“Question?” If he’d asked a question, he couldn’t remember it. He couldn’t get past the hurt little girl she’d once been . . . still was.
“Pay attention, Jake. I don’t talk about my mother to just anyone.”
Whoa. He didn’t want to be special to her. Couldn’t be even if he wanted. Not only had her brother threatened to do him bodily harm if he so much as looked at her wrong—wrong meaning with lust in his eyes—but he was Romeo. He didn’t do permanent, and she was as special as they came. Maria deserved better than he could ever give her.
He stared out at the empty parking lot, unable to meet her eyes. “Go on. You were telling me about your mother’s book.”
A squirrel raced down the tree nearest them, followed seconds later by another one. A spring mating dance ensued between the two before they disappeared into the branches above him. Were they getting it on even as he sat in a now-stifling car with the one woman he could never have, no matter how much he wanted her? He turned on the car and rolled down both their windows.
“I just kept wondering, you know. If I could find my father, would he love me? Maybe not right away. I don’t expect that, but later, if he had a chance to get to know me. So, I got the book out of the garbage and searched for men with Spanish names. I found three. Are you curious how many stars they got?”
Not even. He switched off the ignition. “Only if it’s relevant to what happened.” Did she realize she was seeking validation that she was loveable from a man she’d never met? What if she did find her father and he wanted nothing to do with her? What would that do to her?
“It’s not, and I’m glad you don’t want to know. Leave it to Lovey Dovey to keep records like that. I felt dirty just reading it. Anyway, you know if you put a computer in front of me, I can find anything.”
That was an understatement. She’d been instrumental in hacking past firewalls and exposing the dummy companies behind the cult that had kidnapped her brother’s wife. Like a bloodhound on the scent, Maria had found their compound location in the Ozarks, and sniffed out the leader’s sordid background. Without her, the outcome might have been much different.
Considering it was one of her mother’s johns she was searching for, it might be better if she wasn’t so computer savvy. “So, you went to work tracking down father possibilities?”
“You know me so well, Jake. I love that about you.”
He would have taken her words as a joke if her eyes hadn’t turned wary. There had been a sort of longing in her tone—a wistfulness. She couldn’t possibly mean she loved him. He’d long ago admitted that there was chemistry between them. The attraction he’d felt for her had turned to full-blown lust on the night of her twenty-first birthday party.
Kincaid had walked into the restaurant where they were meeting to celebrate, his wife on one arm, Maria on the other. The air had swished out of Jake’s lungs. Maria had been away at school, and he had avoided her whenever she came home on breaks, and hadn’t seen her in almost a year. The black-haired beauty on the arm of her brother hadn’t been the girl he remembered. Somehow, in that time, she’d transformed into a woman, and a sexy-as-hell one at that.
He glanced at their hands where they rested on the console, hers browner than his, and rubbed his thumb over her skin. “Tell me the rest.”
“Okay. There were three possibilities, and I found addresses for two of them. Turned out one, Hernando Fortunada, lived just north of here in Ridgeville. I didn’t see any reason not to pay him a visit, and maybe I’d find a father who, when he knew I existed, would be proud to call me his daughter. I had this picture in my mind, you know. If he was my father, he would be glad to see me. If not, no harm done.” She shuddered. “I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
It was only through sheer will that he didn’t yell at her for going to a strange man’s house alone. He pressed his lips together. If he opened his mouth, whatever words came out would no doubt cause her to close up like a damn clam.
“Fortunada, who I pray to God is not my father, did this when I interrupted whatever was going on with the girl. Problem is, he now knows who I am and where I live.”
It hurt to breathe. She’d been in the grasp of a possible rapist, one who’d had his hands on her with the intention of shutting her up. Jake had never been so glad of his skills. He could protect her. His decision—instant and final—to not let her out of his sight until this Fortunada bastard was in jail or dead would have repercussions. Let Kincaid do his worst. Even if it meant getting fired for not delivering Maria into the safety of her brother’s arms, Jake didn’t care.
“I’m curious. Did you think you would take one look at him and say, yes, that’s my daddy?”
She flinched. “You don’t have to be sarcastic, but no, I didn’t think that. I kinda hoped he would look like me, but I thought he wouldn’t object to a DNA test once I explained who I was. Then once he knew I was his daughter, he would maybe love me.”
Maybe love her? She asked for too little. He could no longer ignore how much she was hurting, not only from the wounds on her body, but deep in her soul. He wrapped his hand around that gloriously silky hair and gently tugged her head to his shoulder.
“I have to find him, Jake. If Fortunada’s my father, then both my parents are trash and it’s better to know that now so I can get on with my life. I just need to know,” she whispered, turning her face into his shirt.
And he just wanted to kill someone. Her mother, her father. Didn’t matter. “I need to know what we’re up against, Chiquita Banana. How does he know who you are?” The kiss he planted on her forehead was pure impulse. She slipped her hand under his shirt, and his skin rippled, hot and wanting under her fingers. Any other woman, and he would have had her under him in the blink of an eye.
This one, though, wasn’t for him. Calling on every damn control technique he’d learned since making it through each torturous day of SEAL training, he managed to keep his hands—along with other parts of his body—from claiming her.
Maria pressed her nose against Jake’s shirt and breathed him in. It had been a long time since he’d called her by the pet name. Not since her twenty-first birthday had he called her Chiquita Banana, and she’d missed it. Missed him.
Their kiss had been tender and special. At least to her. She assumed to him, probably all in a day’s work. She felt his stomach muscles tense under her fingers, and he pulled her hand away, gently pushing her back into her seat.
“I know this is hard, but you have to finish telling me.”
She’d much rather he kiss her again.
It was hard because talking about it meant reliving it, a reminder of her stupidity. When she slipped her hand back into his, he let her. “I had my finger on the doorbell when the girl ran out of the house and crashed into me. I pushed her away and told her to run. When I turned to haul ass myself, he grabbed me and pulled me inside.”
“Go on.”
He spoke in his SEAL voice, the one she heard the guys use when they got serious about something. Likely, he would yell at her again when he heard the rest.
“We fought. He hit me in the face with his fist, so I kneed him in his balls.” She could still see the fisted hand coming at her and had known she only had a slim chance of getting away. “Then I hit him on the head with my purse. It was the creep’s bad luck that I forgot to take out one of my textbooks, and it dazed him. I ran out the door, jumped in my car and sped away. End of story.”
“End of story?” Jake echoed, still in his take-no-shit SEAL voice. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
“Well, there’s one other little thing. The second time I hit him with my purse, he grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. I had a choice of wrestling him for it or running. I ran. Now he has my wallet, so he knows my name and address.”
With his free hand, Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit.”
That about summed it up
. “I’m sorry. I never dreamed something like this would happen.”
“How did you get the cut on your arm?”
“There was a water glass on the coffee table, and when we were fighting it got broken. At one point he had me down on the floor and my arm got cut. That’s when I kneed him.”
Jake’s eyes grew hard and as cold as the glaciers in Antarctica. He probably didn’t know who he was more angry with, her or her attacker. Not that she blamed him. And he really wasn’t going to like what she was going to say next.
“After we go to the police, I want to find the girl.”
“Excuse me?”
If she hadn’t already been used to Logan’s intense scowls, she might have confessed her worst sins then and there. Was that look something they learned in SEAL school?
Jake gave her his fiercest glare, not sure which part of her statement to address first. Innocent brown eyes stared back at him—too innocent.
She arched a brow. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
The staccato sound of his fingers as they rapidly tapped on the steering wheel drew his attention. He stilled them and gave a shake of his head. “I’m almost afraid to know what’s going through your mind right now when you say you want to find the girl, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Are you telling me you haven’t called the police?”
“No, I was waiting for you.”
That didn’t make sense. “I don’t understand. You should’ve called them the minute you got a chance.” Something flickered in her eyes. What was he missing? “Maria?”
“I can’t breathe in here.” She opened her door and got out.
At the front of his car, she leaned back against the grille. Her body folded in on itself—shoulders bent over—and a shudder passed through her.
“Why didn’t you call the cops?” he asked, coming to stand in front of her.
Her answer was directed at the hands she held tightly clasped in front of her. “Because I’m afraid of them.”
More senseless words. He waited for her to explain, but she remained silent. Everything he knew about her and the boss passed through his mind. If she was afraid of the police, it had to go back to their mother. Didn’t everything?
“What did Lovey Dovey do?” Her eyes shot up to his. He’d hit his target. It didn’t please him.
“I can’t tell you,” she whispered.
“You can and you will.”
“Let it go, Jake.”
He’d be damned if he would. “Why are you afraid of the police? I can be as stubborn as you, so you might as well tell me or we’ll be here forever.” It was hard to know if her sigh was one of surrender or annoyance.
“If I tell you, you can’t tell Logan. If you do, he’ll hunt the man down and kill him, then I’ll be visiting my brother in prison.” She half smiled. “And then Dani will hate me for it.”
He matched her half smile with a full one. “I would never do anything to make Dani unhappy. Your secret’s safe with me.” He was digging his own grave by keeping Maria’s confidences, but she seemed satisfied by his answer. She lifted her chin, and her eyes were as dark as the black clouds of a thunderstorm.
“When I was fifteen, Lovey Dovey was arrested for prostitution. Again.” Her chuckle grated in his ears. “The cop who busted her turned out to be not such an honorable guy. She got him to agree to a trade. Her favors for him looking the other way.”
Maria lowered her head again as though she could no longer meet Jake’s eyes. “My mistake was to stop by at the wrong time. I was living with Mrs. Jankowski by then, but whenever Logan sent me money, I’d buy a few bags of groceries for my mother.” She shrugged. “Any money Lovey Dovey got her hands on went to booze and cigarettes.”
Jake didn’t like where this seemed to be headed, but the door had been opened and as much as he wanted to slam it closed, she needed to tell her secret. “Go on.”
Her fingers were laced together, and her thumbs spun furiously around each other. “He took one look at me and changed his mind about what would get Lovey Dovey out of trouble. Thankfully, Logan had taught me how to fight off a man.”
“So, he didn’t—”
“No, but not from lack of trying. My loving mother sat in a corner and watched. I think she might’ve even been turned on by it.” She leaned her body forward and stared down at her feet. “So, that’s why I don’t like cops. I know most of them are good men, I really do, but what if there’s another one like him?”
Jake came close to putting a dent in his hood with his fist. Well, he’d asked. He suddenly hated her mother with a fierceness he’d never felt before in his life for anyone.
“Maria.” He gathered her into his arms and let his touch speak the words he couldn’t find. She curled into him and he felt like he was holding a fragile kitten, but even that was deceiving. She’d fooled them all, even her brother. She’d put on a front, a magic act that had them believing she was untouched by the horrors of being Lovey Dovey’s daughter. But the scars were there if one only looked deep enough.
“You’re not going to tell Logan, are you?” she asked, her voice muffled by the press of his shoulder against her mouth.
He wanted to, wanted to shout his rage at her mother, the cop, even the boss. “Did you ever tell anyone?”
She shook her head. “Who was there to tell? The police?”
“Your brother would have been a good start, but I get why you think you couldn’t. What’s the cop’s name?”
“Why, so you can kill him?”
“I won’t, I’ll just beat him to within an inch of his life.” And then maybe kill him.
“I don’t know his name. Never did, never wanted to.”
That was just too damn bad. He walked to the passenger side and opened the door. “Let’s go see the police. After that, we’ll talk about why you want to find the girl.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Jake refused to let Detective Nolan take Maria into an interrogation room without him. He couldn’t complain that Nolan was mistreating her. The man had been nothing but gentle with her. After the detective took photos of her face and arm, he had insisted on talking to Maria alone. She’d grabbed Jake’s hand, panic in her eyes, and the cop had given Jake a look that said go away. Jake returned a look that said not happening.
So there he was, sitting in a room with army-gray paint peeling off the walls, listening to Maria once again explain how she’d been beaten up, and doing his best not to put a hole in the table with his fist. He’d almost done that when the detective had removed the clothes from the plastic bag and Maria’s face had drained of color on seeing them.
“I didn’t remember there being that much blood,” she murmured.
When she finished and Nolan ran out of questions, Jake pulled out a business card, sliding it across the table. “It would be best if you found this bastard before I do. Keep me updated.”
“Mr. Buchanan, I strongly advise you to return home and let the police do their job. Do not try to do it for us. You’ll only end up getting hurt.”
Jake couldn’t help his snort. He snatched the card back from Nolan’s hand and wrote a number on the back, then returned it. “I would suggest you note the name K2 Special Services on the front, then call the number on the back and ask who we are. Once you do, you’ll understand why I respectfully decline your advice.”
Nolan started to admonish Maria for not calling the police right away. Jake stood and cut him off. “If you need to reach us, my cell number’s on the front of my card.”
As they walked down the hallway, Jake called Jamie Turner, swore him to secrecy, and promised to fill him in later. But for now, he asked him to answer Detective Nolan’s questions about K2 if he should call.
“Do you think the detective will be able to find the girl?” Maria asked as they exited the station.
“Maybe, given e
nough time. If he can get a search warrant, he might get lucky and find her name or a clue when they search Fortunada’s house.” Jake put his hand on her back and steered her toward his car.
“What do you mean if he can get a search warrant?” she asked as he pulled away from the station.
“And here I thought you were a student of the law. Unless they can find the girl, it’s your word against his. They’ll probably bring him in for questioning first. That is, if he’s stupid enough to hang around. Did you mark his face, put scratches on his arms? That’ll help.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t stay long enough to check, but I’m sure I did. I need to go to my apartment.”
Jake glanced at her. “Since he knows where you live, you do know you can’t stay there.”
“I have no desire to until I know he’s behind bars. I need clothes and stuff, and we have to get Mouse. Then we have to go get Sally.”
“Seriously, you have a mouse?”
She laughed. “No, a cat named Mouse.”
What the hell was he supposed to do with her and a cat? But to hear her laugh was music to his ears. She’d been so sad since he’d arrived that it was killing him. He wanted to see the sparkle return to her eyes, see her happy again.
“The best thing you can do is get your cat and come back to Pensacola with me until they find this bastard.”
“No, I can’t. I have final exams that I can’t miss.”
It was worth a try. “Which way to your apartment?” As he followed her directions, he formed a plan in his mind. He also made a mental list of the places he could apply for a job when Kincaid fired him.
When they entered the complex, Jake made a slow lap around the building, but he didn’t see anyone lurking about or sitting in a car watching her apartment.
“Mouse probably thinks I’ve abandoned him,” she said when Jake parked in her space.
“Wait until I come around to your side before you get out.” Not taking any chances, he slipped his gun out of the ankle holster. The complex seemed deserted, most of the residents—students—now in their classes, where Maria should have been safely sitting.
Someone Like Her (A K2 Team Novel) Page 3