Positively Criminal (2 page)

She gave herself a mental slap on the forehead. No wonder she wasn’t fingerprinted. And that explained why she still wore her jewelry. Her temper screamed to be released. The arrogant detective kept her cornered like a rabbit for most of the night with the threat of incarceration while he obviously had no intention of following through. Never mind that she hadn’t done anything illegal.

She yanked her hand in an attempt to free herself. “Let go, Jake.”

“Not a chance.”

He tightened his hold and led her through the booking area, his footsteps long and heavy. She fought to keep his pace, grateful when they entered an office. Again, she attempted to escape his hold.

“No.” He pulled her to stand beside him while he reached for a men’s white dress shirt hanging on the edge of a nearby bookshelf.

Finally, he released her long enough to cram her arms through the sleeves and button all seven buttons until the garment rested just above her knees. He then rolled both cuffs until they left only her wrists exposed. Although his dominating manner somewhat irked her, she couldn’t shake the distinct impression he had dressed a woman before. And that made her body tingle.

“Stop already!” She released the top two buttons, ignoring the fact that the clean, musky scent of him now soaked her skin. “I’m not naked.”

“Not now.”

“You’re just lucky I’m so small.”

“Yeah, lucky,” he mumbled.

“Could you please take me home now? I need sleep.”

“I’d be glad to tuck you in.”

While his lips split into a cocky grin, his offer made her pause and sorely tempted her to accept. Jake’s big, warm, muscled body pressing hers into the mattress sounded like the perfect sleep aid. No doubt the man could give her some very sweet dreams.

Except, someone might voice a very loud objection to their union.

“On second thought, take me to the clinic.”

A frown wrinkled his brow. “You haven’t slept all night.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got work to do.”

“At the office.”

She released a heavy sigh. “Yes, at the office.”

A full three seconds passed while he held her gaze with his and she hoped to God he wouldn’t question her change of plans. She worked hard not to let her stare waver, to show him she could meet his challenge head on.

Finally, he reached for her hand again and opened the door with the other. “After you.”

“Thank you.”

The drive to her and Liberty’s clinic took all of five minutes, the silence between them deafening and laced with tension. Although she was pretty sure Jake’s tension had everything to do with why he’d found her at the
Velvet Glove
, her tension had absolutely nothing to do with that. In fact, she was about ninety-nine percent sure her tension was sexual.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves, relieved when he finally parked at the curb in front of the clinic.

“Don’t work too hard,” he said, breaking the silence.

“I won’t.”

“Should I prepare myself for a phone call from Mabel?”

She let a smile crease her lips. “No. I think we better keep this between ourselves.”

“Done.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “Our secret.”

She let his lips linger for a moment against her skin, then drew back and left the car without another word. Distance was the best thing for both of them at this exact second.

Bri unlocked the front door then grasped the knob, tempted to throw caution to the wind and ask Jake to take her home and interrogate her for several more hot, sticky hours. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder to see him still parked at the curb. Her hand shook. She knew it wouldn’t take much to convince him to agree; the undisputable chemistry between them was ripe for combustion. To make matters worse, she knew what lay beneath Jake’s kick-ass cop armor – a compassionate, good-hearted soul, determined to rescue those in need.

And right now, she
needed
him.

Her pulse leapt when he frowned back at her, obviously suspicious of her hesitation. Something in his deep dark gaze told her this was not the time or place for another confrontation. With a heavy sigh, she lifted one hand and gave him a smile and a three-fingered wave while she turned the doorknob with the other.

The knob made half a turn before the door flew open and caused her to stumble forward.

Luckily, the brick wall of a male chest stopped her from planting her face into the floor.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Stunned, Bri managed to gather her senses and push him further inside and hopefully out of Jake’s line of vision.

“Geez, Ryan! Are you crazy?” She slammed the door and then separated the blinds to peek out the window, relieved to see Jake drive away. “He could’ve seen you.”

“He?”

“Detective Rawlings.”

“Why did he bring you here?”

She spun away from the window. “Hello? You let me get arrested! I didn’t drive to jail.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that, but a personal escort?”

“Jake and I go way back.”

“How far?”

Far enough for me to fall madly in love with him
. “Relax, he doesn’t know about our association.”

“Sorry, Bri, I’m going to need a little more than that.”

“Mabel and his grandmother were close friends. He feels obligated to keep me out of trouble.”

“What’s with the shirt?”

“He didn’t like my costume.”

“I waited for your call. What took so long?”

“Detective Rawlings insisted on interrogating me personally. It was brutal.”

“About the bust?”

“Actually, no. He was more interested in knowing why I was even there.”

“You didn’t mention your relationship with the detective.”

“There is no
relationship
.” She swallowed hard.
Yet
. “He’s just protective.”

“Why?”

She raised one eyebrow, quickly losing patience with yet another demanding male. “Any particular reason you ask?”

“We have to be careful, Bri, at least until this is all over.”

“I’m always careful, Ryan.” Out of habit, she spun her bracelet again. “Jake won’t be a problem.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I just came to make sure you got out okay.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Jake wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

“Did you see or hear anything before the bust?”

“No. Business was business, just as usual. No red flags.”

He gave a small nod as he stepped to the door and glanced out the window. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

She bit her lip to correct his assumption. With Jake on her tail, she was anything other than safe. “When will I see you again?”

“Thursday evening at the Sunlight Hotel,” he said as he opened the door. “Six o’clock. The reservation’s in my name.”

She frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Positive.” He chuckled as he stepped out of the doorway. “See you then.”

“Long night?”

From behind his Primrose Police Department-issued tin can of a desk, Jake grunted at his partner, clean shaven with his usual cocky smirk in full view. “What the hell are you smiling at?”

“Sorry, man.” Detective Mace Turner grabbed the chair in front of Jake’s desk, turned it backward, straddled it, and then lowered himself to the seat. “Believe it or not, I’m just happy to be back.”

“Suspension’s a bitch, huh?”

“A big one. I hear a bust went down at the Glove.”

“Someone was busted alright,” Jake mumbled.

“Obviously I didn’t hear everything.”

“I found Bri there.”

His partner went absolutely bug-eyed. “No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Why?”

“I’ve spent the whole night attempting to answer that question.”

“Did you catch her act?”

His forehead ached with the force of his frown. “No, when I got there everyone wore handcuffs.”

Mace’s bug eyes didn’t waver. “You let them arrest her?”

“
I
arrested her.”

His partner eased back in his chair and buckled his hands behind his head. “And how did that go?”

“Incredibly badly. I asked for an explanation and she wouldn’t budge.”

“Bri – wow. That’s almost hard to believe.”

“Especially since I asked her to stay away.”

“If I remember correctly, you
demanded
.”

Annoyed by his partner’s jab, he released a hard sigh. “It was for her own good, Turner! Look what happened.” He ran a hand across the top of his head. “I couldn’t exactly tell her the feds were watching the place.”

Mace nodded. “Yeah, about that. Why didn’t we know ahead of time?”

“You were suspended for accepting a lap dance in the line of duty,” Jake drawled.

“Smart ass. Your lap was full of a certain redhead, as I recall.”

Hell yeah
, he remembered every single thing about the redhead with the killer blue eyes who occupied the space between his legs for a full three minutes and twenty seven seconds. Dr. Sabrina Miller, alias
Sapphire
. The same fiery temptress he’d spent several hours with since that time in heated discussion about the danger of shaking her assets for drunken, horny men. Granted, that amazing experience had left him with a smile engraved on his face and a major hard-on for hours until he’d been forced to take matters into his own hands and end his misery, but that didn’t condone her intent to do that for other men. Besides, the stubborn beast roared again not thirty minutes later and tempted him to flash another hundred dollar bill.

The woman had undisputable God-given talent.

Suddenly, he wasn’t quite so angry when he answered. “I wasn’t on duty.”

Mace grinned. “So, explain the bust you knew nothing about.”

“Not much to tell. I got a call afterwards and hauled in three girls.”

“No briefing?”

“Not last night. You’re just in time, though, it’s scheduled for ten o’clock this morning.”

Mace checked his watch. “That leaves you approximately thirty two minutes to tell me what else happened last night.”

“Nothing. I arrested her, we argued, then I took her home.”

“Holy crap! To Mabel’s?”

“No, not home literally. I actually drove her to the clinic.”

“Why?”

“That’s where she parked her car.”

“Not much better. I’m sure Dr. Prescott had a few words with you too.”

“Actually, I got lucky. Liberty and Shane are headed for Barbados.”

“So, your foul mood is still a mystery.”

He gave a casual shrug, not sure who he was trying to fool, Mace or himself. “I’m pissed about the bust.”

“Nuh-huh. It’s something else.”

“I’m not one of your suspects, Turner, your third degree is useless.”

“Something happened between you and Bri.”

“Nope.”

“There’s my answer.
Nothing
happened between you two.”

His chair squeaked as he leaned back and buckled his hands behind his head. “I arrested her for her own good, Turner.”

“No doubt. However, there is such a thing as protective custody.”

“I think I proved my point.”

“You think she’ll stay away?”

“Not likely.”

“I’ll have to admit, I’m a little curious why she’s dancing again.”

“She’s not.”

“Huh?”

Jake shook his head from left to right, positive in his answer, while amused at his partner’s confusion; served Turner right for pushing too far about his relationship with Bri.

“Then why the hell did she lead you to believe she is?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet.”

Mace released a heavy breath. “Girl’s got major brain power.”

Jake silently applauded the other man’s conclusion. Although Bri’s curves teased his libido, her brain sucked him in full force. Smart women were a turn-on he couldn’t even begin to ignore and this certain extremely intelligent woman possessed enough
brain power
to turn him into a drooling zombie. He simply nodded in agreement.

“So what do you think?” Mace pressed. “Drugs? Guns?”

“They told us drugs but you know the FBI as well as I do. They won’t let us in on anything until they’re ready.”

“We’ve never had trouble there before.”

“The money funneled through that place prevents that.”

“Have you ever noticed anything out of place?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve visited the club a total of two times now. The only action I saw was you tie one on enough to get suspended.”