Part 20 (2/2)

With a heartsick sigh, Jesse knew he didn't have a choice. It was time to confess. Both for her own good, and to find out if she had any idea what Dave had been trying to hand off that night.

But d.a.m.ned if he wasn't positive his admission was going to screw him but good with her. And not in the way he'd enjoyed last night.

FEELING LIKE a wimpy idiot, Audra sucked in a deep breath and tried to tamp down the fear whispering in her head. That note had been so angry. a wimpy idiot, Audra sucked in a deep breath and tried to tamp down the fear whispering in her head. That note had been so angry.

Audra shuddered. Then she frowned. How dare someone come into her home and threaten her. As she'd told Jesse, she'd be d.a.m.ned if some dirtbag was going to mess with her or scare her out of her own place.

Or worse, screw with her s.e.x life.

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and cleared her face. To push back the fear, she pictured Jesse naked, his hard body poised over hers just before he took that wild plunge of pleasure.

She pulled back and gave him her let's-get-dirty let's-get-dirty look. look.

”Since you're staying the night, why don't we go in the bedroom and get comfortable? I can deal with this mess tomorrow. I had other plans tonight, and I'll be d.a.m.ned if some loser is going to keep us from having fun.”

Audra watched the expressions chase across Jesse's face. Maybe it was stress overload, but she was definitely getting a weird vibe off him. It had started when he'd been all chummy with that cop. And now he had a guarded look in his eyes. It was as if all emotion had been wiped away, giving him a blank, official kind of look. The kind Child Protective Services had always worn when they'd come to check on her mother.

She tried to brush off the sick feeling in her stomach. But the tiny hairs on the back of her neck wouldn't lie down, and she suddenly felt like hurling.

Audra had never fallen apart in front of a guy before. Never let her rarely admitted vulnerability show. She'd never felt an emotional connection with a guy that made her feel safe enough to even consider it. Until tonight. Until Jesse.

And now? Now he was pulling away, distanced and cold. With that closed look on his face.

All bad signs.

”What's up?” she asked.

”I have a confession to make. Something I need to tell you.” His casual tone sounded forced, as if he didn't want to scare her off.

Audra bit her lip. From his tone and the look on his face, she didn't think she was gonna be giddy with delight over whatever it was he wanted to share.

Since it didn't look like she could put off the conversation until she'd regained a solid emotional footing, Audra gestured that he go ahead. Jesse swallowed uncomfortably and winced. Then he gave a shrug and took her hands.

”Okay. Here goes...I'm not just a computer geek. I'm a cop. With the Cyber Crimes division of the Sacramento P.D.”

She blinked.

Huh? A cop?

Son of a b.i.t.c.h. The longtime bad girl in Audra pulled back a few inches. Her entire body tensed up, her defenses going to automatic full alert. That would explain his ease with the cops who'd tramped through her house. His private powwow with the one in charge.

”Okay,” she said slowly, trying to figure out if the anger building inside her was because he was a cop, or because he'd lied to her. ”Why didn't you tell me this before? I thought you worked with computers.”

”I do. Work with computers, that is. Cyber crimes are just that, computer crimes. I spend most of my time working with a keyboard.”

”Oh.” Should she be relieved? Had he actually lied? Maybe not, but it sure as h.e.l.l felt like it. Audra forced herself to unclench her teeth and smooth out the furrows digging into her brow. ”That would explain why you were so chummy with that dude tonight. The cop in jeans.”

”He's my partner,” he confessed with a grimace.

”Partner? Why...? What's going on, Jesse.”

Needing to be away from him, Audra stepped back. Still able to breathe in the spicy scent of his cologne, she took another step back. She needed all the distance she could get to clear her head and get a freaking clue as to what was going on.

”I was in the club the night we met because I was on a case,” he confessed.

”I thought you just said you worked behind a computer?”

”Usually, I do. But I went undercover. It was a dare, of sorts.”

Of sorts. Audra winced at the memory of that night and her own dare. Of how and why she'd hooked up with Jesse.

”I was there tailing the dork. That guy you'd had the 'sort of' dare date with. Remember him?”

Audra nodded slowly.

”Dave Larson, that's his name. He was there to make a connection. To pa.s.s off a chip of stolen IDs. He's involved on the fringes of a Chinatown-based crime ring and was selling the information to them. My plan was to identify his connection, trail her back to the crime ring.”

”Her?” It was finally all clicking together. Audra's stomach had stopped swirling, now it was clenched like an angry fist. ”If I remember right, the only woman that geek hooked up with at the club was me.”

”Well...yeah.”

It didn't take her long to connect the dots. Betrayal slapped her with a stinging blow.

”You think I'm a criminal?” Shock made her tone sharp enough to cut gla.s.s. She'd thought he was different. Someone who looked at her and, yeah, recognized she was a bad girl, but realized that didn't mean she was a bad person. But no. Jesse was just like all the other jerks in her life. He'd not only had low expectations of her, he'd pegged her for a criminal.

”Look, that's not the point right now. What matters is that I'm sure it was Larson who broke in here and threatened you. You have something he wants, Audra. I need to find out what it is and get it so I can protect you.”

Audra swore she felt her heart actually crack. Pain like she'd never felt, even during her father's prolonged illness and death, poured through her. Her breath caught at the intensity of Jesse's betrayal. At the misery of realizing he not only didn't return her feelings of love, he'd used her.

This was one h.e.l.l of a time to find out that whole stupid cliche was rooted in reality. A red film of betrayed anger glazed her eyes, and Audra glared to clear her vision. She grabbed on to the fury, glad to have it there to s.h.i.+eld her from the misery tearing at her heart.

”Not the point?” she hissed over the pain. ”You think I'm dirty of some crime and that's not the point? You used me. You slept with me, all the while thinking I was a...what? A criminal? An accessory to something?”

”Don't make this into more than it is. There was a lot of evidence against you.”

”Why? Because I talked to some geek? How the h.e.l.l does that make me look guilty of anything except bad taste?”

”It was the money in your company's account. The trip to China. A lot of little things,” he said in a stiff tone, misery clear in his eyes.

Audra didn't care how bad he felt. He deserved it. After all, he'd done the unforgivable. He'd made her open her heart. And for what? A police investigation? She pressed her hand against her stomach.

”You checked me out? You poked into Simply Sensual's finances and investigated our business?” Outrage made her words shrill. She thought back to that night, the club. Then the parking lot. How could she have been so stupid? She'd been worrying about forgetting a d.a.m.ned condom and the whole time she should have been worried about her blind trust. What Wicked Chick worth her stilettos didn't sense a setup?

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