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“What do you meanwhenever?” Shaw snapped back. “Marlene was taken from the hospital, and it’s obvious she’s on the way to speak to Hanna and you.”
Jesse didn’t bother to groan. Nor did it surprise him that the agent had the hospital under surveillance.
“I’m not interviewing Marlene,” Jesse told him. “Not officially.” Though he would Mirandize her in case she spilled something that incriminated her or someone else.
“It doesn’t have to be official for me to need to know what she says,” Shaw argued. “I need to be there.”
This time Jesse voiced that no. “That’s not going to happen.” He couldn’t risk having two of his suspects in the house, especially since they could be working together. “Like I said, contact the sheriff and work out your part, or lack thereof, in the official interview. I have to go.”
He ended the call before Shaw could continue to press, but Jesse knew that wasn’t the last he’d hear from the man. Nope. Shaw would likely just show up here, and that’s why Jesse sent a text to the deputy patrolling the grounds to tell him not to let Shaw near the house. The ATF might give him and the sheriff’s office some flak about that, but Jesse was in the “better safe than sorry” mode.
“Agent Shaw’s coming here?” Hanna asked, the concern coming through loud and clear in her voice and expression.
“No,” Jesse assured her, and even though it was probably a bad idea and a distraction, he went to her and pulled her into his arms.
She didn’t resist. In fact, Hanna was the one who moved closer. “I just need this to be over,” she muttered.
Yeah, he was on that very same page, and the stress and worry were eating away at both of them. Jesse brushed what he hoped would be a kiss of comfort on her forehead, but as he did that, Hanna looked up. Their eyes met. Held.
And, man, did he feel that gut punch of heat.
It was the kind of heat that made him remember just how strong this attraction had been and still was between them. It also made him forget that the timing for it sucked. So did the timing for the kiss. But that didn’t stop Jesse from lowering his head and touching his mouth to hers.
He got an even hotter jolt of heat. A jolt that shot through every inch of him when Hanna moved right into the kiss. When she turned it from something comforting to scorching.
The chain he’d kept on this heat snapped and Jesse dragged her closer to him. Until they were mouth to mouth. Body to body. Hanna certainly wasn’t resisting, and he could feel the hunger. The need. Things that had always been there between them. Her mouth moved over his as if there’d been no breakup, no shooting. As if it were just the two of them ready to haul each other off to bed.
That couldn’t happen, of course.
Jesse mentally repeated that to himself and kept repeating it until he got this fierce need back on the leash. Until he could finally end the sweet torture of her mouth and taste.
“I’m sorry,” she immediately breathed.
He didn’t bother telling her that an apology wasn’t necessary. Or wanted. Jesse just pushed the limits of his willpower a little bit longer by brushing a kiss on her mouth. A kiss to remind her that an apology wasn’t going to cool the fire. And that he fully intended to do this again, and more, the first chance they got.
She nodded as if she understood his point, and she continued to look up at him. Her eyes were wide, her face was flushed, and she was breathing through her mouth. All signs that made him wish taking her to bed was an actual option. Right now, no waiting.
But he quickly got a reminder of why that couldn’t happen.
At the sound of the approaching vehicles, Hanna practically jerked away from him, and she pulled back her shoulders. Bracing herself. Jesse steeled himself up in a different kind of way. He put his hand over his weapon while he checked the window and spotted the Silver Creek cruiser. He continued to keep his hand on his gun after he opened the door. Even though Marlene was under heavy guard, it would be the ideal time for someone to launch an attack.
The EMT who accompanied Marlene stayed in the cruiser, but with Grayson on one side of her and Theo on the other, they led Marlene toward the house. There was now a bandage on the woman’s head, and she was wearing a pair of green scrubs. Probably because her own clothes had already been bagged and sent to the lab for processing.
Grayson and Theo moved fast to get Marlene inside, Grayson scowling when a car came to a quick stop behind the cruiser. “Agent Shaw,” he grumbled. “I’ll handle this.”
Jesse was glad Grayson had offered to do that since he didn’t want to take his attention off Marlene. Added to that, Shaw could be there to launch that attack they were all worried about, so he had to be questioned. Had to be contained if he tried to get into the house.
Theo led Marlene inside, and Grayson went off to confront the agent. Jesse was thankful for it, too, since he wanted to focus on Marlene.
Marlene, however, obviously had her focus on Hanna. “Thank you for seeing me,” Marlene said. She was trembling a little, and her voice was shaky.
Hanna nodded, but she didn’t press the woman to jump right into an explanation of why she’d said what she had.I know the reason you were shot.But Marlene thankfully didn’t waste any time. The fewer minutes she was in the house, the better.
“You’ll want to know what happened to me,” Marlene volunteered, looking at Jesse now. “I’ve already told Grayson and Theo, but you’ll need to hear it, too.”
Despite Jesse wanting to hear what she had to say, he held up his hand to put the pause button on this. “Have you been read your rights?” he asked.
Marlene nodded. “Grayson did that. He said it was routine.”
