The Chase Read Online Free PDF Page B

point. Come on, Jo. You got hurt today.”
    She stood and propped her good hand on her hip. “I know I got hurt, but it won’t happen again. I’ll admit I should have made sure you’d secured the shop, but I got excited. I jumped the gun. The rookie and I both screwed up. Put me in the Gabe penalty box and let me have it. Do your worst. Then we move on. Okay? Please?”
    Please . Did he hear that right? And she admitted she’d been wrong. He shook his head, stuck a finger in his ear as if cleaning it.
    Jo rolled her eyes. “Have your fun. Go ahead.”
    She stood waiting while he glanced out the window at the Manhattan skyline now fully ablaze. Continuing to let her tag along on these hits wouldn’t do either one of them any good. And not just for carnal reasons. Images of her sprawled on a sidewalk with blood leaking from her body filled his head.
    With indecision tugging him, he came back to her. Found her staring at him with those big blue eyes while she bit down on her bottom lip. Oh, man. She was totally playing him.
    “Please?” Her voice was low, husky and strained. Pure emotion, not the sex kitten voice, and it was killer. “I need this, Gabe.”
    As much as he wanted to claim victory—he’d broken the mighty Jo Pomeroy—there was not one ounce of goddamned fun in it. He didn’t want her pleading with him…at least not work-related pleading. He wanted her clashing with him. Fighting back. Making him work for it. He equally loved and despised that in her.
    Maddening woman.
    But he wanted her. In a bad way.
     
    Wasn’t this Jo’s worst nightmare? She would rather rip out her own ovaries than beg a man for anything. Having it be Gabe only made things worse. This man matched her intelligence on every level and, unlike many men she’d run across, he wasn’t afraid to challenge her.
    And possibly lose.
    This maniac actually liked losing to a strong woman. As long as he fought the good fight, he didn’t care if he lost. He might yell and beat on his chest, but he’d admit when he was wrong.
    Painful as it might be.
    This time though, he had her. When it came to the raids, he was in charge. Whether she liked it or not, Gabe called the shots. And he had the power to isolate her. To freeze her out.
    He sat back and stacked his hands on his stomach. “We’re setting clearer ground rules. You stay outside until I—only I—tell you it’s safe to go in. I don’t care if the mayor himself tells you it’s safe. Unless you hear it from me, you stay put.”
    She bobbed her head. “I understand.”
    “I know you understand. That’s not the issue. You understand, but you don’t listen . Today wasn’t even a fucking nibble at what could happen to you. If that guy had a shotgun, you’d be in the morgue right now.”
    That set her back some. Even the most strong-willed women didn’t want to imagine their bodies riddled with bullet holes. Gabe let out a long breath and his big shoulders slid down, the weight of her antics obviously pressing in on them.
    “Gabe, I’m not trying to give you a hard time.”
    “Yeah, you are.”
    She scrambled to the sofa and sat next to him, touched his hand and—mistake. This man had some nice hands. Hands that could do some fairly spectacular things to a thirty-three-year-old lawyer who hadn’t been under a man’s spell in a long time. She took a mental bulldozer to that thought.
    “I’m really not. Honestly. Being there when the warrants are executed is important to me. I do so much behind-the-scenes work that getting into the thick of it is exciting. It’s the culmination of all that effort and I get to put my hands directly in it. I get to bag up the evidence. It’s a rush for me and I don’t get that every day.”
    Maybe that was TMI. Talk about sounding like a brat. She jumped off the sofa. “Wow. I’m sure you’ve just about solidified listening to me whine. I’ll order us a pizza and crack a bottle—or five—of my favorite merlot. How’s that?”
    In