She went with righteous anger instead. “It was harder knowing justice failed my dad because of technicalities in the law. I spent the next few years in foster care, bouncing around. Forgotten. Then, when I graduated high school, I went into the academy, but it wasn’t what I thought it’d be. The more I learned about the justice system, the less inclined I was to play by their rules. Not when so many criminals operate in the gray areas. So, I put the word out that I was for hire. Friends of friends and that kind of thing. Pretty soon, I was in business as a PI and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
“You’ve seen some bad people,” he said and it wasn’t really a question but she answered it anyway.
“What happened tonight wasn’t the worst thing that’s happened on a job if that’s what you mean. Not for me. But it sucked worrying about you.” She laid a hand on his cheek and rubbed lightly against the rough stubble. “That scared me.”
He shifted, propping up on his elbow, and stared down at her. He ran the back of his hand over her cheek, his eyes pinning her still in the darkness. God, he was beautiful, even covered in shadows.
“Your dad would have been proud,” he said.
Delilah’s chest tightened. Tears stung her eyes and she swallowed, scared she was finally going to lose it. “Thanks,” she whispered and just like that, the wall she’d built around herself crumbled. She gave into temptation. She gave in to Jake.
And then, because she refused to cry, she grabbed his face in her hands and pulled his lips down to hers. Jake’s head dipped low and he kissed her softly just like he’d done earlier. After everything that had happened tonight, the tenderness healed her, sealing up the wounds she’d opened and shown.
She clung to him as he planted soft kisses at the corners of her mouth. “You’re breaking your rule,” he teased, his mouth curving into a smile.
He was right. Technically speaking, Xavier was her client. He was stroking the check. Which made Jake fair game. The fact that Jake was Xavier’s right-hand man was a gray area but hadn’t she just got done telling him she operated in the gray areas of life as a rule? Besides, her rule was formed because clients usually ended up being deadbeats with too much drama. Jake was neither of those.
“Mmm. I’m a rebel at heart,” she said and his chest rumbled with laughter. She sank against the mattress, loving the sound of his laugh. And then sobered when she remembered the reaction he’d given when she’d first told him about her rule. “You were angry with me about it before. For stopping this,” she added.
He drew back and smoothed her hair, studying her. She could feel his erection pressing against her but he wasn’t rushing it. She’d expected hard and fast once she’d given the green light but he was taking everything so infuriatingly slow. Jake River was a puzzle. Complicating. Layered. And right now, watching her like she was the solution. It made her feel beautiful. And important for the first time in a long time.
“I wasn’t angry with you,” he said slowly. “Just… I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me,” she insisted. How did she explain that he’d already done more to heal her than anyone had since her dad died?
“You don’t know the future. Anything could happen,” he said and something in his voice made her wonder if he knew something she didn’t. But that was impossible. No one knew the future, not even polar bear shifters with built-in lie detectors.