He opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, but his throat tightened up. Instead, he gave her a curt nod and slid into the car, waiting while she did the same. She didn’t glance back at the suspect in the back seat, just slumped wearily beside him.
Jake cleared his throat. “We’ll head back and get started on those reports.”
“Sure,” she said quietly.
“Hell of a first night.”
“Yeah, look,” she began, her gaze straight ahead. “I’ll tell the lieutenant this isn’t working out.”
He gave her a sharp glance. “What do you mean?” he asked, even as his belly started to unknot.
“You and me,” she began. “No, just me. I’m still seeing things, Jake. I saw Danny today. And I took a little trip down the rabbit hole when I knocked myself out.”
Jake sat silently beside her, wrestling with his conscience for a long moment. “I see him, too,” he said softly.
Her gaze swung his way. “Not like me, I bet.”
Jake drew a long breath. “Not at first, anyway. After you woke up…in the hospital… That night, I saw him, Sin.”
Sin’s green eyes glittered in the scant light from streetlamps they passed. “You saying that to make me feel better?”
“I’m saying it because it’s true. And I don’t want you to think you’re alone.”
“Well, fuck. I was ready to tell the L.T. I was done.”
“Still wish you would.”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“Because I don’t trust myself. You distract me.” He remembered the man sitting behind them. “Let’s talk about this later, okay?”
She nodded, but now she sat a little straighter in her seat, and her glance sliced his way often. He could almost hear the questions shouting in her mind. It was time to come clean—the least he should do for her. She’d been through hell, part of it of his making.
Besides, he didn’t think he could stand to spend another night without her in his bed.
Jake didn’t let her have any room to slam her door in his face. He skipped up the steps behind her and practically pushed her through the door. The urgency gripping his entire body had him on the verge of exploding.
She didn’t demur. Didn’t utter a single protest. She also didn’t look back at him as she headed to her bedroom. She undid her utility belt, drew her weapon from her holster and locked it in the safe under her bed. Then she stood and began to strip. First her uniform shirt, then the Kevlar vest. Her bra. She toed off her boots and unbuttoned her pants. Only then did she glance up.
Horny as hell, the edgy anger that rippled through him was potent, explosive. He turned on his heel and stalked into her bathroom, bending to twist the faucet handle and start the shower.
No long leisurely bath. A shower, and she wouldn’t be taking it alone. He stripped, dropping his belt and clothing on the counter, and stepped under the water, letting it sluice over the top of his head, hoping it would take the edge off—make him a little less dangerous.
When the curtain swung back and she stepped inside, his stomach sank. Anger flared in her gaze, and her chin rose. This wasn’t going to be an easy reacquaintance on either of their parts. She was ready for a battle.
She reached for the shampoo bottle and turned away, ignoring him while she soaped her dark red hair.
Jake’s hungry gaze swept down her nude back, noting bluish bruises on her side and ass, along with admiring her lean, almost boyish figure. He lingered over her heart-shaped backside, wanting to reach over and cup each firm globe in his hands.
“Quit staring,” she said, not looking back.
“I’m not,” he lied, a smile quirking up one side of his mouth.
“I can feel it, crawling all over my ass.”
“Always loved that ass.”
“Yeah, well it isn’t yours anymore.”