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Booker snorted "Guys like Goddard think they are above any kind of law They think they can explain away soht visit to the docks with a few careful words He has his supporters snowed What he declares as the truth they’ll believe, even with the facts right in front of them"

Goddard was the kind of politician who ensured the rich got richer and pitted the poor against one another His supporters were influential and well off They wouldn’t want to rock the boat by questioning why thearound in the ht, in the slums, with an ar in and out of that container to push hiuys like Goddard" He was exactly like the men who made me a deal I couldn’t refuse He operated the sa the vulnerable in i to be an absolute pleasure to flip the script and put this asshole in a position that was ile out of "You tell Titus about the dirty cop?"

Booker nodded "I did He was pissed Guess he won’t have to kick ass considering the guy is now fish food He also mentioned Reeve left a bunch of stuff here when they were using the loft I want to put Noe in He said she elco baby-momma Before they had been parents-to-be, she’d been a witness to a criirl the entire Point despised Titus was supposed to keep her safe and at a distance He’d failed at both but got the girl and the bad guy in the end, so he was still a hero Reeve was all long legs and rocked the body of a stripper before the cop knocked her up She was still round and stacked in all the right places, but now those places were overshadowed by her baby belly Anything she left would be the opposite of what Noe typically wore, but I guess it was better than Booker’s hand-me-dohich sed her up

"I’ll let her know" I’d checked on her throughout the night After everything she’d been through, I wasn’t surprised that she was exhausted She didn’t ured was unusual for her She didn’t flinch or make a sound when I touched her pulse at the hollow of her throat, and she didn’t make a sound when I touched the full curve of her lower lip I kneas inappropriate, that I shouldn’t have my hands on her in any hen she wasn’t aware of it But I needed to know her heart was still beating I had to feel her breath onevery rational thought and every sane and reasonable part ofup when I headed down here I told her I was leaving for the day and that you were hiding down here in the Batcave She didn’t want breakfast or coffee, but she did say she wanted a shower" He pushed off the desk and flicked his fingers over the diamond cufflinks that were attached to his shirt Even badass enforcers liked a little bling here and there, apparently "You ht want to check on her She looked pale" He reached out and clapped a heavy hand on enius You look like shit"

I grureement and pushed to my feet so I could follow hiave me a look thatSauer in the kitchen behind the Froot Loops There’s a Glock in the closet in uest rooed at his mouth "There’s a twenty-two hidden underneath the sink in the bathroom, and God forbid you need it, there’s an AR-15 in a lockbox under htstand"

Booker had an arsenal scattered throughout his apartment I wasn’t the least bit surprised, but I was a tad intimidated I kneay around a weapon, but I’d never been in the position where I’d ever had to use one to defend myself or so I received under the tutelage of good ol’ Uncle Saet the job done "Good to know, but if soh all the security I set up around this place, then they’re probably coet Noe moved over to the other apartment today" I selfishly wanted her out of his bed

"Give her the nine mil that’s behind the cereal" He said it in a way that left no rooument

"How do you know she can handle it?" I didn’t like how faed me that he acted like he knew her when I had barely scratched the surface

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall "Soirl can’t handle She’s h stuff" He slipped out the front door before I could agree with hih stuff, the kind of stuff that didn’t break noass when I took the stairs up to Booker’s unit Typically, I could run up the three flights and not even get winded, but I was running on fumes and the last traces of adrenaline My brain was fuzzy, and hts felt scattered and unruly The past and the present were at war in my ing

Ifor any sound that would indicate Noe was up and ot closer to the bedroo the stea to be painful for a while when the water sluiced over her wounds The thought hads didn’t break didn’t ed, dented, and scratched The fact Noe was currently suffering so much wear and tear because ofintoto walk out of the roo water went silent and her swearing ra around in the bathroo all over your floor"

I opened o find her one I didn’t need her poking through his stuff and running across a sub between annoyance that she’d called for Booker instead ofonto the tile I wasn’t a guy prone to fantasy, but daht of her pretty olive skin glistening with et away from her I needed space so I could find a way to wrap armor back around all the soft parts of hts back in order when I heard her swear again Suddenly, like I conjured her out of a drea in the pocket doorway of the bathroo more than a scowl of irritation and shiht-colored eyebrows shot up to her hairline, and a bright pink flush stained the top of her chest and crawled up her neck into her face She didn’t lift her hands to cover herself She stood as still as I was, not aze

I wanted to be polite and look away I toldshe needed was so at her like she was a priceless work of art on a museum wall I beratedor preaching did any good The only way I could have torn my eyes off that petite frahtly rounded hips, was if someone slapped them out of my head I couldn’t blink I was scared to breathe I felt like if I moved at all she would bolt like a startled deer, and I needed another second, another le part of her

She was s her like this, stripped bare with nothing to hide behind, I couldn’t believe I’d ever been stupid enough to think she was a boy Everything about her was delicate, feant curve of her shoulders, the flare of her hips and the fullness of her ass Her legs weren’t long, but they were toned and shapely She was the very definition of good things coes and all I wanted to do rap her up and put her on a shelf that was too high and too hard to reach for anyone but e of lust unlike anything I’d ever felt, I belatedly turned my back on her and ht when I cleaned you up I’ll go find where Booker keeps the extras"

She moved I felt it The current that ran between us pulsed and throbbed with so hot I heard her bare feet on the carpet and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep my feet planted andbed and I was a man who never had such a visceral reaction to anyoneever If I had a switch, Noe Lee was the only person who had ever co and flipped it I was the actual definition of turned on when I had been off for most of my life