Free Dangerous Liaisons by Tarah Scott, Evan Trevane Page B

had dressed the wound once in the ladies restroom at Penn Station, but it still ached. Cole was right, it needed attention, but she said, “It’s nothing.”
    “Take off your pants and get on the bed.”
    Jesse blinked, then laughed—hard.
    Cole looked hurt. “You need the bandage changed.”
    She hiccupped, tried to get out a word, but battled another fit of laughter before she managed, “This is too good.”
    “I’m serious,” he said.
    “I know.” She snorted a laugh. “That’s what makes it so funny.” Jesse motioned to the bag he carried, and said, “Even brought your own supplies, I see,” before howling again with laughter.
    Cole crossed his arms over his chest and the bag bounced off his waist. He gave her a stern look, and Jesse made a valiant effort to push back her amusement. She felt her lip twitch, and he lifted both brows.
    “Come on,” she said. “You have to admit you have nerve coming here like Mother Teresa.”
    “No more nerve than you do, stealing money that isn’t yours.”
    All amusement vanished. “Don’t like having your hard earned blood money stolen?”
    Cole strode to the bed and sat on the edge nearest her. He dumped the contents of the bag onto the bedspread, then leveled his gaze on her. “You want to hear why I let you take the hundred thousand?”
    Jesse blinked, then laughed again.
    She quit laughing when Cole slid from the bed onto his knees and reached for the buttons on her Chinos.
     

Chapter Seventeen
    Jesse remained motionless as Cole carefully undid the hook on her pants, then the button and the zipper. He drew back the waistband until the top of her powder blue boy-short panties were visible. Her body tightened at the prospect of inspecting the rest of those cigarette burns he’d mentioned. The girl always falls for the bad guy , that’s how she justified it when she found herself remembering the broad shoulders and lean forearm he’d revealed when he’d shown her the burns. He started to slide the pants from her hips.
    She didn’t move, and he looked up at her. “Lift your hips so I can get the pants off.”
    Jesse still didn’t move. Cole glanced at the bloodstains. His brow furrowed. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he actually cared.
    He pinned her with a hard stare. “You haven’t taken proper care of this.”
    “I—”
    “I’m not stupid, Jess. It wouldn’t bleed like this if tended properly.”
    She sighed, and lifted her hips. Cole tugged the pants over her hips, taking care, she noticed, not to drag her panties down. That’s what she got for not wearing a thong. The boy shorts were little less than short shorts. Emma Peel would have planned better. So would she, next time.
    “I checked into the Cayman account,” Cole said as he peeled the bloody pant leg from her leg, then tugged the garment free of her stocking feet. “It walks and talks like a payoff.”
    Cole dropped the pants on the floor beside the chair. He gripped her ankle and began unwrapping the bloody gauze from her calf. The bandage snagged on clotted blood and yanked at the wound. Jesse winced.
    Cole looked up at her. “You okay?”
    Jesse grimaced. “That hurts more than when he cut me.” A little melodramatic, she realized, but the situation seemed to call for it.
    Cole gave a serious nod, then went back to unwrapping the bandage. The bandage pulled free and he discarded it beside the pants. He shook his head as he caressed her knee around the wound.
    “You’ve ripped out more stitches, and I can’t take you back to Rayburn. You shouldn’t have run.”
    His mouth thinned and she wondered how much more disapproving the look would get once he knew he wouldn’t get his money back, no matter how good a performance he gave. Had he arrived five minutes earlier, he could have stopped the transfer. Now, he needed her in order to get his money back. Amazing how five minutes made them new best friends. Cole grabbed a bottle of peroxide and box of gauze from the