Every Breath You Take: Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 3 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series)

by Taylor Lee

  “Show me your sexiest workout clothes. Forget the regulation gi’s. I wanna see the shortest shorts you have, the ones that barely cover your butt cheeks when you’re standing still much less when you’re sparring.” She lifted her D Cup breasts and added, “Oh, and the skimpiest halters.”

  Lexie frowned and then burst out laughing.

  “Damn, Tiffany, you won’t believe some of the outfits I practice in. They’d be outlawed in a strip joint.”

  Tiffany planted her hands on her hips and grinned.

  “That’s what I’m talking about, girlfriend. Bring ‘em on!”

  Chapter 9

  Brady and Peter headed to the dojo, eager for the upcoming show. Jake stopped to encourage Master Wan to join them. Master Wan’s solemn face broke into a grin when Jake told him what was happening.

  “Jake, it won’t be long before Lexie starts calling you Confucius.” He patted Jake’s shoulder with an impressed smile. “That is a clever, if underhanded, way to get those two young women to join together and become the powerful force they can be.”

  Brady huffed. “Hell, Master Wan. Jake’s a master at creating a motivated squad. He can beat the toughest prima donnas into a disciplined cadre of men focused on a common mission.”

  Jake shrugged. “I should be. Try corralling a bunch of ego-driven special operatives who are accustomed to ruling the world and running roughshod over every man or woman they meet. Somehow you have to break through their self-absorption and get them to see the power of combining forces.”

  Jake looked up to see Lexie and Tiffany entering the dojo. He added with a low whistle. “Speaking of powerful forces.” Jake clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder and murmured, “We really are the two luckiest guys on the planet, aren’t we, Bro?”

  Jake gazed at the stunning duo. Tiffany and Lexie were beyond beautiful. The two women were a contrast in color. Lexie’s hair was a golden wonder. Tiffany’s red hair was a stunning, fiery mass. But for the moment what was most noticeable were their powerful athletic bodies.

  Lexie was a couple of inches taller than Tiffany but they were both blessed with long-legged slender frames. They could grace any athletic magazine cover. Except for their incongruously lush breasts. Jake choked, remembering running his hands over Lexie’s naked flesh and tweaking her sensitive nipples, wringing moans of delight from her lips. The thought brought his dick to attention. Jake gave in to the awakening of his errant arousal. Seeing the light shining in Brady’s eyes and hearing his stifled moans, Jake chuckled. He was sure his buddy had had a homecoming night worthy of his and Lexie’s escapade in front of the three way mirrors. Seeing Brady’s gaze fastened on his beautiful woman, he was no doubt reliving every erotic moment.

  Peter reacted first with an appreciative murmur wondering aloud what the two sultry women would do next.

  It didn’t take Brady long to break out of his day dreaming to exclaim, “Holy Fuck!”

  Jake whistled. “You can say that again!”

  Peter laughed aloud while Master Wan pressed his lips together in a tight line but the laughter sparkling in his eyes was unmistakable.

  Jake watched in amazement as Lexie stripped off her sweat pants revealing the briefest short shorts he’d ever seen in the dojo. Languidly reaching down to grasp the hem of her shirt, Lexie slowly pulled the sweatshirt over her head. The stretchy halter below held her lush breasts in place—barely.

  Brady’s low moan drew Jake’s attention to Tiffany. If Lexie’s outfit was suggestive, Tiffany’s was outrageous. As voluptuous as her sparring partner, Tiffany’s tight short pants hugged her curvaceous bottom. Like Lexie’s halter, Tiffany’s breasts were barely contained in the stretchy fabric of her cutoff top.

  Both women studiously ignored the grunts, groans and salacious remarks coming from the sidelines. Instead they made a production of drawing their long manes of red and gold hair into ponytails on the tops of their heads. Then as if they had always sparred in striptease-worthy outfits, they began a series of warm-up stretches. Stretching was a customary part of any sparring contest, but Lexie and Tiffany turned their lithe movements into a sexy prequel of what was sure to be a sensational main event. Purposefully slowing their stretches to a series of provocative movements, the women bent, twisted and swished their show stopping bodies into unimaginable contortions each of which emphasized their enticing agility.

  As Lexie turned her back to them and bent over, slowly swaying her hips from side to side, Brady had had enough.

  He hollered, “Damn, hotshot! Shake that booty.”

  Lexie peeked up from under one arm and gave him an impudent wink then shook her bottom from side to side. The daring movements echoed by the ones Tiffany was doing brought hoots and hollers from their eager audience.

  Watching the two women, Jake could barely contain his laughter or his admiration. Catching Master Wan’s eye they exchanged a nod of appreciation. The last couple of days had been challenging and both men were concerned about Lexie’s spirits. It made them even more grateful to see the audacious, smart-assed woman they both knew and loved putting on a leer-worthy show. Tiffany was a perfect partner in crime. She was as outrageous as Lexie. She threw in a few special twists and booty twitches of her own that had Brady shouting encouragement and lewd instructions to “ramp it up!”

  When they’d finished stretching, Lexie and Tiffany stood and bowed to one another as though they always began a sparring match with a cheeky sexy warm up. Turning to their admiring audience, they bowed low. Then swaying their hips from side to side in an erotic slow dance, they sauntered to the center of the dojo. They both turned and blew a kiss at the four men on the sidelines. The men shouted their appreciation rowdily begging for more.

  Naturally Brady was the most vociferous. “Hot damn, bring it on!”

  Jake was a close second. “Damn straight, Darlins’. That’s the way to show up a bunch of unruly men. Put us in our place!”

  If the “pre-game show” was an erotic tease, the main event was nothing short of spectacular.

  Jake knew that both women were astonishing fighters. They each had a roomful of martial arts medals to prove it. In addition to being excellent trainers and ferocious fighters, they were extraordinary artists.

  Tiffany telegraphed her more aggressive style with an opening spinning heel kick. Following up with a one-two shoulder strike, she would have flattened a lesser fighter than Lexie. But Lexie countered with one of her trademark flying double flip kicks that landed with a crack on Tiffany’s shoulder. After their opening moves, the two master artists began to play off one another’s strengths. Tiffany shrieked with admiration at Lexie’s acrobatic aerials. Lexie echoed her appreciative shouts at Tiffany’s amazingly well-placed strikes. Their shouts of laughter echoed the ones from their audience at a particularly audacious move. It soon became clear that Lexie and Tiffany had each found an equally talented partner, and thrived on the rivalry. They pulled their kicks, punches, and strikes avoiding serious damage but there was no question that either of them could have taken down a lesser fighter without breathing hard.

  Jake saw the revealing moisture in Master Wan’s eyes, and was glad that he wasn’t the only one with unshed tears. Master Wan had trained Lexie in the way that Tiffany’s father had trained her. That both women were as extraordinary as they were was a tribute to their master teachers but also to the drive and discipline of the two superstars. Their years of grueling practice showed. The result was five minutes of ferocious artistry. When they came to a stop and bowed to one another, the shouts and applause from their admirers was deafening.

  Jake and the other men managed to constrain themselves and stood at a respectful distance as Tiffany and Lexie eagerly showed each other how to do some of their trademark moves. Lexie was clearly impressed with Tiffany’s pummeling rapid-fire strikes that the Korean Kkangpae fighters had taught her. And like everyone else, Tiffany was awestruck at Lexie’s flying double and triple leaps that ended with bone splitting kicks. After
a mutual tutorial of breathtaking moves, the women turned to the audience and acknowledged the raucous applause with gracious bows.

  Jake stood at a short distance allowing Peter and then Master Wan to embrace Lexie. Peter and Lexie had once fought off a gang of degenerate pimps, and Peter was well aware of her skills. He hugged her close to him and whispered his congratulations. But nothing spoke louder to her success than the pride mixed with love radiating from Master Wan’s face.

  “Ah, Jai Li, my heart is filled with awe. You grow more stunning every year. Maturity has added a gracefulness to your ‘flights’ that was not there before. Someday you will fly though the skies like a powerful eagle.” He smiled at her and nodded to Jake. “I think some of that mature grace can be attributed to this man. There is nothing like passionate love to open one’s body to possibilities unimaginable before.”

  Lexie flushed at her sensei’s overt reference to the power of sexual love. Jake threw her a knowing wink making her cheeks flush brighter.

  Yanking her boy shorts down to better cover her bottom, Lexie sauntered over to Jake. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shining. Jake pulled her into his arms drinking in the feel of her lean body covered with soft womanly curves. The combination of firm toned muscles and luscious softness had his dick hammering against his jeans. He knew it wouldn’t take much to haul this sexy, sweat-covered fighting machine off to their quarters where he could demonstrate what he thought of her skill and her outrageous costume.

  Lexie smiled at him, then annoyance chased away her grin.

  “You know what you are, don’t you?”

  Jake grinned down at her. “In addition to being an arrogant asshole?”

  Lexie place her hands on her hips and scowled. “Yes, in addition to that! You, Jake Gardner, are a sneaky son of a bitch!”

  Jake’s eye’s widened in mock surprise.

  “Whatever are you talking about, Darlin’?”

  “You set me up, didn’t you? You planned to use me and Tiffany all along as partners, but you pretended that you needed to see us fight. Why, Jake? Other than wanting to see two hot babes put on a show?”

  Jake pulled her close to him reveling in the smell and taste of her sweaty body. He leaned down and licked the drop of sweat pooling on her neck. His whisper was low, provocative.

  “Why do you think I did that, Lexie?”

  She sniffed but snuggled up against him. “Because once again you wanted to show me what it means to be a team player. And… also because you knew I would be amazed at Tiffany’s skills.”

  Jake nodded. “And Darlin’, that she would be thunderstruck by your extraordinary talent. I needed my girlie fighters to know how terrific they are. Plus, I wanted to convince you that you couldn’t ask for a more skilled partner.”

  Lexie shrieked in outrage, “Girlie Fighters?!”

  Jake gave her a resounding smack on her bottom.

  “What the hell else would you call two stacked, bodacious women who chose to fight in little more than G-strings and pasties?”

  Lexie laughed in spite of herself. “C’mon, Jake. These are shorts and halter tops, not G-strings and pasties.”

  Jake shook his head and tugged on her halter exposing her breasts even more. Drawing her closer to him, he scoffed, “Tell you what, Darlin’. You couldn’t get much sexier than what you and Tiffany did out there even if you rolled around naked on the ground.”

  She hooted with laughter. “So you liked our costumes? Even if we chose to forego the oil?”

  Jake pulled her closer. He ground his fearsome arousal against her belly and growled in her ear.

  “Listen up, honey. Don’t even think about wearing those costumes with anyone but our team. Hell, you’d have your opponents begging for relief. The problem is it might make them even more aggressive. That pert little ass of your is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”

  She tossed her head, taunting him.

  “What does it do to you, Jake? You seem pretty contained. You’re not pawing the ground like a bull in heat.”

  Jake shook his head, pretending surprise. “Oh baby. And I thought you were a better judge of my reactions to you. Are you telling me that you’ll be shocked when I throw you over my shoulder and haul you off to our quarters? Where, my saucy Warrior Princess, I intend to fuck the hell out of you?” He added in a low murmur, “Knowing the way I feel now it’s gonna be an effort to make it to our meeting on time.”

  Before Lexie could escape, Jake tossed her over his shoulder. Ignoring her shrieks he smacked her ass and winked at his friends.

  “Lexie and I are going to ‘rest’ before the meeting this afternoon.” He grinned at Brady and Tiffany who were linked in each other’s arms their faces lit with excitement. “I’d tell the Lt. Colonel to finish up any last minute details, but from the look on his face and that of Major Anderson, looks like the ball is in your court, Peter.”

  Peter huffed. “One more reason for me to find a woman as sexy and outrageous as these two.” He added with a sigh, “If that is possible.”

  Master Wan gave him a thoughtful look. “Don’t settle for anything less, Peter. You would never forgive yourself. You are a fine man, an honorable one.”

  Peter watched the two couples heading out the door. At the sound of Lexie’s shrieks and Jake’s resounding laughter, he shook his head with a wry grin.

  “Tell me, Master Wan. Am I still honorable if killing is my business? And that I enjoy blindfolds, hand cuffs and the back of a crotch rocket as much as the Big Guy does?”

  “Indeed. On all counts. Although your choice of profession and your ‘proclivities’ insist that like Jake and others I know,” the elderly man added with a wink, “finding the right woman is imperative.”

  Peter watched Master Wan walk away with a lilt in his step. Peter wondered if he could ever emulate the elegant man’s model. It was an inspiring thought. Hmm, being a world class killer and finding a woman who was his equal? A heady goal to aspire to—indeed.

  Chapter 10

  Jake watched the elevator numbers tick off the floors as they rode to the top of the Government Center. He looked from one to the other of the team appraisingly then focused on Lexie.

  “I’ve been thinking about those cracker-jack instincts of yours, Darlin’. And the critical questions you raised yesterday about how the killers got the names of the girls.”

  He was quiet for a moment then tossed out a challenge.

  “Chew on that fact for a moment, everyone. Think about it. We’re the only ones who knew the girls names. And we sure as hell didn’t tell anyone, correct? The only way the killers could’ve gotten their identities is from men so high in the ‘need to know’ chain that nothing is secret to them.”

  Brady’s eyes widened. Pressing his lips in a thin line, he nodded and gave an appreciative grunt.

  “Such as the men we’re gonna be meeting with in the next three minutes?”

  Jake’s lip quirked up in a satisfied smile.

  “Yeah. Those men.”

  ~~~

  “My God, Alexis, you are more beautiful every time I see you, if that is possible!”

  Commissioner Roberts’s suntanned face glowed with appreciation. He reached for Lexie’s hand and drew her into the room. A wall of glass overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge stretched the full length of the ornate conference room. Lit with sunshine, the sparkling blue harbor below and the landmark stretching across it contrasted with the ugliness of the mission they had come to discuss.

  The seven men seated at the mammoth table all leapt to their feet at their entrance. It didn’t surprise Jake that every one of them was staring at Lexie as though they’d seen an apparition.

  Lexie was a phenomenon. Her mane of thick blond hair, bright dark gray eyes and show stopping body had become a familiar sight in San Francisco’s halls of power. Her scintillating red sheathe and trademark five-inch high-heeled shoes were just one more reason that all of the men were staring at her glassy-eyed.

/>   Jake hid his smile watching the powerful public leaders jostle one another seeking her attention. The press corps had named his glorious woman the Blonde Barracuda. For good reason. Lexie was as feared as she was admired. No one who lived in the public eye wanted to be on the wrong side of Alexis Beloi. The press couldn’t get enough of her physical beauty, rapier wit, and passion for her cause. With a single telephone call, Lexie could gin up evening news television coverage on every channel, often as the lead story. Almost singlehanded, she had forced the ‘city fathers’ in the law enforcement and political arenas to deal with the hideous reality of the exploited women in the District. The anxiety on the faces of the influential men hosting the meeting confirmed Lexie’s power.

  Jake waited until Police Commissioner Roberts and ICE Commissioner Spellman and the others had paid homage to the superstar, before he acknowledged Brady and introduced Tiffany. Brady was well known from previous encounters and exchanged pleasantries with each of the attendees. The men’s eyes widened when Jake introduced Tiffany. Jake grinned at their astonishment. It was bad enough that Lexie had totally wowed them, but Tiffany was a wonder in her own right. Her fire-red hair twisted on top of her head complemented her black business suit. But no matter how professional her intent, the mid-thigh pencil skirt and fitted jacket couldn’t hide her voluptuous body. Like Lexie she chose to wear stiletto high-heeled shoes that showed off her gasp-worthy legs.

  “Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet our new partner, Major Tiffany Anderson. Major Anderson worked with Col. Schaefer and me on several missions. She has spent the last two years on assignment in Korea. Major Anderson is an expert on the Korean syndicate responsible for the international sex trade that emanates from Korea. Major Anderson recently retired from active duty and to our delight agreed to join our firm. She is a valuable member of our team, as you will all discover.”

  Craig Spellman’s sallow skin took on a brighter hue. While the rest of the men greeted Tiffany politely, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed why he wasn’t known for his aplomb. He looked from Lexie to Tiffany and guffawed.