Page 59 of Hot Pursuit
Nate stopped dancing.
He dropped his hold on her body and brought both of his hands to her face, then brushed his thumbs over her cheekbones, crossing a line, but in that moment, he didn’t care about professionalism. He cared about Jo. So he tilted her chin up, soothing her with his touch, as he tried to do the same with his words.
“I’ll guide you through it, Jo, every step of the way. I can’t promise it will be easy, but I can promise it’s the right thing to do. Five minutes, maybe ten, and you’ll be free.”
She covered his wrists with her palms, not pulling him away, but holding on tight. “He’s my father.”
“He made his choices,” Nate countered. “You deserve the chance to make your own.”
“What will happen to him?” Her voice was small. Fragile. Something Nate had never associated with Jolene Carter before. He hated the hurt he knew he was causing, but there was no other way.
“That depends on him, Jo, not on you. We’re after much bigger fish than your father. If he cooperates, we could get him an easier sentence, a more comfortable cell, maybe a chance at probation.” Nate didn’t give the alternative option, but she heard it through his silence. He jumped in before he lost her completely. “But no matter what, we can keep him safe, Jo. Safe from the people he’s working with—people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.”
She took a stilted breath. “And what about Thad?”
It took everything in his power not to wrinkle his nose with disgust.Ryder.Nate had no idea what she saw in the man aside from a criminal. “He’ll have the same options.”
“Jail?” The word was little more than a whisper.
Nate’s brows pushed together, but he nodded nonetheless. She deserved honesty. After living in so many lies, she deserved honesty from at least him.
Jo curled her fingers through his, so they held hands against her cheeks. Her eyes were wide with an innocence he didn’t quite understand how she’d managed to preserve, shining with a trust he wasn’t sure how he’d earned. And yet, the feelings were there, simmering between them. Loyalty. And another word he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face, or even knew how to.
“And you’ll be there, Nate?”
“Every step of the way.” He squeezed her fingers, showing her with everything he had how much he meant his words. “Whatever you need, Jo.”
She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, making his chest pinch and his blood boil as it slowly relaxed back into its normal, plump position. “And what about after?”
With his focus on her lips and the heat stirring beneath his skin, the words failed to fully register. “After?”
“After, Nate, will you—”
“Parker, do you have any updates?”
Leo’s voice coming through the comm made Nate jolt upright. His hands dropped from her cheeks, and his feet shuffled back, bringing much-needed space between them. Jo’s gaze immediately jumped to the wire disappearing beneath his collar.
He lifted his wrist to his mouth. “Not now, Leo.”
The words came out as more of a snarl than he intended.
“Ryder just exited the auction. He’s headed toward the museum a few blocks away. Do you have eyes on Jolene Carter?”
“I—” Nate cut himself off. Jo stared. At his mic. At his comm. At him. Accusation and something too close to hurt bright and shiny in her eyes. “I have Jo in sight.”
She took a step back, tilting her head to the side as though asking him to give her a reason to stop. He couldn’t.
“I have to go, Leo.”
“Did she take the bait? Are you getting anywhere with her?”
“I have to go.”
But it was too late.
Jo moved farther and farther away. By the time he dropped his wrist back to his side, she’d turned and was halfway across the ballroom, walking fast. People watched, stared. He’d been too wrapped up in Jo to notice they’d become the entertainment. He didn’t care.
“Jo!”
