Chances Are - By Christy Reece Page 0,35
bad it is.”
Jake knew this wasn’t a good idea but he did it anyway. Apparently tonight was all about bad ideas. Trying to teach Angela a lesson in the midst of an op had been dammed stupid. Either he trusted her or he didn’t. Never one to lie to himself, he knew exactly why he’d done it. And it had nothing to do with trust. He had wanted an excuse to wrap his arms around her and feel her against him. He deserved what he got.
Angela leaned closer and began to wipe the blood from his face, her expression both anxious and tender. The temptation to pull her closer and kiss the small worry wrinkle on her forehead had him clenching his hands. The knowledge that she wouldn’t deny him made his need all the more potent. He drew in a sharp breath.
She stepped back. “What’s wrong? Does it hurt that much? Do you think your nose is broken?”
Grateful that she’d stepped out of his reach, he latched onto an excuse. “Actually I think it’s my hand.”
They both looked down at his hand and Angela gasped. A perfect imprint of her teeth covered the back of his hand. “Oh Jake, I’m so—”
“We’ve been through this before. Don’t apologize.”
“Did I break the skin?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Let me go get some ice for your nose and your hand. I’ll be right back.”
The instant she left the room, Jake stood and returned to the living room. The bathroom was too small for the both of them.
She came from the kitchen, a towel filled with ice in her hand, and then stopped abruptly when she saw him.
“I’d better get into my apartment or this entire op is going to be a bust.”
“You’re right. If he’s watching me already, he needs to think I live alone.”
Jake turned to the door that led to his apartment. One of the reasons they’d rented in this particular apartment building was this unique feature. The former owner of the building had moved his parents into an apartment next to his own. He had wanted access to the apartment without having to walk out into the hallway so he had installed a door between them. The feature was perfect for this op since it would appear that Angela lived in the apartment alone but Jake could get to her immediately if need be.
He opened the door and then turned. “You did well tonight.”
“You mean the stripping part or the beating the hell out of you part?”
Forcing his mind away from the provocative image of Angela on stage, he said gruffly, “Both. But the little show you gave on the way home could have destroyed the whole op. Don’t do that again.”
Instead of hurt or anger, he saw only acceptance. “You’re right, it was stupid of me.”
On top of being one of the most beautiful women he’d ever known, why did she have to be so dammed nice, too?
A stiff nod was the best he could manage as he went into his apartment and closed the door behind him. Leaning back against it, he ground his teeth until they hurt. Never in his life had he wanted a woman more. Even in the throes of young love when he’d first met Teresa couldn’t compare.
After Teresa’s death, Jake had existed in a vacuum. No one, not even his parents, had been able to penetrate the wall he had erected around himself. Then came the trials of all the bastards who’d chosen money over integrity and had been responsible for Teresa’s and another woman’s death. Cold fury had sustained him then. It wasn’t until the last fucker was sentenced to life that he felt he could breathe. And when he had taken that first breath, he realized he had to get away from everything.
Taking the life insurance money from Teresa’s death, he had embarked on a journey. He hadn’t known where he was going or what he was looking for…he had just known he couldn’t be the same man or live in the same place where his life had exploded. His travels had taken him all over the world and in many of those places, he had been attracted to one woman or another. He had dated several and even had sex with a few of them. Not one of them had made him feel the way Angela did.
Jake wasn’t much of a believer in fate but he had wondered if he’d somehow been led to that bar the day he had broken