Protect and Serve by Kat Jackson Page A

damn brave, too. I don’t know what would’ve happened to either of us if you hadn’t given me that shot.”
     
    Nathan half-smiled. “I wasn’t about to let you take the heat for me,” he said. “Not again. You were right about me, Detective. I’ve been kind of a jerk.”
     
    I nodded. “You’re damn right. But you taught me something, too: people can change, if they want it bad enough. You just have to let them.”
     
    I turned my back on him to study the hotel room. It was much nicer than the one we’d shared at the Peachtree Overlook, with a completely separate bedroom with what looked like a queen-sized bed. I bit my lip as I set eyes on it, talking to Nathan over my shoulder.
     
    “I’ve been wrong about a lot of people lately, Nathan. Officer Kimball… I trusted him, you know? He’d been on the force for ages. You always want to trust the people closest to you. Officer Morales—Marco—wasn’t much better. I helped oversee the investigation myself, and that boy had been on the Paddies’ payroll for a long time… So I guess I’m oh-for-two.”
     
    I lifted my fingers to my blouse, wincing as I began undoing the buttons at the top. I turned back around to face him just as I revealed the lace and silk cups of my bra.
     
    “But you’re the only good surprise I’ve had in a long damn time, Nathaniel Hale. And I came here to tell you I’m off the case, which means that I no longer have an obligation to keep my professional distance from you. We can make things as personal as you’d like.”
     
    Nathan looked at me, watching me struggle to maneuver my fingers in a way that didn’t hurt. He took a step toward me, gently clasping his hands over mine and drawing them away from my blouse as he stared deep into my eyes.
     
    “Oh, I’d like them pretty damn personal,” he growled, that familiar smolder returning to his jade green eyes.
     
    “Good, because this box of condoms cost a small fortune, and I’m still intent on getting my money’s worth,” I replied as he captured my lips with his.
     
    I moaned into his mouth, encircling his neck in my arms as he crushed me against his chest, lifting me from the floor to envelop me completely. I’d never had a man devour me like this, his mouth closing over mine again and again almost violently, with such a heat and passion that it made me weak in the knees.
     
    I wrapped my legs around his narrow waist, feeling his hands slip down my hips and to my ass, where he gripped me tightly as he made quick strides toward his bed. I threw back my head as his lips moved to my neck, nipping and sucking down to my collarbone as he placed me on my back. Heat flushed through me, a consuming flame, one I hoped would leave nothing but ash in its wake.
     
    I needed Nathan. I needed him to devour me. I needed him to take me until there was nothing left. I had never needed anyone so goddamn badly before.
     
    “Thank God for you,” he whispered, working through the rest of my buttons until I was completely exposed. He looked at me with such reverence that it took my breath away. “Goddammit, Chandra. Thank you.”
     
    I didn’t know what to say in reply. I only shrugged my shoulders out of the straps of my bra, letting them fall down my arms as Nathan unhooked the clasp at the back. I arched to make way for his fingers and felt the fabric slip away from me, my dark chocolate nipples stiffening in the cool air between us.
     
    He lowered his head instantly, closing his lips around one of them and lovingly tracing it with his tongue. I closed my eyes, shuddering as he caressed me, his hands tugging at my pants until he pulled them off over my toes and deposited them on the bedroom floor.
     
    This was what I had been waiting for. This was what I had been craving ever since Nathan had saved me back at his mansion. Though he had stripped me before, I now felt truly naked, utterly vulnerable to this man as he peeled away my layers to reach my center and make me