“Whose boyfriend are you going to be?” Rick drawled.
Truitt scowled. “I’ll take Jessie. You take the other one.”
“She’s not bad,” Rick said. “She’s not Jessie, but she’s a looker. If I hadn’t seen Jessie first, I’d absolutely do her.”
Truitt rolled his eyes. “Come on. I can’t stand this a minute longer. There’s no telling how long they’ve been at it.”
They waded through the crowd, Truitt scowling at people who seemed all too willing to give him and Rick a wide berth. When they reached the women, they were sort of squatting, Jessie’s back and ass nestled against her friend’s chest and groin, and they bobbled up and down looking for all the world like they were putting on an erotic peep show.
At least Truitt understood why they’d drawn such a crowd now.
Truitt stood there, waiting for Jessie to see him and Rick. He planted his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. Some of the crowd had moved back to widen the perimeter so that it now encompassed him and Rick. And they all looked on with avid interest like they were sure the fireworks were about to start.
When Jessie and her friend did finally turn, their reactions were nothing short of amusing. Jessie halted abruptly, her eyes wide. Beside her, the friend also stopped and she stared boldly, raking her gaze up and down his body until he felt a might embarrassed.
“Are these your cops, Jessie?”
Now the problem with that question is that it just happened to pop out just when the last note died and a window of silence crept in before the room erupted in applause and whistles.
Jessie seemed to recover from her surprise and scowled. It was a cute scowl too. Her nose scrunched up and she had such a look of belligerence that Truitt was reminded of a bulldog.
“No, they aren’t my cops,” she shouted.
Rick took a step forward until he was so close to Jessie she was forced to tilt her neck to look up at him.
“Yes, we
are
her cops.”
Jessie shook her head, all the while Rick nodded.
“I don’t suppose you’ll take just one and leave the other to me?” her friend asked mournfully.
Rick grinned and Truitt’s mouth twitched.
“You can have them both. With my blessing,” Jessie said crossly. “They’re jerks.”
“Well yeah, but they’re gorgeous jerks. Do y’all know how to grovel?”
Truitt blinked in confusion at the abrupt change in direction of the conversation. “Grovel?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking you’ll need to do some serious groveling to get Jessie to forgive you. She’s been through hell the last few days. We’re out to blow off some steam. You might have just ruined her night.”
“What’s your name, doll?” Rick asked.
“Kirsten, and I’m her friend. Her
best
friend. So if she doesn’t want to go with you then she stays with me,” she said fiercely.
“You’re both coming with us,” Truitt said. “You’re both wasted and we’re going to make sure you get home safely. Now you can come quietly or we can haul you out over our shoulders. Either way, you’re coming.”
Kirsten blinked and Jessie’s eyes widened again. Neither seemed to know quite what to make of that.
Then Jessie’s brows scrunched together and she thrust up her chin. “You wouldn’t dare.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Particularly to Rick because telling him he wouldn’t dare was like waving a pork chop at a starving pitbull.
Rick simply plucked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and rested his hand possessively on her ass.
“I’m going, I’m going!” Kirsten exclaimed as she put her hands in the air. “Just point me in the direction.”
“Hey, put me down!” Jessie exclaimed.
Truitt was already pulling out his badge as he herded Kirsten toward the door. Rick followed close behind and Truitt held up his badge when the security guard got a look at Jessie and frowned.
The guard relaxed when he saw the badge and motioned for Rick to pass on out the door.
When they hit the parking lot, Rick strode toward his truck with Jessie’s pert little ass thrust skyward. He opened the back, eased her onto the seat, and then scowled at her as he stood inside the door.
“I don’t know what the hell you were thinking. You shouldn’t have been out on the dance floor drunk off your ass when you’ve got a bum knee. You’re going to regret it tomorrow.”
Truitt guided Kirsten around so she could sit beside Jessie in the backseat and then he climbed into the front. He turned just as Rick shut the door and he slid his gaze over Jessie.
“You okay? Your knee hurt?”
“No,” Jessie mumbled.
“She’s not feeling anything right now,” Kirsten said smugly.
“I guess not,” Rick said as he climbed in. “Just how much have you girls had to drink?”
Kirsten shrugged. “Six . . . seven ... maybe ten shots.”
“Jesus,” Truitt muttered. “Ten? That’s enough alcohol to put an elephant to sleep, for God’s sake. What were you shooting?”
“Patrón.”
“Oh my God,” Rick groaned. “Are you two insane?”
“She wanted to celebrate,” Kirsten defended. “Isn’t that right, Jessie?”
She turned as she said the last and then leaned over Jessie who’d gone quiet.
“Jessie?”
Jessie had her head on the window, mouth half open, and she was passed out cold.
Chapter 11
W
hy don’t you just take me home and then you can take Jessie V home with you,” Kirsten said as they pulled out of the parking lot. “I’m sober. Really. And then you could do your groveling in private. That is, when she regains consciousness . . .”
Rick glanced back at Kirsten. “I’d feel better if you weren’t alone.”
Kirsten made a face. “I’m a big girl. Besides, I can hold my liquor. Mutant genes or something. I can pack a lot of alcohol into a small body. No one ever knows how I do it without passing out in my own puke.”
Truitt grimaced at that visual and Rick chuckled.
“Okay, doll. We’ll take you home and put you to bed. And then we’re taking Jessie home with us so we can do our . . . groveling.”
Kirsten smirked. “I knew you two couldn’t be all bad.”
After getting directions to Kirsten’s apartment, which suited Rick just fine because now they knew where to find Jessie, he dropped Kirsten off and saw her inside, testing her sobriety himself. The woman hadn’t lied. She could drink an astonishing amount of liquor and still be completely coherent.
Jessie on the other hand ...
He glanced back to where Jessie still lay against the glass and then drove toward Truitt’s place. When he pulled into the drive, Truitt got out and carefully opened the door so Jessie wouldn’t flop sideways.
Truitt unbuckled her and lifted her out. He held her close as he walked toward the house, and Rick felt keen disappointment that she wasn’t snuggled in his arms. He wanted to touch her so badly he ached.
The last days had been torture for him and Truitt both. First the thought that she’d used them and then the fear that no matter what she’d done that she’d be arrested and jailed. And finally the realization of just how wrong they’d been about her and the dread of losing her when they’d only just managed to finally get with her.
“Should I put her straight to bed or attempt to sober her up?” Truitt asked when they were inside.
“Put her on the bed. I’ll make some coffee and we’ll see if we can wake her up.”
Truitt shouldered his way down the hall carrying Jessie, and Rick went to put on a pot of coffee.
Ten minutes later, he carried a steaming mug to the bedroom and found Jessie curled up against Truitt. Truitt met Rick ’s gaze as Rick set the cup down on the nightstand and then leaned down close to Jessie’s ear.
“Jessie, Jessie, baby, wake up, okay?”
Truitt trailed a finger over her cheek and suddenly Rick couldn’t stand it another moment. He crawled on the bed and levered himself down so he was close to her. He didn’t want her to wake up and be freaked out. He wanted her ... comfortable. Secure.
“Jessie,” he murmured, adding his voice to Truitt’s. “Wake up, honey. Open those gorgeous brown eyes and look at me. I’ve got some coffee you need to drink.”
At that her eyelids fluttered and her unfocused stare met Rick ’s. Then her nose wrinkled.
“Don’t want coffee,” she muttered.
Rick chuckled and his heart softened. Hell, he wanted to pull her onto his body and let her sleep there like a warm blanket.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Just then Truitt nibbled at her shoulder and she jerked her head back, her eyes flaring in surprise as her gaze settled on him.
“We live here,” Truitt said.
“Then what am
I
doing here?” she grumbled. “You were jerks. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I was celebrating and having fun. Now I’m not having fun.”
“If you weren’t such a cute drunk kitten we’d show you how much fun you could be having,” Rick said.
She gave him a disgruntled look but she didn’t argue further.
“The room is spinning and I don’t feel so good,” she said.
Sure enough she’d gone awfully pale and sweat beaded her forehead.
“You need to puke?”
“Dunno. Maybe I should just go take a shower.”
Truitt raised a brow from behind her shoulder. Yeah, Rick wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t about to let her go take a nosedive in the shower and crack her skull.
“You get a shower only if one of us goes in with you,” Rick said.
She frowned again but then swallowed and licked her lips. “I don’t care. I just need to get up. My stomach’s queasy.”
Rick scrambled up and reached down to pluck her off the bed. When he got to the bathroom he parked her by the toilet and after making sure she wasn’t going to fall face-first into the bowl, he reached over to turn the shower on.
When he turned back, she was asleep again, her cheek pressed against the toilet seat. His chest shook with laughter and he reached down to hoist her up so he could get her clothes off.
Quickly deciding this was a two man job, he called for Truitt who popped in a second later. Truitt lifted a brow and amusement twinkled in his eyes.
“Having trouble?” Truitt asked with a grin.
“You could say that. Help me get her clothes off.”
Between the two of them, they managed to hold Jessie upright and get her clothes off.
“I’ll take her while you get undressed and in the shower. Then I’ll hand her in to you,” Truitt said.
Truitt lifted her to sit on the towel that covered a portion of the counter by the sink and he leaned her forward so her head rested against his neck and the rest of her body was pressed against his.
Rick stripped down, reached a hand in to test the water temp, and grimaced at the lukewarm feel. Bracing himself, he ducked in and then motioned for Truitt to bring Jessie over.
As soon as the water hit Jessie’s back, she let out a yelp and her eyes flew open.
Rick pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead as she trembled against him. After a moment she relaxed and went limp. At first he thought she’d passed out again but when he pulled her away he saw that she was very much awake.
“I’m thinking maybe I should have choked down the coffee,” she said, her mouth quivering. “It was warm at least.”
“We’ll warm you up in just a minute,” Rick promised.
She leaned in against him again, resting her forehead just underneath his chin as the water poured down over them both.
“I haven’t forgiven you yet,” she said.
He smiled. “But you will.”
He could positively feel her frowning over the arrogance in that statement but she didn’t refute it.
“Want a full body scrub while we’re in here?” Rick asked.
She shook her head. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get out before I become an ice cube.”
He reached behind her to shut off the water and her sigh of relief was audible in the sudden quiet. He pushed open the shower door to find Truitt waiting with a large towel that could probably be wrapped around Jessie twice.
Jessie stepped out shivering from head to toe, her teeth clinking together like ice tinkling against glass. Truitt enfolded her in the towel and began to rub briskly in an effort to warm her.
Rick grabbed another towel and stepped around them to head back into the bedroom. A moment later, Jessie walked out wrapped in the towel with Truitt on her heels.
Rick quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and then held out his arms to Jessie. To his satisfaction she walked right into them and snuggled against his chest.