by Amy Gamet
She found her voice. “The court will take a short recess.” She rushed to her chambers, slamming the door behind her like she’d narrowly escaped Hades itself.
She was hyperventilating, her lungs taking in more air than she knew what to do with. She bent at the waist and grabbed the couch, pulling herself onto it.
There was pounding on her chamber door and terror flashed through her. Had she locked the door behind her when she came in? “Who is it?”
“Logan.”
She rushed to the door and opened it a crack. Her secretary wasn’t at her desk, thank goodness. “What are you doing?” she bit out. “You can’t be seen talking to me.”
“What happened back there? You looked like you saw a ghost.”
Her eyes went from side to side, then she pulled him into her office. “They got to the bench. I don’t know how. The room’s always locked when court’s not in session, but somehow they got to the bench. My gavel was engraved—somebody scraped it out with something sharp—and it said, ‘we’re watching you’.”
She heard herself tripping over her words, knew she was barely making sense.
“Just now? That was written on your gavel?”
She nodded quickly, a noise that was half sob, half laugh escaping her mouth. “What do I do? They’re out there right now, in the courtroom.”
“Maybe. Or else they just wanted to scare you into thinking they were there.”
“Well it worked, okay? They scared me.”
He touched her upper arms and she pulled away. “Not now. Please don’t touch me.”
“Call off the rest of the trial for today. You’re not going to make it back out there like this.”
“I said we’d take a short recess.”
“So pick up the phone and tell them you changed your mind. You’re not feeling well. Anyone who saw you in that courtroom will believe it in a heartbeat. Then you’re coming with me to HERO Force.”
“I can’t do that! What if the kidnappers see me?”
“We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.” He pulled his polo shirt over his head. “Take my clothes.”
“Have you lost your mind? You’re a gangly six-foot-God-knows-what man, and I’m a short little woman.”
“Just put it on.”
She did as he said, unzipping her robe and hanging it up on a hook.
“Lucky for you, I’m wearing shorts today,” he said, stepping out of them and handing them to her.
“If your shorts fit me, I’m going to kill myself.”
“I have a belt.”
She fastened it around her waist. “I look ridiculous. I certainly don’t look like a man.”
“Hard to look like a guy with that rack.” He winked at her. “But you look a lot less attractive than you usually do. Do you happen to have a hat?”
“Bottom right desk drawer.”
He pulled it out, reading, “Happy Seventieth Birthday Judge Hollurman.” He handed it to her. “Put your hair up.”
“What are you going to wear?”
“I was thinking your robe would look pretty fantastic on me.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t wear that. Everyone in the building will look at you and realize you’re not one of the judges.”
He shrugged. “So I’ll claim to be a singing telegram guy. I’m certainly not old enough to be a judge.”
“I hate you right now.”
“You look terrible.”
“Where am I going?”
“The Ferrari’s parked in the west lot. The keys are in your pocket. I’ll be twenty feet behind you, hot stuff. Now, lead the way.”
19
Gemma had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as the elevator made its ascent. Up until now she hadn’t technically done anything wrong, but this car was about to open on the threshold of the point of no return, and she had little choice but to cross it.
Logan took her hand. “You’ll be safe here.”
“I know.” She was grateful there was someplace she could go. The elevator slowed and stopped, the door opening. Too bad she had to sacrifice her career for her own safety.
They stepped into the HERO Force lobby, dramatic lighting and sleek designs in the carpet making Gemma feel like she’d just walked onto a movie set.
“Jax here yet?” Logan asked the man at the reception desk.
To his credit, the receptionist didn’t bat an eye at their outfits. “Yes, sir. He just got back.”
“Great.” He held his palm on a pad on the wall and opened a door, holding it for Gemma to precede him. He moved beside her and led the way, past offices and a glass-walled room filled with computers and monitors and a large panel of lights and buttons along the side. It looked like some high-tech control room, making her think of War Games.
No point in mentioning that reference to Logan.
“Maybe I should just lie low in a storage room or something,” she offered.
“Jax and Cowboy need to know you’re here.”
They rounded one final turn and a man’s voice could be heard speaking in clipped, even tones in the distance.
“Let me change my clothes, at least.”
He stopped. “Okay. There’s a ladies’ room right over there.”
She changed quickly and rejoined him, the man’s voice she’d heard before getting louder until Logan pulled her inside the room it was coming from.
Jax Anderson was standing, a telephone to his ear. His eyes met Gemma’s, recognition like a spoken accusation. “Let me call you back,” he said, replacing the receiver.
“Gemma Faraday, Jax Anderson,” said Logan.
“You’re the judge from court this morning.”
“She needs somewhere safe to stay,” said Logan.
Jax frowned. “This isn’t a shelter.”
Gemma touched Logan’s arm when he would have spoken. “Someone’s trying to hurt me. Someone related to Anthony Royce’s kidnapping.”
Jax’s eyes shot to Logan. “Explain.”
“I was guarding her apartment when I was attacked by a man, clearly there to do her harm.”
“What were you doing guarding her apartment?”
“We’ve been seeing each other,” he said. “She was attacked on her street yesterday, but insisted on returning to her apartment last night. I was concerned.”
Jax narrowed his eyes at Gemma. “Dating coworkers of defendants, Your Honor? You realize that’s a conflict of interest.”
She raised her chin. “There are extenuating circumstances that make it impossible for me to recuse myself.”
“Go on.” Jax crossed his arms. “If you’re seeking protection under my roof, I’ll need all the information.”
Gemma looked to Logan, who nodded. She licked her lips. “The man who attacked me told me to find you and Leo Wilson guilty, or Royce will die. They said they’d kill him if I told the authorities.”
She felt like Jax was looking through her, as if he could see every truth and lie she’d ever spoken, and she bristled beneath his assessment.
“What can you tell me about this man?” he asked.
“Nothing. It was dark. He tackled me from behind. All I remember is the body odor. Then in the courtroom today, ‘we’re watching you’ was scraped into the handle of my gavel.”
“That’s why you hightailed it out of there.”
She nodded. “That’s when Logan suggested I come here.”
“Have you told anyone else?”
“No.” She thought of the news footage of the burning car with Barbara trapped inside. “I was too scared.”
“One last question, Judge Faraday. Who is Anthony Royce to you?”
Gemma felt her face heat. “We’re both judges, though in different courts. I see him at political functions, mostly.”
“I mean personally.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Logan turn toward her. A knot formed in her throat and she considered what to say. “We had an affair eight years ago. I wasn�
�t aware he was married at the time.”
Logan’s voice was heavy with disappointment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was ashamed. It was in the past. I didn’t think it mattered.”
“It matters to the kidnappers,” said Jax. “They knew you would try to save his life.”
She laughed without humor. “If anything, I’d be more likely to kill him myself.”
Jax sat behind his desk, touching the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of the other. “You can stay in the empty office at the end of the hall. I’ll have my secretary take care of whatever you need. Logan, I’ll see you in the conference room for the briefing.”
“Gemma should be there.”
Jax nodded. “Fine. Bring her along.”
Gemma followed Logan out of Jax’s office. He didn’t talk to her or turn around. He entered a small room with a desk and a file cabinet, waited for her, and closed the door behind her.
He was angry.
She was sure of it.
“I’m sorry I lied to you about Royce and me.”
He moved close to her back. “I’m putting myself on the line for you. Will there be any more surprises?”
“No.”
“Good. I don’t like surprises.” He whipped her around and kissed her, taking her mouth like he had every right. One arm held her tightly against him while the other fisted in her hair, pulling her head back. All she had to do was open herself to him and he did the rest, plundering her mouth with his own.
20
Logan pushed her back against the wall. He needed this, needed to remember how she felt in his arms, surrendering to his kisses.
All he could see was her flushed face as she admitted to having an affair with Royce. Feel his own embarrassment. He could see her body beneath that old man while Royce humped her with what Logan could only imagine was his long, skinny dick.
What had a beautiful woman like Gemma ever seen in that guy? Royce was powerful, sure. But he was so much older it made him question her interest in him. How could one woman be attracted to one man so much older than her, and another so much younger?
She’d only ever claimed to want sex without strings. Now you’re surprised to find out you’re not her type?
Damn it. His cock was rock hard with the need to have her, even as he was aware of the meeting in a few minutes down the hall. She grabbed his ass and squeezed his cheeks, making the decision for him. He growled. “We have to hurry.”
She lifted her shirt over her head and he picked her up, taking her to the desk and lifting her skirt, yanking down her panties and pulled them down her legs as he unzipped his fly, releasing his aching erection.
There wasn’t time for foreplay and he didn’t want any. “Tell me you have a condom,” he ground out against her mouth.
“In my purse.” He handed her the bag and she dug frantically through it, cursing before finally withdrawing the foil packet.
Logan sheathed himself and thrust inside her with one powerful push, finding her wet and swollen for him. They fucked quietly, their breath and the whispered sounds of pleasure the only sounds in the room.
But it wasn’t enough. He needed to dominate her, show her she belonged to him, purge the image of her and Royce from his mind once and for all. He pulled out and flipped her over. “I want to spank you.”
“Yes,” she whimpered.
He slapped her ass cheek with his open hand. “You should have told me.” He pushed inside her, fucking her hard.
“I’m sorry.”
He slapped her again. “Do you like that?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t lie to me again.”
“I won’t. I promise.” She clenched rhythmically around his shaft and he came in a powerful rush of sensation. When he was through, he pulled out, noting the bright red handprints on her ass cheeks.
His handprints from hitting her.
“Turn around,” he said. He kissed her again, loving the way she obliged him. “You’re a good match for me.”
She untangled herself from his body, pulling away and putting her clothes back on. “We have good sex.”
“It’s more than that, and you know it.”
“The age difference—”
“You didn’t care when it was Royce.”
Her face colored, her cheeks now matching her ass where he’d hit her.
“That was different.”
“No, it’s not.”
She didn’t meet his eyes. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, Logan. The last thing you need is to be saddled with me when you should be looking for a relationship with someone your own age.”
He closed the space between them and tilted her head up. “And if I want a relationship with you?”
“I’d say it’s just sex.”
“It could be more if you’d let it.”
“Well, I’m not going to, so that’s that.”
He crossed his arms. “You’re full of shit. You know that? Why won’t you even consider it?”
The last thing she needed was to fight with him about this. “I’m trying to protect you. Don’t you see that? I want you to find someone you can actually have a future with. If you and I get serious…”
“Then you get scared?”
“No.” She met his stare head on. “I’m a dead-end street, Logan. I’m thirteen years older than you. Thirteen! I can’t have kids. There’s no point in dating me. You have to see the logic in that.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You can’t have kids?”
“I’ve had chemo and radiation, some of the strongest drugs they make. I’m infertile.”
“There are other ways to have kids.”
“You don’t even know me! This is a pointless conversation. I don’t want to date you. End of story.” She turned her back to him and faced the window, her arms crossed over her chest.
He suspected she was crying.
He stared at her back, wishing he hadn’t pushed the issue. She was beyond stressed. “Gemma, I’m sorry.”
“We shouldn’t do this anymore. I told you from the beginning I only wanted something physical, but you just keep pushing.”
“We have a spark—”
She spun around. “You’re not listening to me. I don’t want to go out with you.”
Damn it, she was right.
From that very first night she’d been honest with him, but the more he grew to like her the more he kept trying to change her mind.
The problem wasn’t Gemma.
It was him.
“I appreciate what you’ve done for me, Logan. I don’t want to know what would have happened if you weren’t outside my house the other night. But I think it’s best if we end things now, before they get out of control.”
His lips hardened into a straight line. “There’s one more thing I forgot to tell you. The computer finished analyzing the license plate from the van outside your apartment. They’re government plates from a state vehicle kept in downtown Atlanta.”
Her mouth dropped open.
He nodded. “I’ll see you in the briefing.”
21
Logan closed the door too loudly when he left, making Gemma jump. She understood why he was angry. She was angry, too.
She’d gotten a glimpse of what her life could have been like without cancer, like a child spying the brass ring on the carousel, but it was permanently out of reach. She could never be the woman Logan wanted. She could never give him the things he so flippantly dismissed as unimportant now.
But what about later, when the resentment kicked in? She knew exactly what it was like to think you’d make your peace with something inherently unfair, only to rally against it like a prisoner pulling against his chains.
She wouldn’t do that to Logan.
Not now. Not ever.
He didn’t know what she knew, couldn’t imagine the depths of that suffering he was so eager to take on. No, he’d find someone else, probably even one day soon. He was right at
that age when so many men settled down and got married, even started a handsome young family.
Her eyes burned and she cursed her own weakness, refusing to let the tears fall as memories of her thirties came to mind. She’d been a bridesmaid and an honorary aunt more times than she could count.
“Stupid girl,” she mumbled under her breath. She wiped at her eyes, ensuring they were dry, then bent and picked up the condom wrapper from the ground, surprised to see it was the one April had given her at the dance club. That meant she and Logan had used the old one from her purse that first time they were together.
She shrugged. Surely old protection was better than no protection at all.
She made her way back to the glass-walled conference room and sat beside Logan. Cowboy nodded, letting her know he’d already been updated as to her presence at HERO Force.
Jax began. “After the bomb that exploded at Stewart Cole’s house, I think it’s safe to say he’s involved in the kidnapping of Justice Royce. He had hundreds of pictures of Cowboy and me, along with our loved ones, and a virtual shrine to his brother, Garrison.”
Cowboy spoke. “For those of you who are not aware, Garrison was a member of HERO Force who was killed in a training exercise six years ago. Jax and I were charged with murder in Garrison’s death. Justice Royce dismissed those charges for lack of evidence.”
“Now civil charges have been filed, charging Cowboy and me with the wrongful death of Garrison.” Jax gestured to Gemma. “Judge Gemma Faraday here is the judge assigned to that case.”
“Whoa.” A big man across the table held up his hands. “What are you doing here?”
“And you are?” she asked.
“Austin Dixon.”
She nodded. “I was contacted by Royce’s kidnappers. They want me to find Mr. Wilson and Mr. Anderson guilty, regardless of the evidence against them.”
Austin turned his head and looked at her sideways. “She’s not supposed to be here.”
Logan cleared his throat. “Judge Faraday needs our protection. She’s part of this mess, and an apparent target for Cole. We’re taking care of her.”
