Page 72 of Perfect Vengeance

“What does that matter anymore?” She shook her head in confusion. “I’ll have to give a statement about the ring I found and where I saw it.”

“No. You won’t. I can’t use the information you gave me. Ever.”

“I don’t understand.” Her brows furrowed. “Why not?”

He touched his fingers to her cheek, loving the softness of her skin. “I’d have to turn over your statement to defense counsel during discovery.” Not for the first time, the image of her cold, lifeless body came to him with such vivid clarity his throat constricted.

“Oh.” Understanding flared in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” The Falzones were responsible for so much death. He didn’t want to add to the body count. Especially, not with her.

He stood and held out his hand. When she rose and wavered on her feet, he picked her up.

“You don’t need to carry me,” she protested.

He arched a brow. “You’re still limping.”

“Okay, fine.” She uttered an exasperated breath as he carried her to her bedroom. “I don’t think I can fall asleep. I can’t stop thinking about everything.”

He knew the feeling. “Try.” He unzipped her sweat suit jacket and tossed it on the bed. Then he knelt and tugged off her black sneakers. When he peeled down the matching pants, his hands slid along the smooth, snug material of her catsuit. As tired as he was, his dick jerked. Sex wasn’t what she needed, and he wasn’t that much of a dickhead to take advantage of her after everything she’d been through. “I’m going to run you a bath, then I have to go take care of things.”

Without waiting for a response, he went into the bathroom and turned on the taps in the giant soaker tub that was big enough for a small rhinoceros. He didn’t dare go back into the bedroom just yet. One look at Gina’s naked body and his stalwart determination to remain honorable would go south in a heartbeat.

While the pounding water filled the tub, he checked his phone for emails and missed text messages. No news regarding the break-in at Tino’s or from the Sea Bright PD or the state police. A little of the tension that had been grinding away on his nerves for the last twenty-four hours eased.

A flash of green had him looking up to find Gina standing in the doorway. She’d artfully arranged her hair on top of her head, with thick, wavy strands framing her face. Though he willed it not to, his selfish dick jerked again.

The shiny, midthigh satin robe wasn’t nearly as tight fitting as the catsuit, but the way it draped lovingly over her breasts, outlining their taut nipples, didn’t help his honorable intentions. If only he didn’t already know how good it felt to bury himself inside her while she clutched at his ass, pulling him in deeper until⁠—

The zipper of his jeans tightened over his crotch, and he stuffed his phone into his jacket pocket. “Your bath is ready. Relax, then get some sleep. I’ll call you later.”

He started past her when she untied the robe and let it slip from her shoulders. Jack swallowed. I’m toast.

“Jack, don’t.”

“Don’t what?” His voice sounded strangled.

“Leave.” She stepped into the tub and held out her hand to him.

He swallowed hard, taking in the lushness of her creamy breasts with their dark, rosy nipples, her flat belly, and the sleekness of her thighs and dark curls—the doorway to heaven on earth.

With a groan, he shook his head. “Gina, no. What you need is a relaxing bath followed by sleep.”

“I know. I just don’t want to be alone. Please stay.”

Oh, Christ. How could he get naked in that tub and not make love to her? It would be torture, but he’d do it. For her. Because she asked. Because she needs me.

While she settled in the tub to wait, he shrugged out of his jacket, then shucked every stitch of clothing while she checked him out.

“Tit for tat.” She gave him a sexy smile, and two seconds later he went from half-mast to full mast and a half.

He stepped into the hot water, and when he would have seated himself facing her from the opposite side of the tub, she shifted position, indicating he should sit behind her. When she leaned back against his chest, her buttocks settled against his iron-stiff cock, sending a jolt of arousal to every cell in his body. He tensed and groaned audibly. Luckily, his cast was waterproof and wouldn’t disintegrate into a lumpy mess. He wrapped his arms around her torso beneath her breasts, then buried his face against her neck, inhaling her sweet scent deep into his lungs.

“I’m sorry.” She shifted, the movement snuggling her ass more firmly against his groin. “I should have listened to you. If I had, none of this would have happened.”

“That’s true.” There was no sense denying it, and they both knew it. “But you can’t beat yourself up over it for the rest of your life.” Or she’d wind up a shell of a human being. Like him. Although, around her, emotions he’d thought dead had been slowly coming back to life.

Beneath the water, her hand skimmed down the side of his thigh, which didn’t help his horny predicament. “You didn’t pull the trigger,” he said. He hadn’t pulled the trigger that sent a dozen bullets boring into Jim’s body, so why couldn’t he take his own advice?