Jake’s eyebrow raised as he turned his attention back to Hank. He stuck out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Boss.” His voice sounded anything but respectful. Hank waited a second before shaking. Rachael practically heard bones snapping as the men started up their contest again. Clearly, Jake had the stronger grip, judging by Hank’s pained expression. “Looks like you had an eventful weekend, Hank.”
He did not just say that. Rachael almost gasped.
Hank’s expression turned even more sour. “What do you mean by that, asshole?”
“Just that I probably shouldn’t squeeze your hand so hard, huh? I’m sure the old knuckles are still tender.” Jake curled his forearms up and posed like a boxer, bobbing as he kept talking. “What’s the other guy look like?” Jake’s smile disappeared as he stopped. “It was aguy, right?”
Hank gave Rachael the quickest glance. “Of course it was.”
Jake nodded. “Bar fight, I’m thinking. You’ll have to take me along next time. I have a killer left hook.” His next smile looked predatory. “Sometimes people get out of line and need to be taught a lesson, know what I’m saying?”
Rachael’s heart dropped into her stomach. Jake was going to fit in just fine after all.
Hank’s expression eased from pissed-off, to confused, to pleased. He tagged Jake on the shoulder. “I do. I just might take you next time, New Guy.” He gave Rachael a quick look of triumph as he left the copy room.
Jake watched him leave, waited a beat, then turned back to Rachael. Every last trace of ‘good ‘ol boy’ smirk was gone, replaced by full-on concern as he studied her face.
She looked down quickly as her cheeks flooded with warmth.
“Rachael.” Her name in his mouth kept her from drifting back into fearful memories. His careful tone centered her. “Shall we go back to your office?” His low voice soothed her, like he was trying to calm a spooked horse.
Rachael nodded and walked past Jake. He barely touched the small of her back, but his warm fingertips through her shirt reassured her even as his fingers excited her. His touch said,I’ve got you. You’re safe.
But Rachael couldn’t afford to indulge that sensation for more than a second. She was never safe. Not here, not anywhere.
Jake closed Rachael’s office door behind them and they took their seats.
Rachael kept her eyes on her desk as she pushed his driver’s license and social security card across it. “You can have these back. Now I just need—”
Instead of taking the cards, Jake reached out and gently tipped her chin up with one finger. Their eyes met briefly before he scanned the rest of her face.
The bruises. He sees them. Sees…me.
Her heart fluttered. All the more reason for Rachael to keep Jake at a distance. She didn’t think he liked what he saw—a woman in danger. Was he stupid enough to try and help her? She didn’t want to be responsible for those consequences. Besides, Jake had totally played Hank, diffused the situation like a pro. If he could manipulate Hank, he could do it to her. She was done being played by anyone, especially someone who seemed to be on her side. As much as she wanted to fold herself into his arms, to believe he could be different, she needed to lock Jake Spiro out of her life and her heart.
Five
As Jake cataloged every discoloration and swelling on Rachael’s gorgeous face, his heart constricted with rage. Hank was three times as big as Rachael. Jake couldn’t let it go now that he’d met the son of a bitch who obviously used Rachael as a punching bag. He should have laid low and pretended not to care, kept on ignoring the bruises, as much as that went against every instinct he’d ever had. You don’t hit a defenseless woman.
Jake wondered what happened and who had punched Hank back. A jealous boyfriend? Daddy Deal himself in defense of his daughter? Jake figured Rachael didn’t do all that damage to Hank’s face herself. Sure, he knew women who could land a punch that would knock down someone even his size. Hell, he’d had one as a partner back in the early days of his FBI career and she never let him forget it. But Rachael’s knuckles weren’t skinned or bruised.I bet you have defensive bruises on your arms from trying to protect your face though, don’t you? Impossible to tell with Rachael’s long sleeves covering her arms.
Rachael looked down and to the side as he studied her. Then she met his eyes and the intensity made his dick twitch and his heart skip a beat. So damn beautiful.Don’t go there, Jake. You don’t know this woman. It was one thing to be outraged on her behalf, another to develop feelings for her. He needed to keep things professional on the inside. It would be a good idea to cultivate the trust he felt he’d just earned with her, turn it into a relationship, and then find a way to use it to bring down Ernest Deal.If she’s innocent, then I’m working to protect her in the end by taking out her father. He couldn’t compromise himself by caring too much about Rachael.
It was nothing personal, just a job. Time to swallow his desires and go to work. He needed to find out about this book Hank mentioned just before Jake stopped what looked like the next episode ofPunching Rachael. Hank didn’t strike Jake as a big reader, so what was it?
“Rachael. It’s pretty damn obvious Hank hit you. And I don’t think you were the other guy in the bar fight.” Jake smiled. “Though I wish you were—I’d love to see you take out that asshole.”
He hoped for a laugh and got the smallest one as she pulled her face away from his fingers. She wiped her eyes. “Don’t worry about me. Please.”
“Well, I do. It’s not right. It looked to me like he was about to start up again. What’s going on? Can’t you get your dad to fire him?”
Rachael laughed again, but this time it was bitter and ugly. “Daddy was the one who did that to his face. And then he promoted Hank to head foreman.”
“I don’t understand why he would do that.” Jake leaned forward, so tempted to take Rachael’s face in his hands. But he had to be extra careful now that he was getting somewhere.
Rachael bit her lower lip, sending Jake’s heart into overdrive. “It’s…complicated.”
“Try me. I’m a simple guy who likes complicated things.”Like you.
