Mind of Danger (Body of Danger #3) - Sidney Bristol Page 0,46

He kept his arm wrapped around Jo and rolled her over him, then covered her body with his. He squeezed his eyes shut knowing any moment now that hoard of gangsters would fill him full of led.

At least, at the very end, he’d been honest about everything. How he felt about Jo. Realizing he wasn’t the damaged man he’d thought he was. The next best thing to dying from old age was going out doing what he believed in. Especially if that meant having Jo’s back.

“Get back! Get back right now,” a man’s voice roared over the noise.

Elias lifted his head and gaped at six men decked out in SWAT gear with their guns aimed at the windows—and Elias.

“Oh my God,” Jo muttered. “He’s hurt! Someone help. I’m fucking FBI. He’s hurt.”

Elias let his gun go and rolled gingerly to his back. Or at least as best he could with his lower half still stuck in the bushes. He sucked in deep gulps of air and reached for Jo, clutching her arm gently while embracing the fact that he wasn’t dead.

Not tonight. Not yet.

“Elias!” Jo shoved up to her knees.

“Get down,” one of the officers yelled.

She ignored them and crouched over him, eyes wide with fear.

“Fine. I’m fine,” he croaked.

Okay, his arm did hurt and his battered joints weren’t happy about being on the ground in the snow, but pain meant he was still alive.

“You stupid man.” Jo bent over him and kissed him. “You stupid, brave man.”

Elias smiled as warmth unfurled in his chest.

Jo might not love him back—yet. But she did care.

FRIDAY. NEWARK, NEW Jersey.

Jo’s ribs hurt with every step. The EMT had agreed that nothing seemed , so she’d decided to skip the hospital. Bruised ribs could be even more painful than broken ones in her experience.

She was anxious to get back to her place. Her phone was one of the first things confiscated as evidence, and with that all ability to contact Elias or any of the Aegis Group guys. They’d cleared out as soon as Elias was loaded up in the ambulance, since they weren’t technically contracted for this job.

Elias’ injuries weren’t bad. That’s what everyone kept telling her, but she wasn’t going to listen. Not until she heard it from him. And she couldn’t do that without some form of phone or computer.

She muttered to herself as she climbed the last flight to her dinky little apartment.

Moving was one of the first things on her list. Somewhere Giovanni’s goons couldn’t find her. She was going to transfer somewhere. Or maybe quit. This job didn’t exactly reflect well on her, despite the way it was ending.

Jo slid the key into the lock and twisted, but there was no resistance. Almost as if the door wasn’t locked at all.

She sidestepped and pushed the door open.

The lights were on and a long shadow stretched toward her.

“Show yourself,” a gruff, familiar voice said.

Jo staggered through the door, staring at Elias. He must have been sitting at her two person dining table facing the door. His gun barely covered with some sort of linen napkin. Where the hell had he found that in her place? What was he doing here?

“Jo.” He blew out a breath and his shoulders sagged.

“How long have you been here?” She bumped the door shut with her hip, leaned against it and twisted the lock, half expecting him to vanish before her eyes.

He sank back down on the chair. His shirt was different. A simple gray T-shirt that showed off the bandage wrapped around his bicep. Weariness seemed to weigh him down.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

She crossed to him and stopped short of touching him. “Are you okay? How bad was it?”

He reached out and touched his fingertips to hers.

Elias was real. He was there, waiting for her.

“I’m fine. Bullet was almost a clean through and through.”

“Oh my—Elias.” She bent and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, careful of his left arm. Now that whole side of him had scars. And that one was because of her.

He wrapped his good arm around her and squeezed her back, but she wasn’t close enough.

Jo straddled his legs, sitting on his thighs, and leaned against him, taking a selfish moment to hold on to this man who’d been there for her when she thought she was completely alone in the world.

“Is this okay?” she whispered. “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“It’ll be okay for a few minutes,” he said. “I guess I tweaked my hip.”

Jo closed her eyes and