N. Walters - Stroke of Sapphire

On the other hand, she might not like what he was doing. Better to find out now if she could live with the kind of man he was than to have her discover it later and leave him.

She was watching him as she ate with those expressive brown eyes that saw so much. Would she understand his sense of justice or would she be disappointed in him for bending the law to his favor?

Sapphire put what was left of the sandwich back on the plate. “What is it? What’s wrong, Jake?”

“I told you earlier I’d deal with Gregor.” She watched him intently but only nodded. “This is me dealing with him.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Jake stood and set her on her feet. He went to his safe, unlocked it and removed the envelopes he’d brought home from work days ago. “These are documents that prove Ivan Gregor is bribing officials and that many of his deals are suspect.”

“Where did you get this?”

This was the hard part. He had no idea how she would react. “I hacked into his accounts and records and those of the people he deals with.”

“You what?”

Jake shrugged, totally unapologetic, and tossed the envelopes on his desk. “If Gregor had left you alone I would have left him alone. Since I can’t kill him, I can make him too busy to bother about you. If the authorities do what they should with this info, Gregor should go to jail. At the least, he’ll have a lengthy trial.”

Sapphire sat down heavily in his chair. “You found all that out about him?” She picked at the hem of his shirt.

He crouched down in front of her, grabbing her hands, holding them until she met his gaze. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you. Uncle Sam taught me many things, and developed my two natural talents—I’m hell on wheels with a rifle and I can pretty much hack any system out there. It’s what makes me so good at designing security systems.”

Sapphire’s fingers curled against his, giving him hope that all was not lost. “The police and others are hampered by laws. I’m not. I can send these in anonymously and that will give the authorities enough to act on.”

She nibbled on her lower lip and his cock immediately went to attention. He forced himself to ignore it. “But if what you say is true, what if Ivan bribes officials to make this go away?”

Jake smiled. “That’s the beauty of this. I’m sending it to the media too. There are several investigative reporters who would love to sink their teeth into a story this juicy. If the authorities don’t act, the media will, and then the authorities will have no choice.”

“What if you get caught?” She grabbed his shoulders, her nails digging into his bare skin. “You could go to jail.”

He caught her hands and brought them to his lips, kissing her clenched fingers. “No, babe. They can try to track me, but it’s not going to happen.”

“You’re that good?”

He wished he could tell what was going on in that nimble brain of hers. “I’m that good.”

“Okay, but promise me you’ll never do anything like this again. Not on my account. I couldn’t stand it if you got in trouble because of me.”

His heart swelled and he stood, sweeping her out of his chair and into his arms. “You understand why I had to do this?”

She shook her head and his heart sank. “I wish you’d let me call the cops and lodge a complaint. But I know that doesn’t always work, not with a determined stalker. I saw what my sister went through when she had one.”

Jake was sorry for what had happened to her family, but was secretly grateful for Emerald Jewel’s stalker. Without him, he’d never have met Sapphire. Since everything worked out okay in the end, he didn’t need to feel too guilty for thinking that way.

“I understand why you think you had to do this,” she continued. “But let’s stay on this side of the law from now on.”

“Promise.” Then he added a disclaimer. “Unless you’re threatened again. Then all bets are off.”

She cupped his face and planted a quick kiss on his lips. “I guess that will have to do.”

“You call that a kiss?” he grumbled. He showed her what a real kiss was, lifting her in his arms as their tongues dueled for supremacy. He started to carry her into the bedroom when the buzzer to his door sounded.

Sapphire broke their kiss, looking slightly bewildered. “Who in the name of heaven would that be this time of night?”

Jake gave her a grin. “That would be the guy who’s going to take the packages to the delivery company for me.”

She was instantly concerned. “Can he be trusted?” She grabbed his face. “Maybe we should mail them ourselves.”

Jake laughed when the buzzer sounded again. “He can be trusted.” He lifted her to one side, grabbed the envelopes from the desk and started toward the front door.

“Jake Knight, you’re stark naked. Go put some clothes on.”

He pressed down on the buzzer.

“It’s me.”

“Come on up,” he told his buddy.

Sapphire stood in his living room, tapping her bare toe against the floor. She looked totally tousled, her lips moist and red from his kiss. “Maybe you should wait in the bedroom.”

“If you can answer the door naked, I can be here.”

Swearing, he tossed the envelopes onto the table beside the door and raced down the hallway. He grabbed his jeans and had one leg shoved into them when a knock came on the door. “Don’t open it,” he yelled, even knowing he was too late to stop her.

He heard her voice greet his buddy. Jake finished pulling on his jeans, grabbed a T-shirt from the closet and practically ran to the living room. Dolan, the bastard, was standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Thank you so much for your help earlier this evening.” Sapphire had hold of his friend’s hand, shaking it.

Dolan looked slightly bemused. “No problem, ma’am.” He glanced toward Jake. “You got something for me?”

Jake grabbed the packets and used the T-shirt to wipe them clean of his prints before handing them over. “Make sure you’re not seen and that the envelopes are clean.” There could be no telltale fingerprints to lead back to either of them.

Dolan raised one eyebrow. “Not a problem.” And it wouldn’t be. Not for a man with Dolan’s skills.

Jake nodded. “We’ll grab a coffee sometime soon and exchange new numbers.” He knew his buddy understood to meet him tomorrow. They’d both have new phones and would destroy the ones they were currently using. No one would ever be able to trace their calls or conversations about Ivan Gregor.

His buddy stilled and slowly nodded. “Okay.” Then he was gone.

“A man of few words, isn’t he? He wouldn’t even tell me his name.” Sapphire stared at the closed door.

“He keeps to himself.”

Sapphire chuckled. “He makes you seem like you’re an outgoing personality.”

Jake didn’t want to talk about Dolan or about Gregor any longer. As far as he was concerned the matter was done. Settled. He had more important things to deal with.

He scooped Sapphire into his arms. “I think we could use a shower.”

Everything inside him settled when she wrapped her arms around him and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

Sapphire stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked the same with her curly hair tumbling around her shoulders, her dark-brown eyes and full lips. But she felt different.

Jake had broken the law in order to protect her. It was a heady feeling to know a man as honorable as he had done such a thing for her. She’d been halfway shocked and equally thrilled.

It was frightening to think of Ivan Gregor breaking the law to get his way in his business deals. She shivered as she remembered his face from yesterday. He truly expected to take her in his car, do whatever he wanted and suffer no consequences. She wondered if he’d ever done such a thing before and, deep in her gut, knew he had. The move was too practiced and he was too cocky. No, he and his flunkies had pulled that maneuver before.

She wondered if the woman involved had reported it to the police or if she’d been too ashamed, certain no one would believe her. That happened a lot in rape cases, especially if the man was powerful and good-looking. People didn’t want to believe such men could be monsters. Plus, if what Jake told her was true, Ivan probably had friends in high places who would help such charges go away.

It was scary to contemplate what had almost happened, what would have happened if not for Jake and his vigilance.

He’d had someone following Ivan for days, keeping tabs on him constantly, and all without telling her. That was Jake, a protector to his core. In his mind, he hadn’t broken the law at all, but had only helped where the law was hindered by rules and regulations. To his way of thinking, what he’d done was right. And she couldn’t disagree with him.

She shoved all thoughts of Ivan out of her head, grabbed her brush and dragged it over her hair. It was past time for her to meet her sister at Althea’s Bakery. She’d had to hurry home and grab some clean clothing, not wanting to wear the same thing she had last night.

The three-quarter-length denim skirt and long-sleeved burnt-orange sweater looked great together. She dropped her brush on the vanity and hurried to her bedroom. She slid her feet into a pair of brown leather flats, grabbed her purse and headed out. She was already late.

After she and Jake had showered, with him meticulously washing every inch of her body, they’d fallen into bed where he’d made love to her slow and easy. When she woke again, the sun was up and she was running behind schedule.

Jake had insisted on taking her home, but she’d drawn the line at him waiting for her. She didn’t think Ivan would try anything again so soon. Jake had given in, but not before letting her know he wasn’t happy about the situation.