Jacked (6 page)

She was standing there, misting the cold air with her labored breath. How many hours did she say she’d worked when we stopped her? Sixteen? And she’d just worked her ass off for another half hour doing field triage. Holy hell, that was admirable. Thoughts of my little brother Jason doing the same exact shit in some war-torn place of hell on Earth blasted into my mind, rippling pain and worry into my chest. Damn, I hoped he was doing all right—that he was safe.

The second ambulance pulled away, lights and sirens blaring.

“Told you he wasn’t dead,” she muttered, more to herself than me, I supposed.

“I thought for sure he wasn’t going to make it.” She was a fucking miracle worker. “You did real good, Doc.
Real
good.” I rolled her name around my brain one more time, soaking it in so I wouldn’t forget.

Erin.

Just standing next to her seemed to calm me, as if she were coated in some sort of magical aura that made me feel as though I wasn’t so lost and alone in the ugliness of life.

The urge to haul her up into my arms and protect her from seeing any more misery was strong. “It’s time to clear out, Doc.” I held out her keys, needing to get her far away from this place, knowing I wouldn’t be able to rest until I saw her home. Lights twinkled off the rhinestones that were embedded in the metal letter “E” that dangled from the keychain between my fingers.

She snagged them from the air, practically ripping her key fob from my hand. “Yes sir, Officer. At least I got to do one more good deed before you assholes turned my life to shit.”

Wait… What? What the fuck did that mean?
I distinctly recalled trying to stop her before her life turned to shit.

She turned on her heels so damn fast and started marching her pretty little ass down the street, I barely had a comeback.

She wasn’t going to get off that easy. “Hey. Hold up. Doc. Stop right there.”

Did she just flip me off?
Oh hell no
.

I got right into her personal space, holding my position at her car door as she stepped up to me.

“What? What do you want, Officer? Have some puppies you need to run over yet tonight?”

God, she was being such a bitch. Ballsy little thing, I’d give her that. Intriguing as all hell, too.
You aren’t going anywhere until you explain that attitude you’re dishing out. Try getting in your car with me holding the fucking door closed. I dare ya
.

She stared me down. “You just going to glare at me or do you have something else you need to say? Why don’t you run and get your little ticket pad thing. I’m sure I can handle a final kick with a nice hefty ticket on top of it. What’s a red light cost these days? Two hundred and three points on my record?”

Damn, she had a mouth on her. “What’s your problem?”

She looked at me like I was cracked. “My
problem
? Oh, I’m sorry. Where should I start? The fact that I was already having one of the worst nights of my life
before
you and your posse aimed your guns at my head, or how the last twelve years of my life were just eviscerated when I was filmed wearing handcuffs? Once this hits the media, my career is
over.
Do you understand? Everything I’ve worked for is gone. Everything! So
sorry
if I’m a little bitter about that. And on top of all of that, four more people were just severely injured, causing even more misery to my horrendously shitty night. So if you haven’t any further need for me, I’d like to go home and wash the blood off me that I got
on my pants
from keeping someone else from dying tonight, in case you need to
clear that up
.”

I never wanted to gag a woman so badly in all my life. I wanted to tie this little spitfire up and give her what she really needed—a good, thorough fucking—my way.

Whoa. Where the hell did that come from?

I was holding my jaw so tight my molars were starting to hurt. What did she expect? Her car was reported stolen at gunpoint. It was a justified stop. “If you’re waiting for me to apologize for doing my job, it ain’t gonna happen.”

She tugged on the door handle again but it barely jostled me. Her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. I could tell she was running out of steam. Not only did we scare the shit out of her earlier, she just saved the life of complete strangers in the middle of the damn street. She’d run the gamut of emotions and the stress was making her lash out.

I could totally relate to being an asshole like that.

Those sexy-as-hell eyes turned up and leveled me again, silently pleading, sucking the wind right out of my lungs. I felt the urge to touch her, wondering like a prepubescent school boy what it would be like to kiss the girl. I rested my hand on my revolver instead, especially since I spotted a small crew of the Crips moseying down the sidewalk. Fucking delinquents. I needed to get her safely out of this neighborhood—
now
.

“Just let me go home.”

I glared a warning in their direction, surprised that the gangbangers hadn’t scattered like cockroaches with so many cops present. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why?” she squealed, pulling with renewed force, but still nowhere near getting me to budge. “Grrahhh.”

“Not done with you, Doc.”

“Am I under arrest for chucking you the finger, because believe me, if that’s the case I’ll do it again just to make sure you got the message.” She pulled on the door again.

The fact that she was so desperate to get away from me was aggravating. “Keep yanking. I got all morning, sweetheart.”

Her hands finally slapped down in defeat.
That a girl; listen and surrender to me. I’ll be more than happy to keep at this until I wear you down.

“What if I kick you in the shins?”

Holy shit. Was she serious?
“Gets you back in my handcuffs for assaulting an officer. You want back in my handcuffs?”

Her eyes flashed but something told me we had two
very
different versions of that scenario running through our minds. I sure as hell liked my visual of that—her tied and bound, bending to my will. I felt my dick twitch, agreeing with me.

Her chin jutted up. “Then I better aim for your balls instead. C’mon. Just. Let. Me. Go. Home.”

Her reply unnerved me a bit. She was a fighter, and a dirty one at that. Surprising. Challenging too, which was also a pleasant surprise.
Bring it, baby, right after we take care of business.
I stared her down
.
“You going to calm down first and listen to me?”

Damn, she was infuriating and so goddamned sexy all flushed with anger. I just about lost all my breath when she finally relented. Those pink lips, that sexy mouth… Shit, she already had me by the balls.

“Look, we’ve both just been through a lot. And you don’t have a plate on your car. If you give me a damn minute, I’m going to follow you in my rig to make sure you get home safely. I can’t do shit for you if you drive away from here and local PD pull you over for driving without a plate. You copy?”

“Copy what?”

My patience was all used up. “Do you understand me?”

Erin finally nodded. The looming shadows and possible vendettas were making me edgy.

“Do not turn around but there are about twelve members of a local gang eyeing this situation from down the block and you’ve got that kid’s blood all over your coat. I need you to listen and trust me. I’m going to get a bag for your jacket so you don’t get that shit on your skin or all over your car seat. I’ve got an extra sweatshirt in my rig for you to wear home. Okay?”

“Okay. Copy.” She saluted.

I still didn’t trust that defiant look in her gorgeous eyes. “Do not move. You attempt to drive away from here without me tailing you I will haul your little ass in personally. We clear, Doc?”

That knocked some of the starch out of her. It was a relief to know she’d give in when I put my foot down. Good thing she had no clue I was bluffing.

“What are you doing, man?” my partner, Marcus, asked when I passed him leaning on our rig. I opened the back hatch of our Expedition. “I have no fucking clue,” I grumbled, grabbing my black ATTF sweatshirt out of my duffle bag, grateful that Ritchie wasn’t on my ass for once. Unfortunately, he and Scott were hovering around her with their standard appearance release in hand. I should have warned her not to sign it.

Shit.

“She sure is a sweet slice of woman,” Marcus muttered.

I had to agree. Shame we were fucking up her life like this. “Feisty as shit, too.”

“Background check came back squeaky clean. One parking ticket and an old speeding violation dated about six years back. Oh, and no last name changes—ever, in case you’re wondering.”

I nodded. “You gonna give me shit if we tail her back to Drexel Hill Heights? I’m not going to put her through having her car towed tonight on top of all of that.”

Marcus’s eyebrows rose up his massive forehead. Then he huffed, surely holding back the desire to jack me up. I could see it in his eyes. Instead, he flashed those big white teeth at me. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice. But you’d better hurry if you want dibs on that sweet piece ’cause Ramirez and Hill are sniffing all around your shit over there.”

I tossed my bag back into our rig and slammed the hatch, rattling the glass.

What the fuck were those two assholes doing? Ramirez I could understand looking to upgrade women, but Hill? He’d better be playing wingman to his partner ’cause the prick was married with kids.

I stepped into Ritchie’s line of sight. “This is done. Shut it down before I bust that camera.” Didn’t take long for Hill and Ramirez to get my glare either.
That’s right. All you pricks just back the fuck up.

I shook the bag, holding it open for her. “Coat. Bag. Now.” I ignored her womanly defiance and the annoying film crew that hovered, assuring myself that my team members were moving the fuck along like good boys.

“You always such a bastard?” she asked, peeling her coat off. She stuffed it into the bag, trying to keep her hands on the clean parts.

“Only when I’m pissed off.”

She scoffed and then shivered. “Join the club.”

I tied the top of the bag into a knot and tossed it to the ground. She only had a short-sleeved scrub top on over a thin dark blue thermal and it was starting to snow again.

I fixed the neck opening and pulled the hoodie over her head, taking care not to accidently tug her hair. The sleeves were a few inches too long and it came halfway down her thighs, but something about seeing her in my clothes caused a warm rush to flood my body.

At least she let me roll up the sleeves for her until just the tips of her pretty little fingers were peeking out. Damn, she was a beautiful sight.

I couldn’t help but smooth a long piece of her bangs out of her eyes and slip it back inside the hood. She flinched back a bit, looking up at me as if I’d done something wrong. Maybe she was still keyed up from working the accident? Whatever it was, it didn’t matter anymore; something in me needed to touch her.

I just about lost it when she tucked her tiny nose inside my hoodie and let out a soft whimper. A brush of pride swelled into my chest.

That’s it, baby, remember that. That’s all me.
“You ready?”

Those big blue eyes stared up at me, clenching my gut.

“I am.”

Me too, sweetheart. Me too.

OFFICER TRENT WALKED
me all the way to my front door, making me feel slightly uncomfortable having such a gorgeous man dressed in his tactical police gear this close to me. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the last time a guy walked me to my front door, and that was not from a lack of trying. But this wasn’t the first time in my life I’d had a police escort, and that recollection alone touching the fringes of my thoughts was extremely unnerving.

He held the glass storm door open while I worked my key into the lock, hoping none of my neighbors were watching. The old ladies on this street just loved to gossip and seeing a cop at my door would give them plenty to chatter about.

I pushed the door open slightly and glanced up at him. Instead of saying his goodbyes, he was frowning down at me again.

“You have a security system?”

The way he said it made me feel as though I should. Unfortunately¸ if it didn’t come with the little red brick salt-box house I was renting, I didn’t have it. Still… “Is that any of your business?”

The muscle along his jaw twitched. “It’s a yes or no question, Doc.”

Gah, he was insufferable. “No.”

His frown turned into more of a scowl.

“You should.”

I’ll move that to the top of my list, right after I reinvent a new career.
“I’ll take that under advisement.” I set my purse and keys on the small oak table next to the door and started to roll off his hoodie.

He followed me inside. “What are you doing?”

Certainly not stripping for you
. “Giving back your sweatshirt.”

He shook his head. “Keep it.”

Part of me hesitated, hating to give up the warm, wonderful smelling reminder of him, but the other, saner part of me ordered the rest of my body to shed off all reminders of this hellacious night. I handed it back to him. “I don’t want it.”