Deep by Skye Warren

Author:Skye Warren [Warren, Skye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

SHELLY MET LUKE when she was a call girl. He was a cop. It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was definitely desire. They’d circled each other for a long time, Luke pursuing Shelly and Shelly working as his informant. In the end he helped her escape the life. And she helped him reclaim his.

She’d been raised in a life of luxury with a very dark underside. There was no one who deserved a strong, patient man more than her. After some of the things I had seen, I could definitely appreciate the appeal of a cop, a good man—the security of it. The safety.

Only he didn’t look very safe now, leaning against the porch rail of their ranch-style house. He looked dangerous, like he had already been crossed and he was waiting to return fire. Something about his stance told me that he was armed too.

Philip stowed his gun in a side compartment and moved to exit the vehicle.

I had been to this house before, had visited Shelly under very different circumstances. And this was all wrong. Terrifying, in the way that guns and violence always felt. But even more wrong because I knew from the way Shelly still spoke about him that she cared.

I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Wait.”

She cared, and she’d never have betrayed him.

He turned back, one eyebrow raised.

I looked again at Luke—who had clearly been warned of our arrival. Who was clearly prepared to defend his home. I didn’t think he wanted to shoot Philip, but I knew he’d do anything to protect Shelly. The thought of Philip approaching him without a weapon, without his men, completely defenseless—and at my request—made my stomach clench.

At the same time, I couldn’t ask him to bring it. I couldn’t handle the thought of him shooting Luke or Shelly. I wanted everyone to walk away from this.

Philip must have read my worry in the silence. He laughed softly. “Do you think so little of me, kitten? You think a cop is going to get the jump on me.”

“Luke is a good cop,” I said defensively.

A small smile. “That’s how I’d beat him. Disarm. Detain. Killing only as a last resort. That’s what good cops do.”

I bit my lip. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

And I knew he understood the unspoken plea—I don’t want you to hurt anyone, either.

He placed a hand on the crux of my shoulder and neck, both possessive and comforting. His dark gaze captured mine. “I wasn’t going to wave a gun around, kitten. That’s not how I operate.”

Don’t ask, don’t ask. “How do you operate?”

Damn it.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I don’t pull out a gun unless I’m about to shoot someone.”

“Then why bring it?”

“Insurance. I told myself a long time ago that no man would have control over me.”

Again. The word hung in the air. That no man would have control over him again.

I wasn’t the only one wearing the chains of my past.

I looked out the window at Luke, who watched us with patience and steady determination.

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