Page 17 of Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

“I’ll get that. You two just keep doing whatever it is that the two of you do.” Harris shoved back his chair. He marched for the door. Hauled it open. “Don’t leave the room, though. We aren’t finished.” The door softly clicked closed behind him.

Her breath expelled in long, ragged sigh. “I’ve never been in an interrogation before.”

“That’s because you’re one of those good girls who has never done jack shit wrong before. And understand this, you haven’t done anything wrong now. You are the victim.” Jake turned his body fully toward her. Then he leaned forward and pulled her against him in a tight hug.

She had to blink quickly because, oh, she’d needed a hug. Really, really badly. That had been her first dead body. And it had…smelled. And looked stiff. And blood had been on the presents. Blood from the bullet wound on the dead man.

“Since you have never been in an interrogation room, there is something you need to know,” Jake rasped against her ear. His breath blew lightly against the shell of her ear and made her tremble. Not in a bad way. “That mirror to the left? It’s a one-way mirror. That means someone can be in there watching, so be very careful what you say.” He pulled back.

True realized that the hug had been fake. Just a cover so he could warn her about the mirror. But she didn’t need a warning. True wrapped her arms around her body. She was still wearing the same dress, dammit. Who did a woman have to kill for new clothes?

Not funny, True. Not. Funny.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she said, loudly and clearly, in case someone was watching from the other side of that mirror. “I don’t have anything to hide. I don’t know who that man was. I don’t know how he got inside my house. I don’t know why—why he would want to hurt me.”

“Some people are just sick sonsofbitches.” Jake’s hand rose and pressed to her cheek. “You are safe, and you’re staying that way.”

“Who was he?” His touch warmed skin that she hadn’t even realized was cold. “And who killed him?”

Determination hardened his expression. “We’re going to find out, I swear it.” His gaze fell to her mouth. “You could have been there.” Low. “You could have been alone.” He dropped his hand. “You could have been hurt.”

Now she was the one to touch his cheek. “I wasn’t.”

His head turned. His lips skimmed over her palm.

True sucked in a breath.

The door swung open. “Ah, Jake?” Harris cleared his throat. “If you’re not too busy in there, how about a word? A word out here, with me?”

Jake stared at True. How could dark eyes burn so much? “You will not be hurt,” he vowed.

She nodded. Not getting hurt sounded like a great plan to her. Top-notch. Fabulous.

He rose and headed for the door.

She grabbed for her cold coffee again.

You will not be hurt.

No, she wouldn’t be. Jake was on her side. Yes, a dead man was under her tree. Don’t think about him. Stop seeing his image in your mind. But she wasn’t alone in this nightmare.

She had the best bounty hunter in town at her side.

She had the bad boy from her past…and, now, he was going to protect her.

“What in the hell is going on?” Harris questioned as soon as the interrogation room door closed. He pointed to the closed door as they stood in the hallway. “You and True? You and True? Since when?”

Jake crossed his arms over his chest and put his back to the door. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was in trouble?” A quick glance assured Jake that they appeared to be the only ones in the corridor.

Harris blinked. “What? Why would I tell you?”

“Because I would have liked to have fucking known.”

Harris retreated a step. “How the hell would I know that? No, no, back up. Stop. First, I don’t disclose personal information about victims who come to the station?—”

“So you thought she was a victim, and you did nothing?” The rage broke free again. He’d tried to keep the fire of his fury contained, but every single time he thought about what could have happened to True, his blood boiled in his veins.

Harris gripped a manila file with his right hand. “I thought she was having accidents! Accidents. As in, random shit that happens to people! Look, when she was supposedly pushed off the sidewalk and into the road, there were no witnesses. No witnesses at the museum, either. I ordered patrols to circle through her neighborhood as a precaution, but there was nothing to indicate she was in actual danger.”

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