Soul Possession(11)

Silent laughter shook Rick. So like Truitt. Uptight. Always over-thinking things. Rick shook his head. “You’re a mess, man. Seriously. We’ve had sex with her twice. How do you know that’s not all she wants? Maybe she won’t want to hang around. We have to sell her on the idea of even sticking around us, both of us, before we can worry about whether another man is looking at her.”

“I’m a f**king pansy,” Truitt said in disgust. “I swear to you the moment I saw her I knew I was f**king done. Over. Stick a knife in me. Done. And the hell of it is, I don’t even mind.”

“Quit your bitching. You’re getting way ahead of yourself.”

“Oh, like you aren’t thinking the same damn thing,” Truitt muttered. “You’re over there plotting ways to convince her to stay with us. You don’t want her going back to work. You want to keep her home so you can fuss over her and that bum knee.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“No, I just know you. You like to take over. You’re a black-and-white kind of guy. You see what you want. You hatch a plan. Then you carry it out to the letter.”

“I think I hear an insult in there somewhere.”

“Nah, it’s what makes you a good cop. You’re focused.”

“Okay so maybe I do want her to stay. I may want that, but I also know that when she wakes up, if we start spouting that kind of shit after only being with her a few hours, she’s going to think we’re freaks and she’ll probably break her neck getting the f**k out of here. And, hell, I wouldn’t blame her. The cop in me would warn any woman away from a man who’s thinking the things I’m thinking.”

Truitt frowned again. “This is crazy. We’re crazy.”

“That might be true, but no matter how crazy we are, we damn sure don’t want her leaving with the idea that this is a one-time fling and that we’re adding her to the notches on our bedpost.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve been celibate. Mostly.”

Jessie stirred, turned her head so that her other cheek rested on Rick’s chest. She did one of those sweet snuggle moves and sighed as if she was perfectly content. Rick stroked a hand over her hair.

“I don’t know what it is about her,” Rick said in a low voice. “But you’re right. She’s it. When I see her I can’t look away. There’s something that’s just irresistible about her. And the thing is, she’s just as sweet as she looks. She hugged me for God’s sake.”

“Awww, are you sad because I haven’t hugged you?” Truitt drawled.

Rick scowled and held up his middle finger. “Fuck you, man.”

Truitt chuckled. Then he stretched and put his arm above his head. “I’m beat. It’s been a long-ass week. If we aren’t planning to let her go, I vote we get some sleep, let her rest, and spend the day f**king her brains out tomorrow.”

“Smooth,” Rick said. “Real f**king smooth.” He shook his head again. Truitt was…well, he was Truitt. After being partners for five years, Rick knew it was hopeless to comment on Truitt’s lack of tact.

Truitt could fight his own battles anyway. If Jessie was going to be with them for any length of time, she’d learn to deal with Truitt’s uncouthness. Or not.

Carefully he rolled, easing Jessie down onto the bed between him and Truitt. Truitt was quick to tuck an arm around Jessie and pull her into his chest.

“Get some damn clothes on,” Truitt grumbled. “Jessie’s not awake and I don’t want to see your naked ass.”

Rick swung his legs over the bed and then went to get a pair of shorts from his room. By the time he returned, Truitt was sound asleep, his cheek resting against Jessie’s ear.

Yeah, his partner had it bad all right. But Rick couldn’t say a damn word because he had it every bit as bad.

Chapter 5

Jessie woke, the room dark around her. She was aware of a hard body behind her but she could feel the heat of another in front of her.

Her cheeks went warm and she rolled her eyes at the idea that she was lying here blushing in the dark because she’d had a wild night of sex with two hot-as-hell guys.

She raised her head, staring around for a clock, but didn’t see anything that was visible. Well, she had to pee anyway.

Carefully she eased down the bed, not crawling over either of them. She had no idea if they had to work today or not and she figured they needed the rest after being up so late.

She stumbled around for her clothing and dug into the pocket of her shorts for her phone to check the time. It was early. Or late, depending on your schedule. Often Jessie wasn’t getting into bed until now after a long night at the bar and cleanup.

Merriam would still be in her office as she always was until 6:00 A. M. every morning. She holed up doing God knows what, muttering over expenses. The waitresses heard her bitching regularly about cutting costs.

Once in the bathroom, Jessie sat on the closed toilet seat for a long moment weighing her options. Last night she’d been pissed and ready to say f**k it and find a new job. But she couldn’t afford to miss even a few days and there was no guaranteeing she’d find a job that quickly.

Which meant she really needed to swallow her pride and go back to try to convince Merriam that she hadn’t stolen money and to beg for her job back.