Page 31 of Justice for the SEAL
“I meant what I said, Logan. I can’t deal with a relationshiprightnow.”
He reached around her middle and cupped one breast. “You said it wasjustsex.”
She hummed lightly and arched her back, her ass pressing against his pelvis. “Yes, but youdisagreed.”
“I was wrong.” He kissed her neck. “I take itallback.”
She giggled and rolled onto her back, looking up at him. “Isn’t thatconvenient.”
He shifted, moving his leg between hers. “It is.” He kissed her lips and hugged her body, her skin toasty warm from sleep. Her hands touched his chest and moved up to his arms, kneading hismuscles.
She lifted her face to his and kissed him. “Just fortonight.”
He nodded. “Whateveryousay.”
18
Gemma clasped her hands together,clammy and cold. She was standing at the closed door to her courtroom, unable to cross the threshold. Dizzy, she leaned againstthewall.
On the other side of that doorway the trial of her lifetime awaited, and it had nothing to do with the case. She was being tested, her commitment to the law coming face-to-face with her concern for another humanbeing.
She turned the doorknob, propelling herself into that other dimension before shecouldstop.
Allrise.
She made her way to her seat behind the bench and sat down. Could they see what she was going through? The stress that threatened to crush her, that nearly stopped herbreath?
The bailiff was speaking. Gemma’s eyes finally lifted to meet those of the defendants, Jax Andersson and Leo Wilson. Logan called him Cowboy. They looked like military men, fit and trim with short hair and steelyfaces.
Men with integrity,Logansaid.
Unlikeherself.
She wanted tobesick.
It’s not too late. You can call the FBI and put a stop to this miscarriage of justice before itbegins.
But there was another man to consider. Royce’s life hung in the balance, and one wrong move could cause his abductors tokillhim.
Please don’t let it be glaringly obvious that I’ve been corrupted. Please let there be at least some convincing evidence of theirguilt.
The lawyers began opening arguments. They went by quickly, and Gemma felt like a passenger on a roller coaster going down a steep hill with no power to stoptheride.
You canstopit.
All she had to do wasspeakup.
But what aboutRoyce?
He was a judge himself, one of the highest in the state. He of all people would sympathize with her dilemma. She imagined Royce in her predicament. What would he do in the samesituation?
All you have to do is interrupt theproceeding.
She picked up her gavel, her fingers gripping the wooden handle tightly. It felt foreign, somehow strange beneath her hand and she turned it inherpalm.
Crudely engraved into the wooden handle were threewords.
WE’REWATCHINGYOU.
