His Risk to Take (Line of Duty 2)

“I didn’t.” Bowen answered with grave seriousness, a shadow passing through his deep brown eyes. “Not this time.”

With a nod of satisfaction, Ruby turned and kept walking, considering their conversation over.

“Look, we know you’re still working around the city. I even heard you had a little trouble the other night.” He called after her. “What’s the difference how and where you play? At least this way I can watch your back.”

Ruby stopped abruptly and turned. “Where did you hear I ran into trouble?”

Bowen gave a quick shrug. “People like to tell me things.”

She breathed a curse. “Stop listening, then. I work for myself. I don’t have to answer to your father anymore. Or mine, for that matter.”

“Have you heard from him lately?”

“No.” She looked away on a shrug. “Last I heard, he was working his way through Miami.”

Bowen cupped her cheek in his hand in a platonic show of comfort. “You know, we could hop a flight down there and chill on the beach for a few weeks. Work at night. It’ll be just like the old days. You make the cash, and I take care of any unwanted trouble. You can’t admit that’s not tempting.”

She jerked her head out of his palm, but his hand only landed on her shoulder with a squeeze. “Why can’t you just accept what I’m trying to do here, Bowen? I’m not going to hustle forever. I’m going to school so I don’t have to anymore.”

“You’d deny the women of Miami their chance to meet and fall in love with me?” He sighed when she didn’t smile at his attempt at a joke. “Come on, Ruben Sandwich. This isn’t you. What’s your end game here? A boring-ass desk job where you answer to some jerk-off boss? How is that any different than working for us? If anything, it’s worse.”

“You know me better than that.” Ruby had no intention of punching a clock or wearing a sensible business suit to work. Never going to happen. Her plans were quite different. She placed her hand on top of his larger one. “You know, just because he’s your father doesn’t mean you have no way out. You’re capable of more than being his muscle, Bowen.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed with emotion. As he started to answer, a man behind her cleared his throat.

Awareness prickled the skin of her neck. She knew who she would find if she turned around.

Bowen looked over her shoulder, his compassionate expression transforming into belligerence. “Help you, buddy?”

“Doubt it,” the voice answered. “I’m here to see her.”

Ruby turned to find a rigid Troy, blue eyes locked on Bowen and the hand resting on her shoulder. Just as she remembered, he really needed a haircut, his dark brown hair a little shaggy around the ears and neck. He wore a suit and tie as if he’d come straight from work, five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw.

Involuntarily, she dropped her gaze to his mouth, the hollow of his neck. She wanted to press her face there, inhale his scent, knowing he would smell as edible as he looked.

She felt Bowen stiffen in response to Troy’s confrontational demeanor. Bowen liked to fight.

She’d seen him in countless altercations, occasionally brought on by her taking someone’s money at the pool table, but she’d distanced herself from that and had no desire to witness it ever again. Although, she had a feeling Troy would probably hand Bowen his first loss.

“Who the fuck are you?” Bowen asked.

Troy took a step forward, and she barely resisted the urge to press herself against him. Suddenly, the two days she’d gone without seeing him felt so much longer. Now that he stood in front of her, she ached to touch and be touched. He’d come for her. Taken the time to search and find her. Something foreign, something resembling joy, bubbled in her chest.

“I’m the guy she spent Friday night with. And I’m the guy she’s going to spend tonight with. So maybe the better question is, who the fuck are you?” As he leaned in to talk over her shoulder, his jacket opened just slightly, revealing the NYPD badge clipped at his waist.

Bowen’s eyes bulged at the sight, and he laughed in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me, Ruby? A cop? Please tell me this isn’t for real.”

She lifted her chin, refusing to feel even an ounce of the shame her friend was attempting to heap onto her shoulders. At one time in her life, she would have called herself a sellout. But not anymore. She might have been taught to think like a criminal, but she’d grown up and started thinking for herself. Perhaps she’d only spent a short amount of time with Troy, but he wasn’t anything like the lazy, selfish cops she’d been taught to expect.

She rounded on Bowen, lowering her voice so only he would hear. “Maybe you don’t know me anymore, Bowen. If you did, you would act like the friend you’re supposed to be and support me. Stop trying to drag me back down with you.” Pain flashed in his eyes, and she immediately regretted her harsh word choice. She sighed. “Bowen…”

“No, I get it,” he said, holding up his hands and backing away from her and Troy. “Call me when you pull your head out of your ass.”

Troy lurched forward, but she grabbed his shoulder just in time to stop him from going after her lifelong friend. “Don’t make it worse. Just let him go.”

“Who is he to you?”

“A friend.” She cast a final glance over her shoulder. “My best friend.”

Hard eyes scrutinized her face, searching for any sign of deception. “Do all your friends touch your face and get close enough to kiss you?”

She shrugged, trying to ignore her pulse spiking in response to his nearness, causing a little too much truth to slip out. “I don’t have that many friends, so I wouldn’t know. And I’m not sure I appreciate you coming here and running off my last one.”

“No friends? But you’re so friendly and outgoing,” he deadpanned.

Her lips twitched despite her mild irritation. “How did you find me?”

Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think you’d like my answer.”

“Is that so?” Ruby wanted to question him further but decided it could wait. For the moment. She’d thought of the detective non-stop for days, and here he stood, ready to take her home. Simple. He wanted her, and she definitely wanted him back. Don’t overthink this. She tugged on his jacket, edged a little closer.

“Well, now that you found me, what do you plan to do with me?”

Eyes straying to her mouth, he groaned low in his throat. “I’m going to drive you home and make you very sorry for walking out on me.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t walk out on you.”

“What do you call sneaking out before the sun comes up?”

“Punctual,” she decided. “I had things to do.”

“We had things to do.”

Heat settled low in her belly. “Did we? I don’t recall you making an appointment.”

“Keep running that mouth, hustler,” he rasped beside her ear, making

her shiver. “I’ve been impatient to fuck you for days. If you keep taunting me, I’ll have no choice but to assume you want it as rough and dirty as I can give it. And, baby?” He nipped her ear. “I saw the way your back arched and your thighs squeezed together when you heard my voice behind you. I know how bad you want it.”

Breath raced in and out of her lungs, every inch of her reacting to his bluntness. Unwilling to relinquish the upper hand completely, she decided to put things back on even ground. She trailed her fingers across his belly, enjoying the way his muscles contracted beneath her touch. “Well, at least buy me dinner first.”

Chapter Six

Troy and Ruby weaved their way through a pedestrian-filled sidewalk just off campus. He’d offered to take her out for a nice meal, but she’d insisted on having him try the “best pizza in the borough of Manhattan,” until he’d finally relented. Although he felt a pressing need to get her home, Troy was grateful for the chance to rein himself in. When he showed up at her class, his intention had been to talk to her, ask her why she’d left. That plan had been blown sky high when he’d seen her big green eyes focused on someone who’d been acting a lot like a boyfriend. At that moment, he’d been overcome by the urge to drag her away from the bastard and take her home. Take what he’d somehow resisted taking Friday night. The memory of her beneath him and the most mind-blowing unsex of his life had clung to him for days. Now that she stood right before him, he could think of little else but getting her back underneath him. This time without the damn panties.

She smiled over at him when he stepped aside to let an elderly woman pass, but it faded when she saw his expression. Clearly, he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding what he wanted so badly. Unless he regained some control and made an effort, she would write him off as someone only interested in her body. He’d tracked her down for more than sex.