Maybe it was just lust for a woman who was off-limits. It was the forbidden-fruit theory. That had to be it. If he could make love to her, he would get over it. Yeah, that was the problem, and one easily solved if she was agreeable, and he thought she was.
The big question, however, was whether he was willing to face the consequences. Kincaid really would kill him, at the very least fire him. It just might be worth it. Yet, this was Maria. He would be the lowest of men if he took her to bed. She deserved better than to be one of Romeo’s numerous conquests.
Jake stared at the phone Maria held out to him.
“Logan wants to talk to you,” she said, concern in her voice.
He thought he might rather handle a rattlesnake. Thankfully, she’d told Kincaid the truth about why she was at Fortunada’s. Jake took the phone and steeled himself, inhaling a big breath.
“Yo, boss.”
“Give me one good reason, Buchanan, why you didn’t tell me the something you had to take care of was my sister.”
So much for pleasantries. Not that Jake expected any, but the calmness in Kincaid’s voice was deceiving. That was the thing about the boss, why they’d nicknamed him “Iceman” when he was their SEAL commander. The calmer the man got, the deadlier he got, and right now Jake was lined up in the Iceman’s sights. Not a place anyone in their right mind wanted to be.
Jake glanced at Maria. She stared back with sympathy. Kincaid wasn’t going to like his answer, but it was the truth. “Because she wouldn’t tell me where she was unless I promised not to tell you, and she wouldn’t tell me what was going on until I got here. Would you have preferred I refused to help her, left her to handle this on her own?”
There was a long pause. “My preference, Romeo, would be for you to be nowhere near Maria, but what’s done is done. Put her in the car and bring her home. Now. Tonight.”
Christ, he was really starting to hate his SEAL nickname. He held out his cell. “He wants you to come home.”
She took the phone. “I’m not coming home, Logan. I have to deal with the classes I missed today, find someone who has notes I can borrow, and I have exams tomorrow I can’t miss. Then there’s—”
When she held the phone away from her ear, Jake could hear the heat in Kincaid’s voice. Apparently, where his sister was concerned, the Iceman wasn’t so calm.
“Are you finished with your tirade?” she asked, putting the cell back to her ear. “Guess not.” She listened some more. “I’m not leaving school and that’s final. Look, I know you’re worried, but I’m at your safe house. Which you neglected to tell me about, but I’ll grill you about that another time. If you want Jake to go back, fine, but he’s doing a great job of protecting me, so I’m asking you to let him stay. Please, Logan. Wouldn’t you feel better knowing I had a bodyguard?”
She winked at Jake. She’d always been able to wrap her brother around her little finger. Too bad he didn’t have that ability with Kincaid. Jake’s gaze skimmed over Maria, over the black hair curling around her face and falling halfway down her back, the exotic eyes as dark as rich coffee, and the full lips he’d kissed for the first time.
Had that been only a few hours ago? He wanted to kiss her again. Longer, slower, taking his time to taste her sweet spiciness. He would wrap her hair around his fist and hold her close. He would . . .
Hell. He was becoming aroused again just thinking about kissing her. And other things. Living in her pocket and keeping his hands off her was going to be the very devil. He shifted on the hard kitchen chair and subtly reached down to adjust his jeans.
“You’re mine for as long as I need you,” Maria said cheerfully as she handed back his phone.
Even though he definitely should, he had absolutely no problem with that. “From your conversation, I guess you need to study for exams tomorrow. I’ll leave you to it.” If he didn’t get away from her immediately, he might forget she was off-limits.
“Oh, I might have stretched the truth a little there, and I can get class notes from my friend Gina. What do you want to do tonight?”
Lay you down on a bed I know this house must have somewhere. Strip you naked and explore every part of you, lick every single inch of you. Then bury myself so deep inside you, you’ll never want any man but me.
He managed a glare. It seemed the right thing to do. “You lied? Dammit, Maria. Apparently, you couldn’t care less that your brother’s gonna crucify me before all this is over.”
“Pffft,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Pffft? Would that be on his headstone? Pffft. Here lies Jake Buchanan. He got stupid and fell for the wrong girl, and then her brother murdered him.
The cat let out a plaintive meow. Jake knew exactly how the furry bastard felt.
Maria jumped up and came to the carrier, opening the door. She hugged Mouse, burying her nose in his fur. “Poor baby. You’ve had such a horrible day. Let’s go check out the house and find a room you like.”
Jake scowled at Maria’s back as she walked out of the kitchen. His day hadn’t been a bed of roses. He crushed the food wrappings, stuffed them back into the bag, and went looking for a trash can.
Maria adjusted the ball cap Jake had bought her, along with a pair of sunglasses to disguise her features. She kept her eyes on the girls with brown hair. There were so many of them. Why couldn’t her girl have been a redhead, or even better, have bright pink or purple hair?
“Anything?”
She sighed in frustration. “No.”
He wasn’t happy about sitting outside a high school and watching the students file in while she tried to find the girl who’d run away from Fortunada’s house. They couldn’t even be sure it was the right school, only that it was the closest one to where she’d last seen the girl. Maria had to find her, though; had to make sure she was okay. She also needed to know why the girl had been there. Had she been lured to the house for despicable reasons?
She had witnessed firsthand the life of a whore. If the girl was headed down that path, or being led in that direction, then someone needed to step in and do something about it. If it meant keeping a girl from ending up like Lovey Dovey, Maria wouldn’t stop until she found her.
“Well, we gave it a try,” Jake said when the last students hurried inside, the doors closing behind them. He started the car.
“School lets out at three thirty, so we need to be back a little before then.”
His eyes squeezed shut. “I just knew you were going to say that.”
She waited for him to open his eyes and then gave him a big smile. “And I knew you’d understand. Thank you.”
He opened his mouth, closed it, shook his head, then made a laugh-snort sound. “I’m doomed,” he said mysteriously.
“Poor Jake.” She patted his hand. “I need to check in at school, let my professors know I’ll miss a few classes. After that, can we stop at a grocery store?”
“If you’re going to tell me you’re making dinner tonight, then I’ll know the apocalypse has arrived.”
She thought that was funny. “No, you’ll wake up tomorrow to the same old world. I need to get Mouse some food and cat litter. But speaking of dinner, what would you like for lunch?” His grin, forming at the pace of a snail, sent her heart into a fluttering frenzy. “What?”
“Speaking of dinner, what would I like for lunch?” His grin grew wider. “Only you, Maria.”
She didn’t get it, and shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, then turned the car toward Florida State, a smile still on his face.
During the next three hours, she scheduled a makeup exam; arranged to get class notes from Gina, who fortunately took almost all the same classes; and caught a few minutes with her professors during class breaks. All the while, Jake stood quietly by her side, ever alert, ever supportive.
; Maria hadn’t missed the way Gina’s gaze had appreciatively roamed over Jake from head to toe when introduced to him. After promising her friend she’d call later that night to explain what was going on, Maria slipped her arm around Jake’s and pulled him away before the word that was dancing on the tip of her tongue spilled out: Mine.
By the time she’d finished all her tasks it was after one. Way past time for lunch. “Come on, I’m starving,” she said, grabbing Jake’s hand and heading for his car.
His big hand engulfed hers, giving her a sense of safety, as if there were a wall around her that couldn’t be penetrated by anything bad. Only one other man had made her feel protected and that had been Logan. But he was her brother and Jake was not.
Halfway through their lunch at a popular pizza joint near the college, Jake’s phone rang. Maria listened to his end of the conversation as she finished off her double-cheese loaded pizza.
“Was that Detective Nolan?” she asked when he clicked off.
He took a bite of his spinach-and-goat-cheese pie. “Yeah, he had some info on Fortunada.”
“Well?” she said when he hesitated. “And don’t hold anything back.”
“They still haven’t found him, but the man has a long record.” His gaze speared hers. “Especially for domestic violence.”
Maria shuddered, wondering how many women he’d hurt the way he had hurt her. What if she hadn’t been able to get away?
“He spent a year in jail for breaking the arm of a woman he lived with. He’s also done time for breaking and entering, and car theft.” Jake glanced down at his pizza, then pushed the remainder away before meeting her eyes again. “One of the women accused him of fondling her teenage daughter, then refused to testify against him. The girl denied anything happened. The cops think he threatened them, and they were too afraid to press charges.”
Oh, God.
“Tells us he’s far from a model citizen, but the disturbing thing is, he was picked up about six months ago for suspicious behavior. The police couldn’t prove anything and had to let him go.”
“And this suspicious behavior was?” The uncomfortable look on his face sent a warning that her fear for the girl was justified. Oh, and please, God, don’t let Fortunada be my daddy.
“They picked him up outside the high school we were at this morning. A teacher reported seeing him watching the girls’ softball team on three different days. He had a camera on him, but there was nothing on the memory stick so they couldn’t hold him. After they got a warrant to search his house, they found pictures of some of the girls on the team. Nolan wants you to come in and look at them, see if your girl is one of them.”
After a quick glance at her watch, Maria nodded. “We have time to squeeze in a quick stop by the station and still make it to the grocery store before it’s time to be back at the high school.”
“If the girl is in one of the photos, then we don’t need to go back. We can let the cops take care of it.”
As if she could leave the girl in the hands of people who could never understand a child being at the mercy of a predator. For years she’d lived in Lovey Dovey’s house, hiding like Logan had taught her when her mother brought men home. Men who thought nothing of hurting an innocent little girl. It was impossible for her to walk away without knowing the girl was safe.
She shook her head knowing it was the last thing he wanted to see. “Sorry, no can do.”
“Hell,” he muttered with the resignation of one who’d expected her answer.
Maria just shrugged.
Her girl hadn’t been in Fortunada’s photos, but Maria now worried about the four who were. Although Detective Nolan said he would pay a visit to each of them, Maria still watched for their faces as the students filed out of the school. Thirty minutes ticked by and as the stream of kids coming out slowed to a trickle, she was about to give up. As she turned to tell Jake they could leave, a girl walking with a gangly boy caught her eye.
“There she is.” Maria grabbed Jake’s arm. “What should I do?”
Jake turned the key in the car’s ignition and backed out of the parking space. “Sit tight. We’ll follow her until she’s away from the school. We don’t want some alert teacher calling the police.”
“We can’t lose her.”
“I won’t.”
Maria breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two halfway down the block. “How are we going to approach them? What if she tries to run? What if—”
“Hush and listen. I’ll get us ahead of them, then we’ll get out and walk toward them like we’re just a couple out for a stroll. When we reach them, ask where Bradford Avenue is. I’ll take it from there.”
The plan worked and Maria, wearing her ball cap and sunglasses, stopped when they were alongside the girl. “Hey, is Bradford Avenue somewhere around here?”
The boy pointed to the left. “Yeah, just one street over.”
Jake had positioned himself next to the girl. He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm. She narrowed her eyes and tried to pull away, but he held on.
“Easy. We’re not here to hurt you. Maria, take off your hat and sunglasses.”
“Hey, dude, let her go,” the boy said, and stepped toward Jake.
Maria put herself between the kid and the girl. “Remember me?”
“I’ve never seen you before,” she answered, her eyes wide and on Jake.
“Look at her, not me,” he said, gesturing at Maria.
“What’s going on here, Angie?” the boy asked.
“I don’t know,” Angie said, turning her gaze to Maria. “I’ve never seen . . . Oh, it’s you.”
“Yeah, it’s me. Like my friend said, we’re not here to hurt you, but we need to talk. I’m Maria Kincaid, and this is Jake Buchanan.”
“Let go of me. I don’t have anything to say.”
The boy bounced on the balls of his feet, his wary gaze on Jake. “Angie?”
“You got a name, kid?” Jake asked.
“That’s a stupid question, dude. Who doesn’t have a name, and I’m not a kid.”
“Then give me something else to call you. Make something up if you want.”
Indecision crossed his face. He clearly wanted to protect Angie, but no doubt understood he wouldn’t win a fight against Jake.
Maria placed her hand on his arm. “Angie’s in trouble, and we can help her. Please, what’s your name?”
“Why you wanna know?” he asked.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, his name’s Eddie,” Angie said. “Now that we’ve all been introduced, let me go. I got nothing to say.”
“I think you do,” Jake said. “We can do this the easy way, or I can call the cops. Who’re looking for you, by the way.”
Angie paled, turning an accusing eye on Maria. “You called them?”
Maria gently touched the bruise on Angie’s cheek. “What did you tell your parents about how you got this?”
“She got up to pee in the middle of the night and smacked into her bedroom door,” Eddie said. Maria raised an eyebrow, and he turned to Angie. “Isn’t that what happened? That’s what you said.”
Angie’s shoulders slumped as the fight went out of her. “No, that’s not what happened.” She gave Maria a pleading look. “Can we talk about this somewhere else? My mom might drive by, and I don’t want her asking who you people are. There’s a park on the next block. Eddie and I will meet you there.”
Jake snorted. “And I’m the Easter Bunny. We’ll walk with you.”
To keep Eddie from trying to snatch Angie away and running, Maria positioned herself between them. Finally, she would find out why the girl at been in Hernando Fortunada’s house.
CHAPTER SIX
Jake stood next to Eddie, his gaze on Maria seated on the park bench next to Angie. “You her boyfriend?”
Eddie shuffled his
feet. “Sorta.”
How were you a sorta boyfriend? Either you were or you weren’t. He supposed the girls thought the kid cute, but a haircut wouldn’t be amiss.
“Why were you in that house, Angie?” Maria asked.
The girl clasped her hands so tightly her knuckles were white. Maria pried Angie’s fingers apart and wrapped her hands around one of the girl’s. “You can trust me.”
“Whose house?” Eddie asked.
Angie raised her gaze to Eddie’s. “Hernando’s.”
“Dammit, Angie, I told you not to talk to him. Did he do that to your face?” At Angie’s nod, he turned to leave.
Jake caught his arm. “Where’re you going?”
“To kill that bastard.”
“No, you’re not. Besides, he’s not at his house, and no one’s seen him for the past two days.” Jake turned to Angie. “Let’s start at the beginning. What’s Fortunada to you?”
“My mom’s boyfriend . . . I mean, he was her boyfriend. They broke up after he stole some money from her. Now she doesn’t have enough to make the mortgage payment, and she can’t stop crying because she’s afraid we’re going to lose our house.”
Jake did the math. “So you went to see him to try and get the money back?”
Her eyes filled with misery, Angie nodded. “She’s going to ground me for a month if she finds out. She told me to stay away from him. He was nice when they first started dating but at the end . . . well, he just got real mean. Now she’s all worried and crying a lot, and I-I . . . You know, I just thought I could help.”
Kids could be so stupid. She wasn’t going to like what she was going to have to do, but that little revelation could wait until she finished her story. “What happened when you went to see him?”
Her shudder answered Jake’s question, and he exchanged a glance with Maria. She’d seen firsthand how some men treated women and could guess what had gone on between Angie and Fortunada. A hardness he’d never seen before glinted in Maria’s eyes and he could read her thoughts as if she spoke them aloud. She wasn’t going to let this go until the man was dead or behind bars.
Someone Like Her (A K2 Team Novel) Page 5