Chapter 3

3

Brianna Claireson had her favorites among the hot guys of the TSP. Detective Gunnar Erickson had always topped that list.

He was wonderful to talk with.

He always listened, and he always looked beyond amazing in a tuxedo. Tonight was no exception. She had already danced with him earlier. Now, she saw him right there next to Powell. Those two had come together.

But Powell and Gunnar were a just-friends thing. Brianna knew that.

Gunnar wouldn't be interested in Powell . Powell wasn't feminine enough for a man like Gunnar. Gunnar would have the kind of woman who looked model-perfect, really.

Brianna was far more model-perfect than Powell. She'd thought about becoming a model once. When she was younger. But after her stepfather died, and she'd gotten her share of his money—not as much as Banks or Bethany had gotten, but enough—Brianna didn't have to work. She hadn't wanted to either.

Now, she had a handful of businesses she'd inherited from her brother Banks. She had business managers to handle them for her, though. It worked well for her. She was really busy running Hughes Heights, after all. It was a huge, exclusive private community with over three hundred residences. That took a great deal of her time to do.

Brianna looked at her own dance partner. He was nowhere near as beautiful as Gunnar, but he was very attractive. His body felt strong and fit pressed against hers. She would get him out of his tuxedo once the evening ended. She was looking forward to it. She knew he was. He had told her exactly what he planned to do to her. In great detail.

The things Jack did to her always made her feel so wicked. He had promised to punish her later. She deserved it too.

It wasn't really romantic or anything between them, but she liked being with him every chance she could. The way they played together and everything.

Brianna had told herself that before when things got a little too emotional between them. She wasn't going to be in love with him. She just wasn't. If she had felt that way for him, something would have come from it years ago.

They'd been having sex together since she had been seventeen. He had been her first. And, whenever things had ended with her previous lovers, she somehow always found her way right back to him.

Jack was her constant. She knew that. He met a need, and that was it. All she wanted, right?

"You are drooling over that dumbass Erickson, aren't you?" Jack asked, pulling her closer. "I thought you had gotten over being a damned buckle bunny when I caught you in bed with Joey."

"Not like I cheated—Joey and I didn't go all the way. We just fooled around a little. You and I aren't exclusive, remember?"

His hands tightened on her in a delicious way. Threateningly. She always liked it when he acted like a jealous brute. Even if it was all an act.

He wasn't jealous over her. Brianna wasn't stupid—he'd slept with dozens of women through the years. It was why she always insisted he use a condom. That just protected both of them. She wasn't on birth control or anything either.

She had had her fair share of lovers, too, after all. She was a beautiful woman—she had known that for her entire life. And she took advantage of it. Tonight, she would take advantage of him—as long as he wasn't truly angry. Joey was a good friend of his, after all. And Joey hadn't exactly pushed her away. "That was just a one-night thing when I was feeling really lonely, and you know it. You were too busy to come see me, and Joey was just there."

Everything just felt a little brighter when Jack held her lately. Even if they didn't have sex, she liked it when he held her. Of course, he was always there when he wanted sex. But he held her after.

She had Jack. Since her brother Banks had been brutally murdered and everyone had told all those horrible lies about him and everything, she had had Jack .

Jack had been there. Jack had helped Brianna get through. He had just shown up to be there with her because he had always cared about her. And she knew that. Had always known that.

Her dance was cut short—when his phone rang. Work. He was being called in. She hated that, hated when that happened.

"What is it?" He worked in Homicide. It could be really, really bad sometimes.

"I have to go. Go home, Bri. Stay there and lock the damned fucking doors, no matter what. Lock your doors and stay home tonight, understand me?"

"I'm in Hughes Heights. I'm safe there." They had a gate and cameras and extra security and everything now. Hughes Heights was the safest place to be in Finley Creek. Everyone knew that.

"Bullshit. Hughes Heights isn't any safer than anywhere else in this damned city. Trust me on that. Lock the doors, babe. I mean it." He kissed her and pulled away.

She watched him hurry away, leaving her on the dance floor. He said something to his mother, and then he was just gone.

Like he hadn't even been there.

It just wasn't fair. Wasn't he allowed to have a private life too?