She slipped the bag from her shoulders. “Fine.” She grasped it in both hands and pulled it closer to her chest. “Take it.”
She thrust the backpack at him, catching him off guard. The bag slammed into his chest, and he fumbled to keep hold of it and his knife. Unfortunately, he managed to keep his grip on both. But she’d distracted him enough that Rick could make his move. His powerful arms wrapped around the guy from behind. The piece of shit dropped the backpack and tried to swing the knife at Rick, but with his arms pinned he couldn’t do much. He still managed to knick Rick’s arm, drawing a long, thin line of bright red blood that made Gina gasp.
Rick grimaced and grabbed the guy’s wrist, squeezing until he squealed in pain. The knife dropped to the ground. Gina scrambled over to kick it out of the way. Rick nodded at her with a quick smile, the would-be thief still squirming in his arms, and if she didn’t know better, she’d say her crazy-ass cop was enjoying himself.
Rick twisted the guy off his feet and slammed him into the ground face-first. He wrestled the guy’s arms behind his back.
“Having fun?” she asked.
Rick glanced up at her with as near to an eye roll as she’d ever seen him do. “Oh yeah. Having a blast. Grab my cuffs, would you? Back pocket.”
Gina’s eyes widened a bit, but she reached into his back pocket. While it was highly inappropriate for the situation, she couldn’t help the electric shock that ran up her arm as her hand came into contact with a very firm ass cheek. She may or may not have copped a small feel before she grabbed the cuffs and pulled them out.
From the heated look in Rick’s eyes when she handed them to him, he’d felt everything she’d done. And enjoyed it.
“Have a hard time finding them?” he asked with a smile.
She ignored that. “Do you always carry your cuffs around when you’re off duty?”
Rick shackled the thief’s hands behind his back. “When I’m with you? Always. Never know when I’m going to need them.”
He watched her as he said it, and she got the feeling he wasn’t talking about using them for criminal activity. Her breath caught in her throat, and her tongue darted out to moisten suddenly dry lips. Rick slowly smiled, seemingly oblivious to the protests of the man he knelt on.
“You okay?” Rick asked.
“No! Get off me!” the guy on the ground said.
“Not you.” Rick pushed his head back down. “You,” he said, his eyes burning into hers. “You good?”
That small smile still touched his lips, but Gina could see the anger in his eyes, in the way his muscles corded and bunched as he held down the man who’d threatened her. She was a tough chick who could take care of herself, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy a little help. The protective caveman glaring out from behind Rick’s eyes sparked a primal response in her that made her want to shed some clothes and reward him for a job well done, and that pissed her feminist side right off. Her libido didn’t give a shit, though. She had a lot of residual adrenaline surging through her system, and the strong, sexy man who’d wrestled a knife-wielding assailant to the ground seemed like an excellent recipient for her pent-up energy.
She looked into Rick’s eyes from mere inches away. Even kneeling on the ground—well, on a guy who was on the ground—his gaze was level with hers.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice low and raspy, thick with need and frustrated energy. “I’m good.”
“Good.” His own voice had dropped an octave. His gaze dropped to her lips, and she sucked in a breath.
She caught a flash of color out of the corner of her eye. “You’re bleeding,” she reminded him.
He didn’t even look down at his wound, but kept his eyes locked onto hers. “It’s only a scratch.”
She leaned a little closer. “You should probably get that looked at.”
“I’ll live.”
“You sure?” Her breath caught in her throat. Their lips were inches apart. All she had to do was lean in…
“Yo, you going to let me go or just make out right on top of me? ’Cause you know, I’m all down for that shit, but I’d rather you take the cuffs off first so I can use my hands, you know what I’m sayin’?”
Rick shoved the guy’s head down and grabbed his phone out of his pocket to make a quick call to his precinct. After a quick back-and-forth, he put his phone away and patted the guy’s shoulder.
“Your ride will be here in a few minutes.”
“Ah. Not cool, man.”
Gina glared at him. “Yeah, well why don’t you remember that the next time you feel like pulling a knife on someone, you piece of shit.”