SiNN by Tina Donahue Read Free Book Online

much.
    Unsettled, Toby flicked his gaze back to the road, then
glanced into the rearview mirror once more. Blocked by the headrest, his view
of Jake was incomplete, allowing Toby to see no more than the upper part of his
partner’s face.
    Predictably, Jake was focused on Lea.
    “You drive,” he’d told Toby back at the club, tossing him
the keys as he might to a chauffeur or a younger brother. Giving Toby no chance
to protest, Jake had gotten into the SUV’s backseat right behind Lea.
    She hadn’t seemed to mind. Toby saw the way she looked at
Jake…the soft heat in her eyes.
    He pressed his thumbs into the steering wheel until they
began to hurt. Releasing the pressure, he recalled Lea’s blush when she’d
caught him watching her during Jake’s conversation with Sanchez. At the time,
Toby had expected her to turn away, disturbed at how he’d been staring at her.
    Much to his surprise, she had not. He’d been the first to
break eye contact, unnerved by his response to her fresh scent, the thought of
slipping his hands beneath her tee to cup her sweet breasts, delighting in
their heat and weight. Unable to stop his unyielding desire, he’d simply
ignored his hard-on then as he tried to do now.
    There was no point in believing his idiotic longing could go
anywhere. Even if she wanted him, her life as she’d known it was over and would
be for the rest of her days. Once he and Jake received word from their
superiors about the disposition of her case, neither of them would see her
again. It was out of the question if they expected to keep her safe.
    Toby’s throat constricted, making his collar and tie seem
too tight. If he’d been Jake, he would have loosened both, not caring about
appearances or propriety, just going with the flow.
    He wasn’t Jake.
    He was a man who didn’t let situations or people get to him,
yet in a very short time, Lea had. Her fear and helplessness in the face of the
unimaginable had stirred something he hadn’t buried deep enough. Her lush
sensuality hadn’t helped.
    A rueful smile touched Toby’s lips. He fought it as he did
many of his emotions. This time without complete success.
    He still wanted her too badly, as did Jake.
    Toby cleared his throat, trying to relax the muscles. They
tightened even more, but didn’t stop him from speaking.
    “Everything all right back there?” he asked, knowing it
wasn’t, cautious as to what might happen next.
    What Jake might eventually do.
     
    With more patience than he felt, Jake looked at Toby’s
reflection in the rearview mirror.
    His partner arched one dark brow, a contradiction to his
pale hair, just as his unruffled manner failed to match the disquiet in his
question.
    Offering no answer, especially the one Toby wanted to hear,
Jake turned back to Lea.
    She was absorbed in her own thoughts, her distress all too
obvious.
    If Jake had been able to spare her from the truth, he would
have. What man wanted to see any woman looking as Lea did now? A sense of
powerlessness settled over him that Jake didn’t much like. Her demeanor
reminded him of people he’d seen at morgues, waiting to identify the bodies of
their loved ones. Because they hadn’t yet seen the worst, Jake knew the truth
of what had happened wasn’t yet real. A part of them still resisted and hoped.
    Was that what was going through Lea’s mind now?
    She’d said nothing as he’d revealed the facts of her life.
Not once had she challenged or asked any questions. Nearly a half hour had
passed since he’d last spoken and she still hadn’t broken the oppressive
silence. In many ways, Jake couldn’t blame her. Discovering one had been living
a lie manufactured by others was a lot to stomach.
    He knew that firsthand.
    At ten, he’d learned the man who’d been raising him wasn’t
his biological father. The confusion and anger Jake had experienced at the time
was mostly gone. At least his parentage explained why Victor had never shown
him a measure of kindness, hadn’t