by Dawn Altieri
The evening became a pleasant blur, thanks to several glasses of champagne, and now, after the most delicious prime rib she’d enjoyed in recent memory, she was floating in Jake’s arms on the dance floor as the band played the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ella Fitzgerald.
“I love dancing with you,” she said, gazing up at him starry-eyed.
“I assure you, the feeling is mutual.” He took her hand and spun her gently before pulling her back into his arms. Not as close as she would’ve liked, but so far, they’d managed to avoid attracting attention. “I don’t think you realize just how impressed you should be.”
“Oh?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“Mm-hmm. By the insurmountable restraint I’m maintaining with you on this dance floor.” He pulled her close to whisper in her ear. “I’m reminded of that first night when I danced with you at Donnelly’s. I was so tempted to take you right there and then.”
The familiar surge of electricity traveled through her at his deep voice and his warm breath on her neck. “Is that right, Detective?”
“You have no idea.” He twirled her again, just as the opening strains of Louis Armstrong’s “La Vie En Rose” filled the ballroom.
“Oh, I have some idea.” She lifted onto her toes to whisper to him, “You probably could’ve had me right there and then.”
He let out a mischievous chuckle as they swayed together to the music. “And what about tonight?”
She studied his face, but as usual, his expression was unreadable. “Why, whatever do you mean?”
He lowered his voice. “What if I told you I want you even more, right here, right now?”
“Goodness. At the Police Foundation Gala?” Her entire body tingled. “I’m afraid that would be considered highly inappropriate.”
A low groan rumbled in his throat. “Part of me wants to take you home, fill the room with candles and rose petals, and make love to you all night.” He nestled his nose against her neck. “And part of me wants to find the nearest supply closet and fuck you senseless.” He nipped at the delicate skin just below her ear, but he quickly pulled away.
She stifled a gasp, tantalized by his words and his seductive tone. It was a risk he shouldn’t be taking among his colleagues, but the thrill of his gesture sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. “There you go with the sweet talk again,” she murmured.
“I already told you, I don’t do sweet talk.” He took her hand. “Would you like another drink?”
She inhaled a deep, fortifying breath. “Sure.”
He led her across the room, but as they neared the bar, he kept going, bringing her out into the vestibule and down the hallway toward the restrooms.
“Where are we going? I thought we were getting drinks.”
“Hmm… Changed my mind.” He continued down the hallway, past the restrooms, too. Aiming right for a door marked supply closet.
She stopped walking, and he jerked backward, still holding her hand. Her eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
He turned to her with his sneaky grin. “I couldn’t be more serious.” He gripped her around the waist to pull her along, and she couldn’t hold back a scandalized squeal as they scurried down the hallway. He quickly whisked her inside, closed the door behind them, and activated the light on his cell phone.
They stood between shelves lined with boxes of napkins and paper goods. She admired him in his tuxedo once again, still finding the reality of him nearly impossible to believe. As deliciously handsome as he looked in that suit, it served no greater purpose than to make her want to get him out of it.
“What are you doing to me?” she asked as his mouth began its sensuous assault on her neck and bare shoulders. “I don’t have sex in supply closets.”
“Correction: you didn’t used to have sex in supply closets. It’ll be a first for both of us.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing, needing to resort to supply closets to share a first.” She tipped her head, allowing him better access as he ran his tongue across her skin. “What’s gotten into you tonight?”
“Shh… You’re over-thinking this.” He ran his palms down the back of her dress. “How do I get you out of this thing?” He found the zipper along her side, peeled the front of the dress down and revealed the black lace lingerie underneath. “Ah. We meet again.”
He tugged the lace downward, cupping a breast and covering it with his mouth. She arched into him as he pulled the zipper the rest of the way down. With a hand on his shoulder to steady herself, she stepped out of the dress, and he whisked it up and hung it on a hook on the back of the door.
Since they returned from their trip to the beach house, something had changed between them—something she couldn’t put her finger on. He had an urgency about him that hadn’t been there before, an urgency that made her feel thoroughly possessed, coupled with a tenderness that made her feel treasured. Adored.
Loved.
She stood before him in nothing more than her black lace lingerie and her dangerously high heels, and firmly pushed the thought aside. He couldn’t be in love with her. She’d told him early on, this was just sex. He was not the kind of man she could be with long-term. His job was too dangerous, could take him from her at any moment. She had to remind herself of that.
Because for every minute she spent with him, she cared less and less about his damned job.
Fire burned in his eyes as he gazed down at her, and she knew he wouldn’t hold back much longer. He pressed her up against the only clear wall space in the small room and invaded her mouth with his once again. He paused only to finish removing the last barriers of clothing between them and pull a condom from his pocket. “I need you now, Emma.”
And she needed him. So much, it frightened her to think how she could possibly move on if it ended between them.
He grasped her thighs to lift her so she could wrap her legs around his hips. In seconds, he was deep inside her. She moaned as he pinned her to the wall, his chest flush against hers, his hands braced against the wall behind her, his hips pumping hard. She held on around his shoulders, the pull of her own weight forcing her down onto him even more completely with each thrust. A low growl rumbled in his throat as his body stiffened. “I need to feel you come for me,” he whispered, his breath hot against her neck. “You close, baby?”
His few carefully chosen words drove her to the edge. “Yes,” she whimpered as he pounded into her. “Oh God, yes.” She could barely speak, but she gave him all the answer he needed when the muscles deep within her tensed around him.
“Fuck, Emma,” he cried out, burying his mouth in her neck to muffle the sound of his own voice as they both shattered in pleasure.
He held her there, neither of them moving until their bodies calmed. He kissed her cheek and ran his tongue over her earlobe. “God, woman, you’re like a wild animal.”
“Me? I believe this was all your idea.”
“A good one, too, wasn’t it?” He lifted his head with a blissful smile before he covered her lips with his. “Thank you for sharing my first supply closet experience with me. There’s no one I would’ve rather shared it with.”
She shook her head. “You have such a way with words, Detective.”
Carefully breaking their connection, he set her down, but she held onto his shoulders since her legs were still trembling like overstretched rubber bands. He searched the shelves and grabbed a box of tissues to clean up before he helped her back into her dress.
“Now, remember,” he said, as he tucked his shirt beneath his waistband and fastened his pants, “you’re walking into a room full of detectives. Try to be discreet. They’re very observant.”
“Hopefully, not too observant. I’m pretty sure I’m a mess.”
He ran his hands through her hair, brushing it back over her shoulders and smoothing it. “You look incredible.�
� He kissed her deeply before he held out his hand. “Ready?”
She adjusted her dress one last time. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
They quickly made their way back to the ballroom.
“Ah. There you are,” Mack said as Jake pulled her chair out at the table. “I was beginning to think you’d bailed.”
“No, of course not,” Jake replied, taking his own seat. “We just needed a little fresh air.”
Adam cleared his throat from his seat across the table, and Emma caught Jake glaring at him. She should’ve been embarrassed that Adam had figured out what they’d been doing, but honestly, it’d been so much fun, she didn’t really care.
One of the servers approached the table holding a plain white envelope. “I have something for a Detective Quinn?”
Jake waved him over and took the envelope. He opened it, holding it low in his lap, and unfolded the piece of paper inside. She stole a glance at it. The paper seemed to be blank except for something typed in the very center, but she couldn’t make out the words before he hastily folded it back up and replaced it in the envelope.
With his jaw clenched and the muscle in his cheek twitching angrily, Jake’s gaze darted around the room as he slipped the envelope to the inside pocket of his jacket.
“What is it?” she whispered.
He swallowed hard, and his eyes met hers for an instant before his hand found her knee under the table. He continued to survey the room. “Nothing to worry about.”
He was lying. She was sure of it.
Mack met his gaze from across the table, some silent exchange transferring between them. Jake squeezed her hand gently before he stood from his chair. “Would you excuse me for a minute? I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.”
“Adam.”
Adam turned to Jake and gave him a nod but remained in his seat.
Mack and O’Shea followed Jake out to the vestibule, catching up to the server who’d brought the envelope.
Linda leaned toward her. “If he tells you not to worry, dear, don’t worry. Otherwise, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
Obviously, Emma was the rookie at the table. She looked around as the others carried on their cheerful conversations, not paying any mind to the interruption. Except for Adam, who’d gone on high alert and was now scanning the room as Jake had done earlier.
Her stomach twisted as she turned back to Linda. She would continue to guard their relationship from Jake’s superiors, even though he seemed to have stopped doing so. “It’s not like that.”
Linda dipped her chin and smirked. “You really think you can get that past me? Maybe some of these other clowns, but you’re not fooling me for a minute.”
Emma’s shoulders slumped. “In any case, I have a feeling not worrying is much easier said than done.”
“It definitely gets easier with time. I’ve spent many a night in your shoes, waiting patiently while Dan had to leave a school play or a family gathering or a romantic dinner to go take care of one emergency or another. And I’ve spent plenty of nights awake waiting for him to come home afterward. After a while, you won’t even give it a second thought. Trust me.”
Emma smiled graciously but couldn’t imagine Linda’s words being the truth…or imagine being with Jake long enough to test the theory.
A large, warm hand landed on Emma’s shoulder, and she looked up to find Adam behind her. “Shall we dance?”
“Oh,” Emma said, slightly flummoxed at the unexpected invitation. “Okay.”
She placed her hand in Adam’s and followed him to the dance floor, glancing over her shoulder in the direction Jake had gone. He and the other detectives had disappeared from view.
“Figured you’d want to escape the inquisition back there,” Adam said as he laid a tentative hand on her waist. “How’re you holding up?”
“I’m having fun.” She lifted her chin to prove she was telling the truth and stepped with him in time to the music. “What’s going on?”
He gave his head a quick shake. “Not sure.”
She nodded despite the burn of anxiety in her stomach. He was trying to distract her, and she’d do her best to let him. “So… Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend? And what is her name, by the way?”
“Jenna,” he said with a chuckle. “She hates these things. I dragged her along last year, and if it hadn’t been for Jon Bon Jovi showing up, she never would have stayed.”
Emma tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Well, having been to one myself now, I might be inclined to disagree. I’m having a nice time.”
“Good.” Adam reached up to touch the earring she’d exposed. “Well, hello. What time do these bad boys turn back into pumpkins?”
She laid a finger on the earring he’d just touched. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I assume the department is gonna want those back tonight, right?”
She stopped moving as she struggled to make sense of Adam’s comment. “The department?”
“Isn’t that where Jake put the track—” Adam stopped in mid-sentence, his mouth curving downward. “Ah, shit. He didn’t tell you.”
She grasped the earrings with both hands and until she felt a small device on the back of one. A sour burn filled her stomach as she pulled the earring off and stared at it in the palm of her hand.
Just then, Jake reappeared at the entrance to the ballroom and strode toward her with Mack trailing close behind. She quickly replaced the earring.
Jake gently grasped her arm, but his gaze locked with Adam’s. “Get her out of here.”
“What?” she said with a gasp. “Why?”
The scowl on Jake’s face told her not to expect an answer. “You have your key?” he asked Adam.
Adam nodded.
“What’s wrong?” she asked again, and again no one answered her.
Jake took her hand, and she hurried to keep up with him as he swiftly led her away with Adam right behind them. They didn’t bother to say goodbye to anyone, but stopped at their table long enough to grab Emma’s clutch. Jake then tugged her toward the vestibule.
But enough was enough. She planted her feet solidly on the marble floor, yanking his arm back. “Did something happen? Is Adam taking me ho—”
“No,” Jake snapped. “You can’t go home yet.”
He started walking again, leading her down the hallway toward two uniformed officers who stood near the elevator doors. He pressed the button to call the car.
“Does this have something to do with the tracking device on the earrings you gave me?”
His hard, blank stare assured her, it did. Damn it, what was he not telling her?
“And the letter at the table? What did it say?”
“Emma—” His jaw clenched. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Can’t what? Can’t tell me because it’s evidence, or something?” She recalled the morning his picture appeared in the newspaper, remembered his barely contained anger that day, identical to the mood he’d slipped into now. Arguing with him would get her nowhere. But she needed something, some kind of answer. “Jake, you said when I needed to know something, you’d tell me. Please, tell me what the hell is going on.”
He punched the elevator button again. “There’s a possibility of a threat. A possibility.”
“What kind of a threat?”
“I don’t know, Emma.” He let out a frustrated groan. “I just don’t fucking know.”
“You do know. Why can’t you tell me?”
“Emma, I just can’t, okay?” he exclaimed. “You don’t need to know what the letter said, you just need to know what it meant, that there could be a threat. Could be, all right? I don’t know yet exactly what.”
She pivoted toward the elevator doors as they opened. He dropped a hand on her shoulder and turned her to him again. “I’m sorry, I didn’
t mean to raise my voice to you. I’ll explain everything later, I promise. Stay with Adam and do what he says. I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
He faced Adam again. “Do not let her out of your sight.”
Adam gently eased her into the elevator. “Not a fucking chance.”
Moments later, the elevator doors opened, and Adam urged her down the hall. He unlocked a door and hustled her inside a luxuriously furnished room. The uniformed officers who’d followed them remained out in the hallway standing guard as Adam closed and fastened every available lock on the door.
He took a few steps toward her as he unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Emma, I’m sor—”
“Don’t, Adam.” She held up a hand and dropped into the armchair next to the bed. Suddenly chilled, she grabbed the throw draped over the chair and covered her shoulders with it. “Do not apologize for him.”
“I’m not apologizing for him. I’m apologizing for me.” Adam tossed his jacket onto an upholstered bench at the foot of the bed. “I thought you knew everything. I would’ve made him tell you if I’d known he hadn’t.”
She gave a humorless laugh. As if anyone would be able to make Jake do anything.
“But I will say this,” Adam went on before she had a chance to respond. “He cares about you. A lot. He didn’t want to bring you here tonight, but the lieutenant ordered him to, and not to tell you what was going on so you wouldn’t refuse to come. As a matter of fact, Jake took some big risks planning all this”—Adam gestured around the room—“to make sure you would be safe no matter what.”
Big risks. Right. Like the risk he’d taken with the investigation by sleeping with her?
It seemed there was a limit to the chances he’d take. When it came right down to it, the one thing he wouldn’t risk was losing the key witness in his case—and his promotion—or he would have told her the truth about the plan and this hotel room, regardless of his lieutenant’s orders. Once again, he’d taken control of her life without talking to her about any of it.
How big a risk had she taken, getting all wrapped up in the fairy tale of a fancy night out with Jake’s coworkers as if they were an actual couple? Coming to the gala tonight so he could use her as bait and put her life in danger…without her even knowing it? He’d warned her over and over they shouldn’t get involved, but like a fool, she’d promised him she could handle something casual.