“Thanks, but I’d better get home. I still have an office to run, and we’ll be going out again tomorrow night.” She glanced around the apartment, her interest in his life returning. “Your place is really nice. One of your girlfriends help you with the décor?”
He smiled. “I managed to struggle along on my own. I’m glad you like it.”
“So no girlfriends, old or current?”
“Not at the moment. I’ve got my eye on a tall, sexy blonde.”
Her heart jerked. She wasn’t prepared when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her even more thoroughly than he had at Mean Jack’s. Kissed her until her knees went weak and her mind went muzzy.
Her fingers dug into his thick shoulders and she kissed him hard, her tongue in his mouth, their bodies pressed together. She could feel his arousal, thick and hard against the fly of his jeans. She wanted to feel him inside her.
She was shaking, breathing too fast when she pulled away. “We c-can’t,” she said, dragging in air. “Not yet. If...if we do, it’ll change everything.”
“I hope so.” Jase kissed her again. “You got any idea how much I want you?”
If his erection was any measure, at least as much as she wanted him. She rested her palms on his heavily muscled chest. “Please, Jason. I have to finish this first. I can’t think about pleasure when my sister is lying dead on a slab in the morgue.”
He released a deep, shuddering breath and stepped away. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes met his. “Me, too.”
When she started to turn away, he pulled her back into his arms. “When this is over, you’re mine.”
Kate looked at his hard, handsome face. “Yes,” was all she said.
CHAPTER TEN
It was late afternoon the next day when Tabby called Jase at The Max. “I got those names you wanted,” she said. “Guys with arrest records in the last two years for assaulting prostitutes.”
“Good work, Tab.”
“Three guys look like possibles. The first two were charged with assaults that happened in the East Dallas area. All three are currently out of jail, either served their time or were arrested but never convicted. I’ll send the info to your phone.”
“Give me their names.” He knew a lot of scumbags. It was essential to the job.
“Guy named Marco Bandini beat a hooker nearly to death with his fists just for fun. The woman wouldn’t press charges. DA didn’t have enough to pursue the case without her.”
“Sounds like a real nice guy.” And not a scumbag he knew.
“The second is a high-priced accountant named Preston Wells. Works for Crocker, Reynolds & Associates, CPAs. Good ol’ Pres was into S&M. Big-time into bondage. Tied the woman up and beat her with a belt, pushed it too far and she ended up in the hospital. Because the sex was consensual and he had an expensive attorney, he got the charges dropped.”
He hadn’t met that scumbag, either—not yet.
“Guy number three is Terry McCollom. He liked them young, liked to put them in a studded collar, slap them around and do them doggie style. Hurt one of them pretty badly and went to jail. He got out a couple of weeks ago.”
Right around the time Tina Galen was killed, which definitely made him a suspect. “I’ll check them out. Thanks, Tab.”
Jase ended the call and brought up the info Tabby had sent him. The last known location for Terry McCollom was closest to the office, but when Jase arrived at the apartment, McCollom wasn’t there. The landlord said he’d tossed him out for unpaid rent before he went to jail, and hadn’t seen him since.
He mentioned a friend of McCollom’s named Toby Doyle who lived around the corner, said Doyle might know where to find him. Jase paid Toby a visit and for a few bucks, the guy gave him McCollom’s new address.
McCollom wasn’t home, but the landlord verified he was a tenant. The day was shot, and since Jase had plans with Kate for the evening, he decided he’d go back to see McCollom tomorrow.
It was 11:00 p.m. when Jase pulled up beneath the portico in front of Kate’s apartment building. He’d considered picking her up earlier, taking her out to dinner before they headed back to Old East Dallas to find Lollipop. But until her sister’s murder was solved and he could pursue the attraction they shared, the less time he spent with her the better.
Kate stirred him up in ways a woman never had, arousing his curiosity, his protective instincts, his surprisingly possessive nature, and sure as hell arousing his libido.
Half the time he was with her he had a hard-on. She was trouble he really didn’t need, and yet he had promised to help her find her sister’s killer. He was determined to do that no matter what it took.
