“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. Did you like them? It galls me to admit it, but you’ve got taste, Lowell. I wanted a bite for myself.” He ran the butt of the gun down Brianne’s cheek, and she stiffened in her seat. “It’s a pity I’m going to have to miss out. Screwing her would have been screwing you at the same time.” Ramirez laughed, the chilling sound a knife in Jake’s gut.
Brianne shuddered with a revulsion she couldn’t hide.
“Come on, Louis,” Jake said. “If you kill another cop, you won’t walk on a technicality this time.” And if he killed Brianne, Jake would make sure he took Ramirez out before going down himself.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Ramirez said.
Brianne glanced at Jake and silently implored him not to do something rash. She knew he longed for a deadly shot at Ramirez. One that would end things for good. She swallowed over the lump in her throat and refused to look down at her torn shirt.
But she knew, as if she could read his mind, that he blamed himself for her situation. He believed she sat in this chair with Ramirez holding a gun to her head because Jake had cuffed her and disappeared.
She couldn’t tell him now and might never get the chance, but she forgave him. Whether or not he loved her the way she loved him-and the jury was still out on that one since he’d had no reaction to her declaration earlier-she wouldn’t hold it against him. She understood that she’d cornered him until he had no choice but to protect her from herself.
He met her gaze again, and, in those brief moments, Brianne felt an unspoken shift in their relationship. An acknowledgment of emotion that would have to be dealt with-if they got out of this alive.
She gripped the seat of the chair with one hand; the other one was still cuffed to the chair and sore from being held back in an unnatural position. But Ramirez wasn’t allowing her any leeway.
“What about the guard you decked downstairs?” Jake asked, and Brianne realized Jake was trying to keep Ramirez talking and not shooting.
Ramirez shrugged as if the injured man were of no consequence. “How can anyone explain what a burned-out cop will do when he loses it?” he asked.
“You think the cops’ll blame me?”
Brianne remembered her self-defense class and gauged the angle from the bottom of her foot to Ramirez’s groin, but she still didn’t have a good target. And neither did Jake. Ramirez stood too close, partially blocking Brianne and definitely able to get a round off if Jake fired first. She wanted to cry in frustration.
“Ask me if I care,” Ramirez said. “As long as they can’t trace me to this apartment I’m fine.”
And he wore clear rubber gloves to make sure he got away clean, Brianne noticed. She looked around for a way out and saw Norton pacing by Jake’s feet. The dog had been agitated since Ramirez’s arrival, but he was no threat and the man obviously knew it because he’d left Norton unharmed. Thank God. But threat or not, the dog was definitely a potential distraction.
She tried to calculate the last time he’d been outside to do business and couldn’t remember. Her mind was too muddled with fear. Anxiety was only a breath away. Her breathing came in orderly succession only by sheer force of will. She couldn’t afford to become light-headed or pass out.
She glanced at the pooch and prayed Norton was in a complying mood. Brianne cleared her throat. Just as she hoped, the noise got the dog’s attention and he bounded from behind Jake, coming up in front of her and Ramirez.
“Get the damn dog out of here,” Ramirez said, but never dropped his weapon from its perch on her shoulder. “Before I shoot him myself.”
“No!” Realizing she’d yelled at the man holding a gun, she cringed. “I mean, please don’t. He’s harmless, okay?” She watched the dog pace in nervous circles at their feet. “He’s just doing his job. I mean, Norton does his business. He thinks he’s protecting me, don’t you, boy? He’s just doing business.”
Brianne met Jake’s stunned gaze and realized he understood what she was up to. Please don’t let him get hurt, Brianne prayed silently because she’d never forgive herself if anything happened to the dog because of her.
“Enough talking!” Ramirez said, glancing back and forth between them. “It’s time to get this over with.”
And just as he spoke, Norton did what Rina had trained him to do. He lifted his leg and did his business on Louis Ramirez’s leg and shoes.
Ramirez glanced down, and fury filled his already hate-filled face. “Fucking dog.” He jumped back and kicked out his leg to get Norton away.
In the split second the gun wasn’t trained on Brianne, she leaned back, lifted her foot and kicked Ramirez in the groin. The force of the movement toppled her chair backward. When her head hit the floor, she thought she heard the sound of a gunshot rent the air. Jake’s gun? Ramirez’s?
She didn’t know, and from her awkward angle, she couldn’t see. She attempted to roll and lift herself up, but her arm was caught at an awkward angle; if she moved, she was afraid she’d break it. Her heart pounded in her chest, and Brianne shut her eyes tight, praying that the next voice she heard would be Jake’s and not Ramirez’s.
“Brianne?”
Jake. Emotion swept through her as quickly as the bullet had flown through the air. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t have a chance to answer. A herd of footsteps sounded from across the apartment, and, within seconds, the room filled with police.
“I WANT BOTH of you downtown first thing tomorrow morning, you understand?” Thompson ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Jake glanced over his lieutenant’s shoulder at Brianne.
She stood in front of the high windows in the living room overlooking the city. She’d picked up Norton and perched him on the wide windowsill and was running a hand over his head. Wasn’t that like Brianne? Reassuring the dog when no doubt she was in need of reassurance herself.
Jake hadn’t had a word alone with her since the cavalry had arrived. He wasn’t sure why Thompson was giving him the night’s reprieve before taking statements, but he had a hunch the older man’s soft spot was showing.
“Why are you being such a human being about this, Lieutenant?” This being both Jake’s need to be alone with Brianne and Thompson’s unspoken understanding that Jake had officially quit the force.
The Ramirez case was over. Unable to walk, Louis had been taken out of the penthouse on a stretcher, after being read his rights with no error. Accompanied by Duke and Vickers, he was on his way to the hospital, courtesy of Jake’s bullet. When Brianne and Norton had made their move, Jake had had milliseconds to push the memory of the man’s hands on Brianne out of his head, and take his one shot. Ramirez had dropped before he knew what hit him.
But a lot had happened since then, Jake thought. Recalling the tense minutes in the kitchen, every nerve in Jake’s body now screamed for release-the kind of release only Brianne could provide. But she hadn’t said two words to him since, and, though he’d like to blame her silence on the commotion following the police raid, he had a gut feeling she was still furious over the handcuffing incident.
“Shit, Lowell. You’re not listening to a damn thing I have to say,” the lieutenant muttered, his gaze settling behind him on Brianne.
“Maybe because she’s better looking than you are, sir.” Jake grinned despite the uncertainty surrounding his future with Brianne.
The lieutenant frowned, but Jake saw the humor there as well.
“Ten o’clock tomorrow, Lowell.” Thompson left, taking the rest of the cops with him.
The kitchen was a shambles, taped off for further investigation. Nothing needed Jake’s attention now, except Brianne. Nothing and no one else was more important.