Page 71 of Hurt in Her Eyes

“I didn’t think I was being an ass at all, actually. I came looking for you so I could feed you. I am doing guard duty, remember? That means I am taking care of your body. That means feeding you. You don’t eat enough, beautiful queen of the vault.”

“I eat enough. I’ve just been stressed. I want to go home.”

“Well, according to Daniel, that isn’t going to happen tonight either.”

Her lip almost lifted in a snarl. She’d looked at him that way countless times before. It had always gotten him hot under the collar. Now, those pretty lips of hers had him hot in other ways. He wasn’t stupid enough to tell her that.

He stayed at his favorite little rabbit’s side as he escorted her like a good bodyguard would while they headed down the hall. A loud voice from the second conference room had him pausing just after they’d passed it.

Haldyn stopped, almost in the midst of the door.

Jarrod didn’t think, he just pulled her back.

Something didn’t feel right. That voice had been raised—in fear. And it was one he recognized.

“It’s Heather,” Haldyn said, looking over her shoulder at him. “I saw she was in, filling out the reports for last night, with IA.”

Jarrod nodded. He’d already filled out his own reports. Gave his interview about what had happened. “I think that guy is Steve Wilson. He’s considering transferring in to MC.”

“What do you want?” Heather’s voice had a fury Jarrod had never heard before. He tensed.

Heather didn’t lose her cool. That scary woman just didn’t.

That was one of the things that made her so scary.

You never knew when she was quietly and calmly going to start slinging poison-tipped daggers at your head. She hadn’t done that to anyone yet, but Jarrod was half convinced it could happen. If some idiot made her mad enough anyway.

“To say hello to my wife.” There was a gloating in the guy’s tone that Jarrod just didn’t like.

“I was never your wife, and you know it.” Wife. Hell. That was unexpected. Heather and that dumbass? He just couldn’t see it. “Get your hands off me, Steve. Now!”

Jarrod checked. He and Haldyn were alone in the hallway.

Haldyn started to go in. Jarrod wasn’t about to let her get caught in between a domestic dispute in the middle of the TSP. He pulled her back. Shook his head.

Jarrod listened, Haldyn in front of him.

What they were doing was probably stupid—it was definitely an invasion of privacy. But he couldn’t stand that prick Steve Wilson. He had known him in the academy in Wichita Falls. Guy was total scum and always had been.

The sound of a wooden chair scraping across the floor had Haldyn jumping backward. Right into Jarrod’s chest. His face ended up buried in the hair she’d left loose for the day.

“Now, Heather baby, be nice to me. I was nice to you. I didn’t ask for visitation…or even custody. Didn’t even give the brats my name.”

Jarrod’s focus shifted, fast. Off the woman in his arms—and to the one behind that half closed door. Wilson’s tone told him all he needed to know.

“I’d hate to see that change. Why don’t you come by my hotel room. We’ll…spend some time together. It’s been too long.”

“Get your hands off me, Steve. Now.” Heather’s voice had changed. Tightened.

“What are you going to do? Report me? Again?”

Jarrod stayed right where he was, as what he was hearing sank in. Rage tightened his stomach in a mix he wouldn’t forget anytime soon. He wouldn’t put it past Steve Wilson to be the kind to hurt a woman that got in the way of what he wanted.

“You are my wife, paper or not. Mine. From the moment I looked at you. Hell, Heather, you’ve always been the hottest thing in the TSP. Have you screwed any of your pals in Major Crimes yet? I know how hungry you are for it. I bet they look at you and just imagine…”

Pig. Steve Wilson had always been a pig, but the taunting tone in the asshole’s voice just pissed Jarrod off even more. If he ever had the opportunity, he would tear Wilson apart.

“You’re the worst I’ve ever had. Let go of me. I told you I’d cut off your dick if you hit me ever again. I meant it, too.”