JUDE: Book 2 The Justice Brothers Series by Taylor Lee Read Free Book Online

they were ridiculously unhealthy, hardly the brain food her body required. At the soft chuckle beside her, Sky looked up to see Jared smiling at her.
    He handed her a plate and took one for himself. Grabbing a large apple fritter and a cinnamon twist, he piled them on his plate and nodded to the tray of goodies. “Don’t worry, short stuff, I wouldn’t touch those maple-frosted beauties. They have your name engraved all over them.”
    Sky felt her cheeks heat but reached for one of the doughnuts, then squaring her shoulders, took the other one and plopped it on her plate. She forced herself not to look over at the two men still standing to the side, but her eyes had a mind of their own.
    Glancing up, she saw Detective Justice watching her. His eyes were narrowed, hard to read. Sky thought she saw the merest gleam of amusement in his emerald eyes. His lips quirked up slightly at the corner when he caught her gaze.
    Confirming he saw her hesitation, Jude said with a dismissive shrug, “Hey, Specs, don’t stop on my account. Obviously you don’t have to worry about downing one thousand calories of sugar and grease unlike the rest of us, who have to watch our girlish figures. And at least today we’re not being treated to scenes on the monitors that could have come from Antichrist or Clockwork Orange flicks. But then, apparently you’re more desensitized when it comes to violence and gore than we cops are. Hell, you probably order extra-large popcorn with gobs of butter when you watch a horror movie featuring dismemberment and other graphic mutilation.”
    Skylar stood stock-still, holding her plate and mug in her shaking hands. It was a challenge to breathe, much less move. The conference table looked as though a giant hand had jerked it out of the way of the formidable detective and moved it across the room. She wasn’t sure how she could reach it without dropping her cup of steaming coffee and the damnable doughnuts.
    Commander Justice’s voice at her side was crisp. “Here, Sky, let me help you. The coffee is scalding today. Don’t want you to burn yourself.”
    Jake reached for her coffee cup and then grasped her elbow and led her to the table. Jared was already there, pulling out the chair beside his and motioning for her to sit.
    There was a decided edge to his voice when he leaned over and said loudly enough for the others to hear, “Don’t mind Jude, short stuff. He’s a pussy through and through. Hell, even though he’s three years older than me I always had to put the worms on his fishhooks and I was only four years old.”
    In the uneasy laughter that followed, Sky took her place at the table, keeping her eyes lowered and staring at her hands.
    Jude’s voice cut through her embarrassed bewilderment. “Hell, Specs, my baby brother is right. I’ve always been the brother with the weak stomach.” He took back what might have been an apology when he added, “Like I said, you need the calories no matter how unhealthy they are. So eat up. We have another long day ahead of us.”
    Making a production of pulling out the chair at the head of the table and depositing a pile of papers in front of him, Jude sunk in his seat and then waited until he had the attention of everyone at the table. Ignoring the pitchforks both of his brothers were staring into his chest, he began making assignments. He’d about given up trying to figure out why he was piling on the
    spiky, dark-haired pixie.
    Unbidden, he remembered Jerri Ross asking who was the ugly duckling was at the table with Hailey and the others. Jude had just finished screwing the voluptuous woman, most of whose assets were her own, although he conceded the surgical additions weren’t bad either. As always, when he was in the middle of a case, mindless fucking was one way of de-stressing. However, he’d found that forty-five minutes in the gym or a half bottle of straight up whiskey was as good a stress reliever as sex—in fact, often better. At least at