Kansas City Cop Page 13

  “But she’s upset?” Sylvie looked more little girl than woman without the heavy liner and mascara she’d worn earlier.

  “Those bruises and guns would scare anyone.”

  Gina hugged an arm around her sister’s shoulders and guided her back to the bed. “Come on. You should rest, too.”

  “Do we need to call anyone?” Mike asked, knowing Gina had asked Sylvie some pointed personal questions about the nature of her assault while he’d helped their great-aunt and -uncle settle in for the night.

  “We’re good,” Gina assured him, meaning there’d been no sexual assault. She cleared the ice pack and some first-aid supplies off the top of the purple comforter, while Sylvie stacked a rainbow of pillows against the wall. “I think the shower helped, but she hasn’t shared many details yet.”

  Sylvie sat on the bed and reached for Gina’s hand, pulling her to a seat beside her. Mike would have excused himself from the private conversation, but Sylvie’s eyes filled with tears as she raised her gaze to his. “I love Bobby, but he... His friend Emanuel...”

  Since she was including him in this conversation, Mike took a step into the room. “The other guy in the car?”

  She nodded. “Emanuel said I was pretty and that he wanted to kiss me. Bobby said I had to let him.” Gina’s curse echoed the thought going through Mike’s mind. “I didn’t want to. But Emanuel grabbed me, and Bobby didn’t try to stop him. Not at first. He laughed. I slapped Emanuel, and then Bobby...” She touched her cheek, and Mike’s hands curled into fists. “He said I’d embarrassed him. That’s when they got into an argument. Emanuel said the Lexus was his car, and if Bobby wanted to drive it then I had to... I was a bargaining chip,” she sobbed. “I’m worth the price of a stupid car to him.”

  Gina wrapped her arms around Sylvie, rocking back and forth with her. “You can’t see him again. You just can’t.”

  How often had Bobby Estes promised Sylvie’s affections in exchange for a fancy car? The image of a tan Mercedes circling around the PT clinic so that the driver could threaten Gina filled his thoughts. “Does Bobby borrow his friends’ cars a lot?”

  Although Gina shook her head, warning him away from asking questions related to her troubles, Sylvie answered, anyway. “Bobby has a different car about every week, I guess.”

  “Do you remember what he was driving two weeks ago?”

  “Mike...” Gina chided. But the phone rang in her pocket, and she pulled away to check the number. “It’s Derek calling me back. I need to take this.” She wiped the tears from her sister’s cheeks before standing and turning toward the door. Mike spotted the hint of moisture sparkling in her own eyes and started to reach for her. “No more questions,” she mouthed before putting the phone to her ear and hurrying past him into the living room. “Hey, buddy, where were you? I called a couple of hours ago...Yeah, she’s fine—or she will be. I need to ask a big favor...”

  With a nod, Mike excused himself, too. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  But the teenager popped to her feet. “Will you stay for a while?”

  Mike supposed Sylvie didn’t want to be alone until her sister returned. “Sure, kiddo.”

  She plucked a tissue from a box on the dresser and wiped away her tears. “I know Gina tries to be all badass. But I think Bobby scares her. I know he scares Rollo and Lupe. But things are a little calmer with you here.”

  “He scares her because you got hurt and she couldn’t stop it. Doesn’t mean she’s going to back down from any of his threats. Your sister’s a brave woman.”

  “I know.” She rolled her dark eyes. “And I know I’m...a headache for her. But we’re all trying to find our own way out of this part of town.”

  “Bobby isn’t your way out.”

  Sylvie shredded the tissue in her fingers before tossing it into the trash. “Maybe not. But I thought he cared about me. Until tonight. And there aren’t many guys like you around here.”

  “White guys?”

  She smiled at his teasing chuckle. “Nice guys.” Maybe that was a compliment, after all, because she padded across the rug and wrapped her arms around Mike’s waist, squeezing him in a hug. “Don’t let Gina scare you off. She really likes you, you know.”

  He knew. But did Gina? And given the career and family priorities she pursued to the exclusion of anything personal, would it make any difference if she did?

  He pressed a chaste kiss to the crown of Sylvie’s head. “You’re going to be okay.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ll be out on the couch tonight. Don’t worry about Bobby or your aunt and uncle or Gina. Sleep tight.”

  He patted her shoulder before she moved away and crawled onto the daybed, leaning back against the pillows. After pulling a fuzzy blanket over her lap, she grabbed her phone, plugged in her ear buds, turned on her music and tuned him out the way a normal teenager would.

  Mike grinned as he pulled the door shut, liking this version of Sylvie Galvan a lot better than the frightened young woman who fancied herself in love with Bobby Estes.

  He found Gina in the darkened living room, sticking her cell phone into the pocket of her jeans. She flipped on a lamp beside the sofa where Lupe had set out a pillow and a blanket. He recognized the tight set of her full, bow-shaped lips as she waged an internal battle between the urge to tell him to leave and the desire to give her family the reassurance his presence here seemed to provide. Although hushed, so as not to disturb anyone else in the house, her tone was strictly business. “Derek said he’ll do the paperwork for the lab and file a report on the assault.”

  Mike whispered back. “The one on you? Or the one on your sister?”

  “Both.”

  “Good.”

  Gina nodded as she circled around the couch and gestured for him to follow her toward the front door. “Thank you for staying so long, but it’s late. You have work in the morning and need to get some sleep. I’ve checked the doors and windows twice already. Sylvie’s not sneaking out, and I’m not letting anybody get in. We’ll be all right.”

  “I know you’ve got your bases covered. I’m staying, anyway.”

  She tilted her proud chin to his. “Because I’m weak?”

  “You’re the strongest woman I know.” He reached out to brush his knuckles across her soft cheek, not liking the chill he felt there. “I don’t want anything to happen to this family. Another set of eyes and ears can’t hurt. If I can help—”

  “You have helped. You always help.” She tipped her cheek into his hand, and the silky curls of her hair tickled his skin, waking the nerve endings that flared to life whenever she got close. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re for real. You’re just too damn—”

  “Don’t you dare say nice again, like it’s some kind of plague.” Gina’s pupils dilated in the shadows, turning her eyes into rich pools of midnight. She fisted her hand in the front of his shirt, and Mike knew he was in for another argument as she tugged him toward the privacy of the kitchen. “What now? I swear, woman...”

  Once his shoes reached the tile floor, she yanked harder, untucking the front of his shirt and pulling him off balance as she bumped into the lower cabinets. Mike braced his hands against the countertop on either side of her so he wouldn’t crash into her. But before he could ask what this sudden escape from the living room was all about, she slipped her damaged hand behind his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers.

  The unexpected contact shot a bolt of lightning through him, igniting an urgent heat. There was something purposeful, maybe a little angry, in the way she clung to him and fused her mouth to his. Where that anger was directed, Mike couldn’t tell. And, at the moment, Mike didn’t care. Instinctively, his mouth moved over Gina’s, claiming what she offered. Her lips softened, parted. With a husky gasp that went straight to his groin, Gina swept her tongue between his lips. Her fingers clutched at the edge of his jaw, stroking across his beard stubble, holding their mouths together. This wasn’t anger; this was need. This was attraction simmering out of control. This was the inevitable release of every emotion roiling through this house tonight.

  Mike understood that fire. That desperation. That crazy need to connect to the one person who could ease the fear, the anger, the need and the passion that had grown too powerful to control anymore.

  Slipping his hands to her waist and pulling her body into his, Mike took control of the kiss, suckling on her sweet bottom lip, soothing the trembling response with his tongue. She pulled at the hem of his polo until she could slip her hands inside to palm the skin of his chest and stomach, branding him with her desire. He returned the favor, tugging her blouse from her jeans and splaying his fingers over the smooth curve of her back.

  He felt the chill of her skin as he explored the length of her spine and flare of her hips. He dropped gentle kisses against her eyebrows and cheeks and the rapid beat of her pulse beneath her ear. The woman was responsive in a way that made him feel powerful, male, whole. Gina warmed at every spot he touched and cooed soft, excited moans that hummed in her throat. Her fingers raked through his hair, roamed over his shoulders, traveled inside his shirt, kindling an incendiary response that made him want to reclaim her lips and loosen the snap of her jeans and tug down the zipper so he could dip his fingers beneath the elastic band of her panties and fill his hands with that irresistible backside.

  “Is Sylvie okay?” she murmured against his mouth, running her fingers along the column of his throat, nipping at the point of his chin, turning his response into a hoarse growl.

  “You want to talk now?”

  “Yes.” She tipped her head back as he trailed his lips down the arch of her
throat, seeking out the source of those sexy hums. She whimpered when he found a particularly sensitive bundle of nerves. “No. Is she?”

  Mike chuckled his response against her skin. “She’ll be fine. The bruises on her cheek and wrist are superficial. It might not hurt to talk to a counselor, though.”

  “I’ll arrange it.” Gina stretched up on tiptoe, her small breasts pillowing against his chest as she guided his mouth back to hers for another hungry kiss.

  Mike indulged himself in the pleasure firing throughout his body. He grabbed her sweet, round bottom and lifted her, thinking he was never going to get enough of this woman until he was buried deep inside her. His hard length pushed against the zipper of his jeans, seeking out the heat of her body.

  This make-out session was going from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. And while their bodies were definitely willing, Mike had to wonder if their brains were on board with where this was headed. He moved his hands up to feather his fingers into her hair and rested his forehead against Gina’s, sucking in a deep breath of much-needed air. “I need to understand the rules here. There is no this, no us, yet it’s all right for you to kiss me like I’m the only snack on a deserted island?”

  “Forget the rules. Just...” She tipped her head to seal their lips together in brief kiss. “I don’t like being scared or vulnerable.”

  “Tell me about it.” He welcomed the cinch of her arms around his waist, as he took her mouth in a leisurely kiss. “Sounds like you’ve talked to your family about me. Maybe said a couple of nice things.”

  “Don’t let it go to your head, Choir Boy.”

  Oh, but there were a lot of other things going straight to his head.

  Her hands slipped beneath his shirt, singeing the skin on his back. “I don’t like feeling as if I can’t handle myself in a fight.”

  “You’ll get there. I promise.”

  The kiss jockeyed back and forth with forays and acceptance, with tantalizing discovery and revisiting a favorite angle or caress. “I’m glad you were here, that you had my back.”

  “Anytime.”

  “No. Not any—” she gasped as his palm settled over her breast, squeezing the proud nipple between his thumb and palm through the lace of her bra. She buried her face against his chest, pushing the pert handful into his greedy hand, her soft gasps belying her breathless words. “I want this, but...I can’t do a relationship. I don’t have time. It wouldn’t be fair to you...all my responsibilities—”

  “Do you hear me complaining?” He squeezed her bottom and lifted her again. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and Mike’s pulse thundered in his ears. He wanted her. She wanted him. “There’s just now.” He spun around, leaning against the sink. But her knees butted against the countertop. “We’re both adults. We’re safe.” He spotted the chair sticking out from the table and carried her toward it. “Don’t overthink this.”

  He sank onto the seat, pulling Gina into his lap. He couldn’t help but push against her as her thighs squeezed around his hips. They kissed as their hands fumbled between them. Mike spread his thighs to ease the tightness in his jeans. But he’d miscalculated his position on the chair, and his right leg slipped off the seat. Gina shifted. Mike caught her, planting his foot to keep her in place. He moaned against her mouth, a blend of anticipation and frustration as the inevitable jolt of electricity sparked down his leg.

  Hugging her tight to his body, Mike winced as he stood to alleviate the pressure on the pinched nerve. His broken body was betraying him. Just when Gina was letting him get close. Ah, hell. Now the leg had gone numb.

  “Mike? Put me down.” Gina scrambled out of his grasp, pushing away but clinging to his arms until she found her balance. No, she was steadying him. “Are you hurt? Do you need to sit down?”

  “Standing is better.” He pulled Gina back into his chest, dropping his chin to the crown of her hair. “I’m sorry. Nothing like a twinge of the old bursitis and my leg going numb to put a damper on things. Just let me hold you for a second, okay?”

  But the woman couldn’t keep still. Now he’d just added himself to the long list of things she had to worry about. “What happened? Did Bobby hurt you?”

  “Be still for a sec. I’ll be fine. It’s an old war wound acting up.”

  “Huh?”

  When she stilled and leaned into him, Mike pulled her arms back around his waist and breathed deeply against her dark, fragrant hair, willing the numbness and the lingering desire still firing through his system to abate. “I was in a car wreck when I was sixteen. A friend was driving me home because I was too drunk to be responsible for myself. He died. Helping me. Pretty much every bone below my waist was shattered. Tore up muscles and nerves. The doctors weren’t sure I was going to walk again.”

  Her arms tightened around him. He felt both hands hooking into the back of his belt as she nestled her cheek against his heart. “Your friend died?”

  “Leave it to you to pick up on the important detail.” Mike distracted himself from the guilt and regret by sifting her hair through his fingers. Although this stance gave him a bird’s-eye view of that sexy bottom he wanted to grab again, he ignored the impulse and savored her willingness to simply be close to him without any kind of protest. “There’s some residual nerve damage I deal with. Regular exercise keeps the weight off the joints and the muscles strong, but sometimes I’ll twist wrong or even sleep wrong and tweak a nerve. Or the weather changes and all the metal pins and wires inside let me know it. But I’m walking now, with no braces and no cane. I can make love to a beautiful woman again—on most nights.” His wry comment only made her snuggle tighter. “I can run again. So I’m not complaining. Sorry to start something I couldn’t finish.”

  She shook her head. “I started it. And I’m not complaining. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  “Me, too.”

  “We’re a pair, aren’t we? Gimpy and Hopalong. Maybe between us there’s a whole person who can take down the bad guys.” She released his belt to rub her hands over the backside of his jeans. Whether consciously or unconsciously done, the tender strokes across the muscles at the small of his back and hips felt good. The physical tension in him eased and the air around them cooled, even as something warmer and more profound than the desire they shared took hold inside him. “I’m sorry for all of the trouble I’ve brought to your life.”

  “Trust me, Tiger. I know trouble. You ain’t it.” He leaned back against her arms, framing her face between his hands and tilting those rich brown eyes up to his. He dipped his head to press a firm kiss to her beautiful lips before reluctantly pulling away. “You need to go to bed. Alone.” He pulled her hands from his hips and backed away before he couldn’t leave her. “Do not sneak out of this house and go to that bar by yourself. Do not take on Bobby Estes by yourself. Take care of your family tonight. Rest. I’ll be here in the morning when you wake up.”

  “You can’t stay.” Despite her words, she pawed at him, buttoning his shirt, smoothing down the spikes of his hair. If she kept touching him, they were going to end up right back where they’d been a few minutes ago. “You shouldn’t.”

  Mike listened to what she needed, not what she wanted. He stopped her hands from their busywork and squeezed them in his grip. “This is moving too fast, and you’re not comfortable with that. I get it. I don’t want you to regret anything that happens between us.”

  She nodded. “I don’t want you to regret anything, either. I’m kind of a mess tonight.”

  “Join the crowd. The timing sucks. That’s all.” He released her hands and brushed a thick curl off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “Mind if I call a couple of friends at KCPD and ask them to make a few extra passes through your neighborhood tonight?”

  This time, she pulled his hand away. But she was smiling. “I’d appreciate it.”

  “Consider it done.” He leaned in for one more peck on the lips, thought better of it considering his willpower around Gina and turned her toward her bedroom. “I’d better go to that couch now, or I never will.”