Free His Risk to Take by Tessa Bailey Page A

dammit. The less you know, the safer you’ll be.” After a long silence, Troy continued. “At the very least, you have to let me put surveillance on you. For your own protection. I won’t be able to concentrate otherwise, knowing you’re out there. Vulnerable.”
    She turned to face him. “No. I’m sorry, but no. I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but I know these people. If they want to come find me, some unmarked vehicle won’t stop them. They’ll spot it a mile away, just like I would. It’ll only make things worse for me in the end.”
    “You have an incredibly shitty image of cops.”
    She brushed the hair from his forehead. “Maybe I used to.”
    Troy turned his head to kiss her hand. “I can’t budge on this. You have to meet me halfway. My preference would be to lock you in a safe house.” A corner of his mouth quirked up at her look of horror, but quickly flattened. “I can’t even protect you myself because I can’t be seen with you.”
    She could feel herself giving in. It surprised her how little this one concession cost her. Normally, she would fight to get her way, but if this one thing made him safer on the job, helped him concentrate, she could suffer through it. “All right, copper. I’ll make you a deal. If I spot your surveillance guy, I lose them. If they can stay well hidden, I’ll let them stay.”
    A relieved smile transformed his face, tripling her feelings of guilt. Because in the back of her mind, she knew with absolutely certainty that she wouldn’t be able to stay out of it. Starting tomorrow, he’d have her help whether he liked it or not.
    Troy took both of her hands in his and rolled her over. He ripped open a new box on the nightstand and removed a condom, then slid it down his swelling erection. With one push of his hips, he seated himself deep inside her, eliciting a moan from Ruby’s throat.
    “See how easy that was, hustler?”
    Then he leaned down and kissed her, swallowing her persistent cries with his mouth as he started to move.

Chapter Eight
    Troy looked up as Daniel entered the precinct, Brent and Matt close behind. For the first time since they’d received the news about Officer Tenney being found beaten half to death in Brooklyn, they looked like they had good news. Troy certainly needed some. He’d left Ruby pretending to be asleep in his bed this morning. Knowing they needed to talk but also very aware of the fact that spending the night with him had been a concession in itself, he hadn’t pushed his luck. If he pressed her too hard, forced her to promise she wouldn’t take unnecessary chances with her safety, she might break their hard-won agreement about the surveillance.
    Knowing she had a car following her was the only thing keeping him from losing his mind as he sat behind a desk, narrowing down Lenny Driscol’s possible location.
    She thought she’d kept her intentions hidden the night before, but he’d seen them in her eyes. He needed to solve this case before she found some way to interfere. The night he’d met her, he’d recognized her curious nature, and she wouldn’t be happy taking a backseat for long. She would not only threaten the case, but her safety in the process. Not to mention, it had taken some fancy footwork on his behalf to convince Lieutenant Rhodes to assign the protection detail and not bring Ruby in for questioning instead. Troy didn’t have long, however, before the man’s patience ran thin and he started looking for information anywhere he could find it. He couldn’t allow Ruby to be used as a possible source, something that could endanger her welfare, but he needed to work quickly or it would be unavoidable.
    One thing he knew for certain. If he didn’t stop thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen to her, he would never get anything accomplished. Concentrate.
    His silent command helped for all of two seconds. Scenes from the night before played on an endless loop in his mind. Ruby kneeling