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Chapter Nine

Justin was solid and warm, and Emilia fit against him in such a way that her head nestled against his shoulder. She couldn’t feel quite so short and defenseless after discovering her body matched up perfectly in the space at his side.

After catching her breath at his proprietary claim, she found herself making the unexpected choice of reaching behind him and curling her gloved fingers around his belt to anchor herself to his strength.

He hadn’t done much to endear himself to her, but Justin was a cop- on some sort of dangerous, hush-hush undercover investigation, according to A.J, who’d warned her that that kind of assignment was reason enough to steer clear of him.

But when faced with the two thugs who’d accosted her, she had no problem ignoring big brother’s advice and snuggling closer to Justin. If nothing else, Emilia respected the badge, and she trusted that Justin would stick to the protect part of KCPD’s To Protect and Serve motto.

The smaller of the two men adjusted the front of his camel-hair coat. “If you’re workin’ for Billy now, then you’re entitled to all the rights and privileges of his protection. Your girlfriend is, too.”

Girlfriend? “You’re working with them? Who’s Billy? Why do I need protection?”

But in this battle of testosterone, her questions went unnoticed.

“The same way you were there to protect Mickey in the parking lot at Nathan’s?” The man in the expensive coat bristled at Justin’s taunt. “Billy’s well-being is always our first priority. Mickey should have known better than to get drunk and leave himself open like that. The Westside Warriors have been gunnin’ for us for a long time.”

Emilia recognized the Warriors name from the newspaper. Mickey Larkin had been killed by a gang of teenagers? She’d thought drive-by shootings were their execution of choice. Unless they hadn’t intended to kill Mickey- or the Warriors hadn’t been responsible for the attack.

Justin’s fingers clenched at the nip of her waist. “Dr. Rodriguez is my responsibility. If she needs any protecting, I’ll do it.”

The bigger man grinned, but Emilia didn’t share his amusement. “She’s such a pretty little thing. I don’t mind helpin’ out.’”

“Stay away from her. She has nothing to do with our business.”

As they returned to their car, Emilia pushed a little space between her and Justin, though he latched on to her coat and prevented her from moving too far away. Then she remembered something, and called out, “Wait! You never said. What was your message?”

The little Big Man answered. “Mr. Blue is grateful for everything you did to help Mickey and Mr. Grant here. If something should come up in the next day or two- a medical emergency, for example- we’d like to know that we can count on you.”

“I’ll treat anyone who comes through those ER doors.”

“You don’t understand, ma’am.” He started to take a step back toward her. But when Justin stiffened beside her, he gave a deferring nod and opted to keep his distance. “Mr. Blue is expecting you to make a house call.”




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