriously and lead her two men inside.

  At least that’s what I intend to do. If Elias shows, that is.

  He’d promised to escort her to the show, claiming he wanted nothing less than to sit beside her and cheer as her designs came down the runway, but her mind came up with dozens of reasons he’d surely rather absent himself. Not the least of which was his reputation as a Dallas police officer. She understood, which only made her doubt worse. She wouldn’t blame him at all for skipping.

  She could only pray he wouldn’t.

  Jesse called from the front room. “Vicki?”

  “In here. Come on in.”

  She checked her makeup one last time and turned back toward the bedroom. With a low whistle of appreciation, he stepped into the bedroom, while she lost her breath as though someone had steamrolled her to the ground. She couldn’t tear her gaze away. His eyes commanded her attention, emphasized by the turquoise of his shirt. He’d slicked his hair back in a ponytail, accentuating the lean lines of his cheekbones and his chiseled jaw.

  “Wow,” she finally managed to say. They’d seen each other in these outfits already, but never alone, without the demands of the set and cameras. This was personal. Especially with my bed so close.

  He blushed, which only made her want him more. Pulling her gaze away, she turned to dig in the closet for an evening bag that would match the gown better than her normal saddlebag, as Elias sometimes joked. “Are you ready?”

  “I need help tying the cravat.”

  “Ah. Not exactly a common requirement any longer.” She tried to chuckle but her throat was too tight. She pulled out a satin clutch that would look nice with her gown, but she lingered in the walk-in closet. So dumb, but part of her was afraid to look too much at him. He was too gorgeous, too tempting for words.

  It’s just nerves. Her excuse rang falsely in her head.

  Gathering her courage, she stepped back into the bedroom but immediately faltered again. Jesse stared at her bed like a starving man.

  A tremor sent the gown swishing about her legs. He’d never been this deep into her house. The look on his face made her weak in the knees and so embarrassingly wet she considered going back into the bathroom to change her panties again.

  “Which side do you sleep on?”

  His voice was deep and low, strumming her spine with desire. She indicated the side closest to the bathroom. “Elias likes to be between me and the door. It’s a cop thing.”

  “Can I…” Jesse was having a hard time breathing too, and when he looked at her, she trembled, scorched by the heat in his eyes. “Smell your pillow?”

  Wordlessly, she nodded. She never expected him to stretch out on her side of the bed and bury his whole face where she slept. She took a step clo
ser, opening her mouth to stop him, but it was too late, and she was too close to temptation.

  If I touch him while he’s in my bed, Elias might come home to a nasty surprise.

  Jesse rubbed his face in her pillow, sliding his hands beneath it to lift it up and around him like he was suffocating himself. The memory of him between her thighs, rubbing his face just like that, made her tremble again. Another surge of desire rocked her foundations and she took another involuntary step closer to him. Almost close enough to touch his shoulder. Or to grip that ponytail and yank his head back so she could kiss him.

  “You smell so good,” he groaned, his voice muffled. He ground his hips into the bed, and she couldn’t help but picture him moving between her thighs while she stared up into those stunning eyes. “I could come right now, if you gave me permission.”

  Too caught up in the image he was weaving for her, she made no answer. He peeked up at her, his lips soft with invitation. “I suppose that would ruin my clothing for the show.”

  She cleared her throat, but when she spoke, her voice was still ragged. “Definitely. If you sit up, I’ll tie your cravat.”

  Control yourself, Vik. She watched him sit on the edge of the bed, tilting his head back as she neared. You can do this without losing your mind.

  She tied the cloth around his neck, even while her mind conjured images of her tying his hands behind his back, or wrapping the silk around his cock and tying it in a huge bow. So I can untie it with my teeth.

  Groaning out loud, she pushed that image away and changed the subject to the one most likely to keep her hands—and mouth—to herself. “Is Elias here yet?”

  Jesse’s eyes narrowed and he searched her face. Evidently she wasn’t so good at hiding her doubts after all. “No.”

  This kind of event certainly wasn’t Elias’s favorite thing to do. If he wasn’t there, the questions might be less, because people wouldn’t recognize him. But if she showed up with two men on her arm, after there had been two men in the commercial—one of which was easily identified since Jesse hadn’t worn any mask—then the gossip would spread like wildfire.