Butterface

“Easily.” He gave a mock shudder.

And that’s pretty much how lunch went. She chatted with all of the various Hartigan members and those like herself who’d been brought into the fold, including the guy Fallon had brought, Kyle. He worked out of the same precinct as Ford but was still in uniform. When she’d asked how he’d met Fallon, he responded with a shrug of his shoulders and made a comment about cops and nurses always seeming to end up together.

“I know, he’s an ass,” Fallon told her later while they were watching the Ice Knights get killed in the second period. “But his dick is magnificent.”

Gina almost choked on her bite of fried chicken. “You can’t say that. Someone might hear.” She looked around, but everyone’s attention was glued to the TV.

“They’ll live.” Fallon shrugged and took a bite of her drumstick. “Trust me, with Frankie here, they have definitely heard worse.”

That was probably true. Frankie seemed to have been born without a filter and, as he liked to put it, a humble bone in his body. The man was a certified mess, but a fun one. Looking around at the Hartigan clan, who’d made her feel right at home, Gina realized that Ford wasn’t anywhere around. And that’s when she got a gloriously delicious idea that involved his magnificent dick and a quickie in the farthest-away room with a lock. All she had to do was find him.

“I’ll be right back,” she told Fallon, figuring the kitchen was the likeliest spot. “I’m gonna go get some more water.”

Mind made up, she walked out of the crowded living room, more than ready to keep looking until she found him. She didn’t have to look far. Ford was in the kitchen with Kyle. They both had their backs to her as they loaded up their plates with more food.

Found ya. She was about to say something when Kyle spoke first.

“I thought the shit assignment you got to shadow the Luca girl for intel on her brothers was over?”

“Shut your mouth, Carlin,” Ford said. “We don’t discuss business outside the squad room.”

Gina froze, trying to make sense of the words.

“And man, I thought Gallo had been exaggerating about how she looked, but he was most def not,” Kyle went on, his back to her as he poured gravy over his mashed potatoes. “Bruh, you have taken one for the entire squad. You should be getting hazard pay.”

The water glass almost slipped from her hand as realization set in. Shadowing her because of her brothers? She’d been an idiot. Again. He hadn’t wanted her. He’d wanted to nail her brothers. All of the little questions about her family he’d peppered her with and the way he’d worked the room at her grandmother’s party, it hadn’t been because he wanted to get to know her, because he was falling for her like she had fallen for him. It had been because he was working a case.

“Yeah, he should be getting hazard pay.” She barely recognizing the ragged voice as her own. “There has to be a regulation for it somewhere, I’m sure.”

Both men turned, but she didn’t bother to look at Kyle. He wasn’t the one who mattered here. Ford was. And he looked as guilty as a kid caught with an empty ice cream container and a mouth smeared with Cookies ’N Cream.

Trust me, he’d said, I see you.

She had.

Now she was done.

Inhaling a deep breath, she turned and walked out of the kitchen. The world may have finally dropped open underneath her, but she hadn’t fallen into the hole and she wasn’t about to act as if she’d been raised without manners—even if she’d been raised by criminals.

“Gina,” Ford called out. “Please, wait.”

Refusing to stop, she kept going into the living room. Kate and Fallon took one look at her and their faces darkened with concern.

“What happened?” Fallon asked, rushing over.

Kate reached out to her. “Honey, are you okay?”

Not in the least. All the time she’d spent with Ford had been a fantasy, a fairy tale. But instead of getting a happy ending, she felt like her entire insides had been scooped out and she was just a hallow shell standing in the Hartigan’s living room.

“I will be just fine,” she said, her voice so much steadier than her legs felt at the moment. “Thank you very much for everything, but I have to go.”