His Risk to Take Read Free Page A

disbelief. “I’ve been taking the train since I could walk.”
    He considered her for a moment, then shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go.”
    She hesitated. “What do you mean ‘let’s’?”
    “I’ll ride with you to make sure the enemy you just made doesn’t follow you home to take his money back. Then I’ll walk you to your door and leave.”
    No way. Couldn’t let it happen. She didn’t want him to see where she lived. Not that she felt ashamed, exactly, of her microscopic studio apartment located above the Chinese take-out place.
    “Your concern is touching, but I don’t need an escort.” He looked nowhere close to budging. “Fine, I’ll just take a cab.”
    “You won’t get a cab in this snow storm.”
    “You know the city pretty well for being new in town.”
    He regarded her curiously. “How did you know I was new in town? I didn’t tell you that.”
    “Lucky guess.”
    Troy was silent for a moment, contemplating her. “There’s an easy solution to this. You stay at my place. I take the couch. I’ll drive you home myself in the morning, when I haven’t been drinking.”
    She could probably lose him if she wanted to. Weave through the crowded bar, duck out the door, and shortcut down a side street before he even got his coat on. It’s what she would do under most circumstances. Another part of her, however, wanted to appease her curiosity. To see where he lived, to find out what made him tick. She didn’t want to say good night just yet.
    And at the end of the day, she’d always loved a good gamble.
    “Let me see your wallet.”
    His head jerked back. “What?”
    “Let me look through your wallet,” she repeated. “Then I’ll decide if I can trust you enough to stay with you tonight.”
    Troy barked a laugh. “I just watched you fleece a guy for a chunk of cash and you want me to voluntarily hand you my wallet?”
    “How can I trust you if you can’t trust me?” They were both still a moment, eyeballing each other in the middle of the rowdy bar. Finally, with an expression that said he couldn’t believe his own decision, he reached into his back pocket and tossed his wallet onto the table. She stared down in shock at the black leather wallet clipped to a shiny NYPD badge. “You’re a cop ?”
    “Detective, yes.”
    “Now I know I can’t trust you.”
    “Explain that logic.”
    She gestured to the pool table where a new game had started. “You just watched me fleece a guy, as you put it, and did nothing to stop me.”
    “I’m not on the clock.”
    Ruby narrowed her eyes. Damn, she usually had the ability to pick out cops from a mile away. How he’d managed to slip under her radar, she couldn’t fathom. She reached down and picked up the wallet, weighing it in her hands for a moment before she flipped it open. The first thing that caught her eye was a picture of an older couple, presumably his parents. A point in his favor. They looked happy, the older man who shared Troy’s good looks, and the much shorter merry-looking woman he had his arm thrown around. Pushing aside a flash of melancholy, she moved on. Gym membership, credit card, condom. She flashed him a look. He shrugged. No pictures of any kids or wifey-looking chicks. No frequent buyer card for a massage parlor. No Post-it reminders to chop up and eat anyone. He appeared to check out.
    Ruby was nearing the end of her inspection when another picture grabbed her attention. Troy standing next to a man, about the same age, both wearing police uniforms. Wrigley Field towered behind them in the background. Abruptly, the wallet was snatched from her hands.
    “Finished?”
    She looked at him curiously. “Who is that?”
    With jerky motions, he yanked his coat off the back of his chair and pulled it on around his broad shoulders. Ruby followed suit with her own coat, watching him as she did so. Something about the picture had struck a nerve. In seconds, his demeanor had gone from teasing to rigid.
    “My ex-partner,