Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(136)

Erin braced her hand on the roof. “I’m not.”

I was glad we were stopped so I could let her see I wasn’t kidding.

“Your brother is going to need a lot of help when he gets home.”

That crushing pain I felt yesterday when I sat in my parent’s living room and heard that Jason had lost both of his lower legs in the explosion pressed the air out of my chest. Thinking about his hearty laugh, that troublemaking smile, the fact he’d no longer be able to press down on a f*cking brake pedal with his foot—it was suffocating.

“We’ll deal.” My molars were hurting again. I noticed her shift in her seat.

“I know you will,” she muttered.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Erin. But I won’t allow you to put your life on hold for me. For anything.”

“I’m not. Believe me.”

“Good.”

“I just don’t want…”

Her words died on a vigorous head shake, as if she was trying to erase them from the air.

“Don’t want what?”

“Nah.” She fluttered a hand.

“I brought rope and cuffs, Doc. Fair warning.”

Her head whipped my way. “Is that a threat, Cop?”

“Nope. That’s a promise, sweetheart.”

I enjoyed seeing her squirm in her seat. The way her thighs sealed up told me that part of her liked my brand of interrogation, too. “You were saying?”

“Two more blocks and you need to make a left.”

I nodded, trying not to hit the variety of shit in my lane. People swarmed all four corners of the intersection like ants in a giant maze of insanity. A delivery truck was blocking one side; a black stretch limo was straddling both lanes in front of me. New Yorkers were a special brand of dedicated crazy.

Since we were going nowhere fast, I figured I’d stare at her until she confessed. She needed to know she was out of options with me.

“I’m not sure the fellowship is the way I should go,” Erin finally said. “I’m not sure I’m cut out to be stuck in a lab every day. My hours would be different and that’s gonna cause…” Her arm straightened. “That lane. Next intersection is your turn and then I think we only have about five blocks.”

Instead of finishing her sentence, she fiddled with the map on her cell. I’d questioned craftier criminals with much better diversion skills. “Gonna cause what, Erin?”

She acted surprised and confounded by my question. “What?”

I listed my mental notes while she made this Q&A into a challenge. “Fellowship. Lab. Hours changing. Gonna cause what?”

“Distance,” she finally said.

Would she work out of another building or something? It took my mind a minute to catch up. Had I not been negotiating traffic with pedestrians on every side I would have slammed on the brakes and pulled over. “Between us?”

One shoulder lifted. “It’s a concern.”

“It shouldn’t be.”

Another shrug followed by some fidgeting. “I’ve been so singular in my focus for so long that it’s become engrained. I’m not sure why I even want it anymore.”

I knew she was sidestepping. “I’m not going anywhere, Doc. If you change your mind about what you want to do, then that’s on you, but it has to be what you want, not what you think you need to do because of me.”

She stared out her window. “Hotel should be on the left.”

I glanced over at her quickly, frustrated that she’d even think I’d let distance come between us. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I heard you.”

The ache in my shoulders subsided. “Good. If you don’t want the fellowship, then that’s your career decision. It has nothing to do with what’s growing between us.”

Her attention whipped my way. “What is growing between us?”

I pulled her hand to my mouth, finding it hard not to pull the rest of her into my lap and show her exactly what was growing. “Good things.”





MY LATE AFTERNOON meeting with Melissa Werner and the * who worked for her went as I had expected—pressure tactics to sign the new contract mixed with a healthy dose of patronizing ass-kissing.

The second she sauntered around her oversized glass-top desk to greet me, wearing a short black skirt and skyscraper heels, I knew I had to get the hell out of there fast. She leaned forward a lot, accentuating several thousand dollars of enhanced breasts, and did the shy smile thing meant to entice.

It was difficult paying attention to the legalese that covered twelve printed pages while sitting in the same room with a woman who looked ready to devour my cock. Knowing that I had left Erin curled up in my hotel bed was enough to snuff out Melissa’s obvious advances.

Ms. Werner was less than pleased when I turned down her offer for dinner but there was no way I was going to put myself into that situation. Erin gave me her blessing to go, saying she’d order room service and just study, but only an * would leave one woman to go out to dinner with another.

I was already selling a chunk of my soul signing this contract; I’d be damned to lose my integrity dicking over a woman I cared very much about in the process. I don’t know why, but Erin’s opinion of me mattered, and I didn’t want to let her down.