Hard to Fight

  Raide is staring at me with a mixture of shock and confusion. Probably because I just brought a grown man down to his knees, then squashed him into the floor.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my cousin and I have some talking to do.”

  Raide is still staring at me.

  “Are you going to stare at me all night?” I say, and his eyes move to me, his jaw tight. “Whatever. I don’t have time for this. Come home with me, or I’ll break your nose.”

  Terry's eyes widen, but he’s so far out of it, I don’t think he’s really getting what’s going down.

  I turn to Raide. “Your girlfriend really did tell me your name, and I happen to have friends all over this town, so I was not stalking you. I’m just a busy girl and it would appear you’re a busy boy, and we ended up in the same places at the same time.” I look him up and down, real slow, letting him know I’m taking all of him in. “Besides, I can do better.”

  With that, I turn and drag Terry out of the club.

  Damned proud of myself.

  That is, until Raide stops me with a hand to my arm. He spins both Terry and me around and steps up into my space. “You and me, we’re going for a drink after this.”

  I blink at him. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me, lady,” he murmurs. “You and me, going for a drink. You’re going to tell me what’s going down.”

  Inside I’m doing a happy dance, but on the outside, I want to slap him. I don’t want to seem too easy, too keen, because then I’ll take back everything I’ve just proven by walking away. Dammit. Why can’t life be easy? Knowing, for my own self-respect, I have to lift my head and play this game with him, I say, “Dream on.”

  “You don’t agree, I’ll follow you.”

  Shit. “Now who’s the stalker?”

  His eyes flare and his lips twitch. “You be back here in an hour, you have a drink with me, maybe I can finally taste those sweet fuckin’ lips—”

  “Wait,” I say, putting a hand up. “Say what?”

  “Lady,” he murmurs, eyes on my lips. “Been wanting to taste them since I first saw them.”

  “You, my friend, have issues. You thought I was crazy only ten minutes ago—now you want my lips?” I shake my head. “I’m taking my cousin home and you’re going to stop talking to me, and you’re going to stop thinking about my lips.”

  “This guy really your cousin?” he says with a curled lip, displaying his disgust as he stares at Terry, who is totally tripping now, eyes wide, murmuring useless shit.

  “Sadly, yes.”

  Raide narrows his eyes.

  “I’m surprised you can’t see the family resemblance.”

  He snorts and I force back my smile. “Not sure I believe you, lady, but okay. Be back here in an hour.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “We’ll see about that.”

  I turn to lead Terry to my car, but Raide reaches out again, stopping me. I drop Terry’s arm as Raide spins me toward him. His arm snakes out and curls around my hips, and my breath hitches as he hauls me forward, pressing his body against mine. I swallow hard, trying to look anywhere but at those devastating lips that are … shit … he’s going to—

  He kisses me.

  My entire world stops.

  His lips take mine so quickly, so deeply, I lose my breath. My fingers automatically go up, and I finally get to feel that thick, lush hair. It’s as beautiful as I knew it would be. His kiss is all consuming, making every part of my body tingle with need. His tongue, so soft yet so strong, tangles with mine while his hands run down my body until he’s cupping my ass and grinding my body against his. I feel so tiny in his arms—and God, it feels so good.

  Then suddenly he lets me go, his eyes going to Terry. “Hold that thought.”

  He steps past me and, in three strides, catches a scrambling Terry, who is too whacked-out to run fast, or far. Raide saw him move, even when he was kissing me. Kissing me … oh my God … he was kissing me! What is wrong with me?! Using my seduction skills to lure him in is one thing, but kissing him? Shit. I could lose my job. Shit. Shit. Shit. This wasn’t supposed to go to kissing. Never to kissing. I’m failing at this job with every second that passes.

  “Thought you’d want your cousin,” Raide mutters, thrusting Terry back at my feet.

  “Ah, right, thanks. I have to go.”

  I take Terry’s arm and drag him to my car, not looking back at Raide, not wanting to see those devastating eyes. I don’t need to remind myself that I just made a mistake—there are no rules against how we bring someone in as such, but Don has always warned us to avoid any physical or emotional connections with our cases. I need to bring Raide in, and I need to do it fast, before this escalates any further.

  Tears burn under my eyelids when we reach the car. I blink them away and survey the area to make sure we’re alone, then I pull a pair of zip ties out of my purse and cuff Terry. I angrily shove him into the car. He’s about to pass out, his body weak and wobbly. When he’s in, I slam the door and rush to my side.

  “Hey,” Raide calls.

  I stop and turn to watch him jogging toward me. Our gazes are locked as he approaches.

  “I was wrong about you.” His eyes slowly move over my lips. “I take it back—you’re not a loony.”

  “Well, thanks. Now we’re done here.”

  “You know it was fuckin’ amazing, Gracie,” he calls.

  Jesus.

  I get into the car and slam the door.

  This isn’t how it was meant to go.

  * * *

  “Woman, you need to pull this car over,” Terry groans from the backseat.

  I shoot him an angry glare through my rearview mirror. “Shut it, Terry. I’m thinking.”

  “I’ll chuck,” he threatens.

  “You’re just trying to do a runner, but I’ve caught your ass, so sit back and shut up. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m that chick that gets you when you don’t show up for your court hearing.”

  “Woman,” he groans again.

  Ugh.

  I focus on the road and let my mind take me back to the kiss I just shared with Raide only minutes before. I kissed a criminal. I kissed a man I’m supposed to bring in so he can be locked away. God, what is wrong with me? If Don found out, I’d be suspended, at the very least. I’m risking my entire career playing this game with Raide, yet I can’t seem to stop myself.

  If I wasn’t driving, I know my eyes would flutter closed at the memory of his mouth on mine. Raide can kiss—boy, can he kiss. Everything inside me melted the moment he put his lips to mine, and now I can think of nothing else. I want all of him. I want more, but I can’t have it. Something deep down in my gut is screaming at me to hand this case over, but my pride won’t let me.

  The sounds of retching snap me back to reality, and I pull the car over just in time to see Terry hurl all over my seats. God. Gross. I guess he was telling the truth about needing to vomit. My bad. Still, yuck. I swing my door open and charge around to his side of the car. I take his shirt and haul him out. He stumbles and falls to his knees beside the car, continuing his throwing up.

  I take a spare towel from my trunk, which I keep on hand for these exact reasons, and lean in to start scooping up the disgusting-smelling vomit. I’m dry-retching and cursing at Terry, who has suddenly gone quiet. I jerk out of the car and spin to see him running off through the trees. Seriously? With a sigh and a sympathetic look at my heels, I reach down, toss them off, and charge after him.

  Because of his drunk, high, and stupid state, I manage to catch Terry before he has even made it half a yard. I reach out, nabbing the back of his shirt and yanking until he stumbles and falls backwards. I lean over and get in his face. “First, you try to drug girls so you can do God knows what with them. Then you throw up in my car. Now you’re trying to pull a runner? Terry, you’re starting to piss me off.”

  “Just let me go,” he cries. “I won’t do it again.”

  I roll my eyes and order him to his feet
. His arms still bound, he slowly gets up. Then, as if running and being caught, twice, wasn’t enough, he starts kicking out at me. I grind my teeth and dodge his foot, but while I’m doing that, he uses his head to slam against mine. My head spins. Terry, who is clearly proud of himself, lunges a third time. I lash out, catching his shoulders and pinching his pressure points so hard, he cripples with a scream.

  “You kick me again, you’ll be unable to reproduce, which really, is me doing the world a damned favor. Now, walk.”

  He does as he’s told, squealing in pain as I shove him forward. When we reach my car, I pull out the gun from the glove compartment and aim it on him as I unbind his arms and make him clean out every trace of vomit. When he’s done, I shove him in and get in. It still smells, but at least there’s no longer chunks of God knows what spread about.

  I bring Terry in and offload him quickly. Julio is the only one there when we arrive, and he does a double take when I shove Terry into the cells in the back rooms, where we hold anyone we collect for the police till they follow up. I know he’s reacting like that to me because I have a black eye. Well, I’m assuming I do given the pain radiating through my skull. But, in typical Julio fashion, he says nothing and just takes Terry, grunting at me.

  I need to get home.

  I drag myself out of the building and into my car. The drive home is slow, and my head is pounding by the time I get there. I park the car down the road in the only spot I can find and walk the rest of the way to my apartment. I reach the front gate and freeze. Raide is standing at my door, arms crossed, leaning against it casually, like he’s been here a thousand times.

  My heart begins to pound.

  “Why the hell are you at my house?” I cry. This is not good. Not cool at all. He can’t know where I live. This is bad, bad, bad.

  He pushes off the frame, his eyes narrowed as he starts walking toward me.

  I take a step back, putting my hand up. “Stop right there—don’t you come a foot closer.”

  “What happened to your face?” he asks, taking a step closer.

  “Seriously, I’ll crash-tackle you to the floor!” I cry, waving a hand in front of his face.

  His eyes flash and his lips twitch. Yeah, yeah, of course that’s funny. Of course I couldn’t take him to the floor. Still, I’m having a bad day and I’m tired. He’s pissing me off. He kissed me—how dare he freaking kiss me!—and now he’s at my door looking so damned good, it hurts.

  “Lady,” he says, his voice dropping low. “I said what the fuck happened to your face?”

  “Why are you at my house?” I demand again, becoming frustrated.

  “Followed you the other day after the café, needed to make sure I knew where you lived, in case you decided to keep stalking me. Now, I’m goin’ to ask once more, and you’re goin’ to answer me. What happened to your face?”

  “For the last time, I was not stalking you!” I cry.

  He growls and reaches out, curling a hand over my shoulder and pulling me forward. “I don’t like repeating myself, Gracie. Now, answer me.”

  “Bossy,” I mumble. “Terry managed to head-butt me.”

  He flinches. “Your cousin did that to you?”

  I want to laugh out loud at that, but I don’t. “Yeah, he was high, he didn’t want to be taken home. Shit happens. Now, can you move? Because I want to go to bed.”

  “You put ice on that?” he asks, nodding to my eye.

  “No.”

  “Right, then let me in, and we’ll sort it.”

  I laugh and step back, waving my hands. “Oh no, you don’t. I’m not letting you anywhere near my house.”

  He raises his brows. “Standin’ on your front lawn, babe.”

  “Don’t call me babe, and I didn’t invite you to stand on my front lawn. So now it’s time you leave and I go to bed. Okay? Great. Have a nice night.” I step past him and head toward my front door.

  “Admit it!” he calls out. “You’re scared I’ll kiss you again, and lady, you’re scared you’ll fuckin’ love it as much as you loved it the first time I did it.”

  My cheeks heat and I turn, scowling at him. “You assaulted me—I’d hardly say it was enjoyable.” He grins and my heart gives up on beating. My ears ring. My skin tingles. God, he’s beautiful, so fucking beautiful.

  “Last time I checked, when a woman grinds against you while moaning, she ain’t hating it.”

  I open my mouth to argue, but nothing comes out.

  His smile gets bigger.

  “I—I—,” I splutter, “was not grinding.”

  God. His smile. It’s huge. And wolfish. And sexy as hell.

  I grit my teeth and spin, hurrying toward my door. I begin to unlock it when I feel his body press against my back. I take a step forward on a gasp, my entire body pressing against the wooden door in front of me. Raide’s body presses against me, and his breath hits my neck. I whimper, unable to stop it from escaping.

  “Lady,” he murmurs, running his lips up my neck. “You were grinding.”

  I shudder and flinch when he runs his hands up my sides, up my arms, over my fingers until he’s got his palms flat against my door. His hips thrust against my ass, and my God, he’s got an erection and it feels amazing. Dammit, it’s not meant to feel amazing. Kick him off, Grace. Your job is on the line. Invite him inside. Call Don. End this.

  “And right now your heart is fuckin’ pounding for me.”

  Call it in, Grace.

  “And I’m going to kiss you again.”

  Now. Do it now.

  He spins me around, I open my mouth to argue, he captures it before a word even comes out. His lips, his body, his hands. All of them so rough, so damned beautiful. He runs his hands down my arms and around to cup my backside. He hauls me forward all while his mouth consumes mine. Heat floods between my legs, and I whimper, clutching his shirt, not sure if I’m going to push him back or pull him closer.

  I pull him closer.

  Then I kiss him harder.

  Our tongues tangle, our hands roam, and our bodies collide in the most exquisite way. I’m panting, he’s growling, and I know I have to dig deep to find the restraint not to pull him into my house and let him slam me against the wall.

  I manage to find enough of that restraint to put my hands to his chest and push him back, disconnecting our lips. “That’s enough,” I breathe.

  “You can play hard to get, lady,” he murmurs, running his tongue over my bottom lip. “But I will win.”

  With that, he lets me go and turns, striding down my front walk. When he reaches the street, he looks over his shoulder and calls, “Ice that eye, yeah?”

  Then he’s gone.

  Dammit. It occurs to me only then that I should have called it in while he was standing in my front yard.

  Chapter Eleven

  I drag my feet through the halls toward my office the next morning. I’m exhausted. I’m tired. I’m sore. My eye is now swollen and black. Thanks, Terry. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night due to the fact that I had Raide on my mind and a throbbing headache. I’m trying to figure out my best plan of action that allows me to prove my point and keep this case. Keeping this case means bringing Raide in. Which means any emotion I may have needs to go. I have to stay professional.

  My plan was a bust—that’s clear.

  Now I have to go to plan B … except I don’t have a plan B.

  “Morning, Gracie Lou,” Vance calls as I trudge past his office.

  “Hey,” I mutter.

  “Hey!” he yells, getting up and rushing out after me. “What’s up?”

  I turn without thinking and stare up at him. His eyes widen and his mouth drops open. “Jesus, Gracie, what the hell happened?”

  “Ah—” I press my fingers to my eye and wince. “—Terry did that.”

  “Shit, it looks bad. You look bad.”

  “Thanks, Vance.”

  He narrows his eyes. “You need to talk?”

  I sigh and drop my head. “I
think I do.”

  He takes my arm and leads me into his office. He shuts the door and I flop down onto the chair beside his desk. He sits down and wheels his chair over to me, stopping when our knees bump. “What’s going on?”

  “The seducing thing … it, ah, it was a bad idea.”

  He narrows his eyes. “How so?”

  “It just was,” I lie. “It’s taking too long and I don’t think it’s the right plan.”

  He nods. “So what are you going to do?”

  “I need this case, Vance. It’s everything to me. I think my only option is to try to bring him down with help. Taser him, maybe.”

  He rubs a hand over his chin. “You know we’re supposed to use the Tasers only if we need to. Are you sure you can’t bring him in without it?”

  “He’s huge, Vance.” I sigh, dropping my head into my hands. “It won’t be that easy. He’ll know what I’m doing the minute I get close, and he’ll run. I can pull a gun on him, but both he and I know I won’t use it, so the Taser seems like my best bet.”

  “Well, I’ll help you.”

  I snap my head up and glare at him. “I’m trying to prove I can do this without help.”

  “Gracie,” he says, reaching over and taking my hand. “Don’t you think we all need help sometimes? Shit, there are times I’ve had to take Julio on a case. It doesn’t make you weak.”

  “This is my first big case,” I say. “This is my chance to prove I don’t need to have someone with me. I know there are times when help is needed—I get that. But this one … this is it for me. This is my chance to prove myself.”

  He nods, and I know he understands. “Well, then you’re just going to have to get more creative. You do the work enough to get him to the front door, and let us take it from there—that’s still you bringing him in. Hell, you could even get him to your place or his and call it in. We do it all the time, Grace. You don’t have to crash-tackle him to the floor for it to be considered a successful job.”

  That’s true.

  “How do you suppose I do that?”

  He shrugs. “You’ve been working the seduction angle, but why not try the victim path?”