Someone Like Her (A K2 Team Novel)

by Owens, Sandra

  “What happened, Angie?” Maria asked.

  Angie’s gaze shifted to Eddie. “I think you should go home now.”

  “The hell I will. What did he do to you?”

  “Easy,” Jake said to the agitated boy. He put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “It won’t help her if you get crazy.”

  “I know. I’m okay.” The kid swiped a hand through his hair. “But I’m not leaving.”

  “Look at me, Angie, and don’t pay them any mind. Just look at me and tell me what happened,” Maria said.

  The girl took a deep breath and then trained her eyes on Maria. “He said he’d give me some money if I’d do things to him. I told him he was disgusting and it was no wonder my mom broke up with him. ‘Who needed some old lady when I can have a fresh young thing like you,’ he said and laughed. I realized I’d been stupid to go there and turned to leave. He grabbed me and was ripping off my shirt when you rang the doorbell. He let go and I ran out the door.”

  She shuddered again. “You saved me, and I wanted to thank you, but I was just too scared. I was worried about you, though. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “I am,” Maria said.

  But she almost hadn’t been. Jake glanced at Maria’s cheek. She’d done a good job of covering her bruise with makeup. You could see it if you knew it was there, but Angie was too caught up in her problems to notice.

  “What’re we gonna do about this? The asshole needs to pay for hurting Angie,” Eddie said.

  “You need to leave Fortunada to the police.” And me. Jake looked at Eddie and hardened his gaze. “You stay far away from the man. If you feel like you need to do something, then just be there for Angie and her mom.”

  Jake knelt in front of Angie. “You’re going to have to tell your mom about this.”

  She gave a vigorous shake of her head. “She has enough to worry about already.”

  “Angie, I doubt he’ll appear on your doorstep, but if he gets desperate . . .” He didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was, but she needed to be warned. “You just never know what a desperate man will do. Your mother needs to know. Tomorrow, Maria and I will come by with Detective Nolan. You’ll like him, I promise.”

  Angie slapped her hands over her face. “Oh, God.”

  While Maria comforted the girl, Jake nudged Eddie away and had a brief conversation with the kid before sending him and Angie home.

  “Are they going to be safe? Shouldn’t we have found out where she lives?” Maria asked, her gaze intent on the couple walking away. Eddie had his arm around Angie, and her head rested on his shoulder.

  “Angie Davis, mother’s name is Carol, 127 Marbury Avenue.”

  Maria blinked and turned wide eyes on him. He grinned and took her hand. “Come on, we’ll follow ’em, make sure they stay safe.”

  Maria sipped her wine as she watched Jake unwrap the cheese. She was helpless in the kitchen, but grating cheese was probably something she could do.

  “Want me to do that?”

  He sent a quick look of mock horror over his shoulder. “So you can slice your fingers on the grater? No thanks.”

  Because he was probably right, she didn’t take offense. “I still don’t understand why you’d rather have a boring piece of fish and broccoli than tacos.”

  “My body is my temple.”

  She couldn’t deny his body was meant to be worshiped, but God forbid the day would come when she had to eat broccoli to stay in shape. Logan never ceased to scold her about her choice of food. That Jake would willingly cook two different meals and not insist she eat healthy did something funny to her heart.

  Her gaze slid over his back, over the broad shoulders, down his spine to the trim waist, and below that to his lean hips. What would it feel like to slide her hands over his hard body, his taut butt? She marked the moment she decided, one way or another, she’d find out.

  “Here you go,” he said and put a plate on the table.

  Three tacos and refried beans smothered in cheese appeared in front of her. Four tacos would’ve been better, but who was she to complain when she’d contributed nothing to their dinner?

  He chose the chair next to her and when Mouse stood on hind legs, his paws on Jake’s knee, his nose sniffing the air, Jake rolled his eyes. “Why’s he bothering me and not you?”

  “Cause you have fish.”

  He cut a sliver of the fish and tossed it across the kitchen. “Now go away, cat.”

  Mouse raced to the food, swallowed it in one bite, and in seconds was back with his paws on Jake’s leg.

  “Well that didn’t work as planned,” he grumbled.

  Then Jake’s hazel eyes focused on Maria as his fork, with a piece of fish on it came at her. She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  “It’s just one bite. Come on, just a little taste.” One side of his mouth curved in a sly grin, and he snatched her plate away. “If you want your tacos back, all you have to do is open your mouth.”

  The man knew just the right threat to use. Giving in with a sigh, she squeezed her eyes shut and opened her mouth.

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  As much as she hated to admit it, the fish was pretty good. It tasted buttery and lemony. Nothing like the cheap, smelly catfish her mother used to fry . . . when she remembered she had children to feed. “It was okay, but I’m not eating any broccoli, so don’t even try.”

  His amused chuckle didn’t reassure her there would be no greens in her future. “I’ll have you eating healthy yet.”

  Not if she had anything to say about it. She helped him clean up the kitchen, then excused herself to bathe. When she came out, he was on the sofa, his hair damp from a shower. Like her, he’d put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. His bare feet were propped on the coffee table, and Mouse was curled up on his lap, asleep.

  “Looks like you’ve made a friend,” she said, taking the other end of the couch.

  He glanced down at her cat. “It wasn’t my choice.”

  “You fed him fish. He’ll love you forever now.”

  “Wish you’d told me that before I gave the furry demon any.” His deceptively innocent eyes turned to her. “Want to talk about it?”

  She didn’t have to ask what he meant and no, she didn’t want to talk about it. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow she’d have her feelings sorted out. Or not. “Other than I pray Fortunada’s not my biological father, what’s there to say?”

  “Even if you find out he is, it’s no reflection on you.”

  Easy for him to say; he had June Cleaver for a mother. His father had probably been perfect, too. “Do you remember your dad?” she asked to change the subject. The wistful, fond smile that appeared on his face confirmed her guess.

  “Just bits and pieces. Him giving me my first little-boy baseball glove and not yelling at me when I couldn’t catch half the balls he tossed at me. I remember how he would carry me around on his shoulders and I’d feel like the king of the world. Things like that.”

  Of course, she was happy he’d been so lucky to have great parents, but she couldn’t help feeling a little envious and resentful, too. Maybe it had been worse for him though, losing a perfect father at such a young age. When Lovey Dovey had died, all Maria had felt was relief.

  It was just all so confusing. She’d worked hard to make something of herself, to be as different from her mother as possible. Now, she had the clues that might lead her to her father, and the yearning she’d long ago quashed to have a mom who loved her had returned. Except this time, it was a dad she pictured affectionately smiling at her. God, her head was so screwed up.

  “Where’d you go?”

  She blinked, Jake’s face coming into focus. “Huh?”

  “You were a thousand miles away. Listen, I know you must feel overwhelmed by everything that’s happened
. Why don’t you give yourself a night off, stop trying so hard to figure it out. Let it rest and maybe tomorrow it’ll all be clearer.”

  Doubtful, but her brain was threatening to go into meltdown, so she’d try to put her thoughts aside for a while. The long, elegant fingers lazily stroking her cat’s fur made her wish it was she those hands were caressing. That would help soothe her, for sure. His fingers slowly skimmed down Mouse’s spine to his rear end and then back up. Mouse gave a loud purr, and Maria resisted joining him.

  “Want to watch a movie or something?”

  No, she wanted to lay her head on his lap and be the one he petted. “Sure. Want a glass of wine?”

  “A beer for me, please.”

  She grabbed the remote and handed it to him. “Here, find a movie. No baseball.”

  “I only watch baseball when I want to fall asleep.”

  “You better not fall asleep.” She went to the kitchen, poured a glass of wine, got a beer from the fridge, and returned. Jake was flicking through the channels, and she caught a glimpse of some kind of space movie. “Wait, what was that last one?”

  He turned back to the channel. “Looks like Alien.”

  That movie should be able to divert her attention. She handed him his beer. “I’ve never seen it. Let’s watch it.”

  “You like scary movies?”

  “God, yes. But only if I’m watching them with someone, and I have to sit next to you so I can grab hold of you when the scary parts come on.” His expression blanked and she thought he would refuse. Why didn’t he want her sitting next to him?

  Finally, he patted the space at his side. “Then I’m your man.”

  She liked the sound of that but wished he’d said it with a little more enthusiasm. Nestling against his side, she felt his body tense. Really? What was his problem?

  The spaceship landed on a planet and she forgot everything but the movie. The astronauts were in a creepy cave with even creepier egg-shaped pods when Jake took her empty wineglass out of her hand and set it aside. She didn’t remember drinking it. By the time goo-dripping aliens were popping out of people, Maria had her face pressed into Jake’s chest, her hands gripping his shirt.

  “Want me to turn it off?”

  “No!” She had to know if somebody saved the cat.

  He chuckled and his arm circled her shoulders, pulling her close. “Your eyes are closed, you’re not even watching it.”

  “Am too.” She opened one eye to prove she was, but quickly closed it when another astronaut’s belly began to quiver.

  By the time the movie ended, she’d practically crawled onto Jake’s lap and he’d let her. Her one and only boyfriend had made fun of her for watching scary movies with her eyes closed. Jake had held her tight against him.

  Maria opened her eyes and grinned. “She saved the cat.”

  His answering smile, the one she was coming to adore, lit his face. “And you scared yours so badly with your screams, he took off an hour ago.”

  “But you’re still here.”

  “I am.” His eyes searched hers, and hers answered the question in them with a yes.

  Oh, God, yes. Please kiss me.

  Their mouths met as if they were enacting a scene from a movie. Slowly, so achingly slowly, his lips covered hers. She slid her hand around his neck, brushing her fingers through the bristle of his short hair, pleased when his skin quivered under her touch.

  He’d kissed her yesterday, but that one had been borne of anger, his frustration with her getting the better of him. If a kiss could melt her bones, this one would. His lips lightly brushed over hers, his breath warming them. Jolts of electricity sparked through her when he nipped on her bottom lip, then captured it with his teeth.

  When his tongue scraped across her teeth, she opened her mouth and his hand came to rest against her jaw as he explored her. His taste, flavored by the malt beer, made her drunk with desire.

  Maria moaned, and he stilled. “Please.” She would beg if necessary to keep him from stopping.

  His mouth inched away and he leaned his forehead against hers. “No, we can’t do this.”

  Jake never turned down sex freely offered. Why was he saying no to her? She placed her palm over his heart, felt it pounding. He wasn’t unaffected.

  “We can. I want you, and I think you feel the same.”

  He put his hands on her waist and lifted her to her feet. “Go to bed, Maria.”

  She searched his eyes but they shuttered, blocking his thoughts. “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s nothing to understand.”

  Jake turned off the TV and the lamp, leaned his back on the sofa, and tried to wipe from his mind the look of confusion and hurt on Maria’s face as she left the room. I want you, and I think you feel the same. Damn straight he wanted her. He’d come close to taking her right there on the couch.

  But he was Romeo. He loved ’em and left ’em. In the end, he would hurt her, something he’d never much worried about with other women. Of course, he’d always made sure the women he chose knew the rules, understood the game.

  Maria didn’t understand the game, and he would never want her to. She was different—special—meant for someone who had long term in mind. A man who would put a ring on her finger and honor his vows.

  He didn’t believe he had fidelity in him. A day would come when some tempting little thing would cross his path, and he’d go and royally screw everything up. If he ever hurt Maria like that, he’d shoot himself, saving Kincaid the trouble.

  But, Jesus, she’d knocked the floor out from under him with that kiss.

  From the time he’d kissed his first girl at age thirteen, he’d loved the feel of soft feminine lips on his, had made it his mission in life to kiss as many girls as possible. Then at sixteen, he’d lost his virginity to his twenty-three-year-old neighbor and never looked back. Though he now understood she was wrong to seduce a teenage boy, she’d taught him how to please a woman and he had very fond memories of her.

  If someone asked him how many women he’d slept with, he couldn’t begin to answer. He couldn’t remember most of their names, though he’d always remember their faces as they came. Seeing their eyes dilate and darken, hearing their soft sighs and sometimes their screams, feeling the curves of their bodies as his hands explored them, it was what he lived for.

  No, he wasn’t the man for Maria.

  A ball of fur landed on his lap and began to knead his stomach. Jake sighed. “Yeah, cat, I guess we guys have to stick together.” He peered down at the creature. “You are a guy, right? Or have you been neutered? Maybe that’s what somebody needs to do to me.”

  Jake once again found himself standing next to Eddie as Detective Nolan questioned Angie and her mother. Nolan had agreed to hold the interview at the Davis house, his hope that it would put mother and daughter more at ease. Maria sat on the couch, her hand clasped in Angie’s.

  “When was the last time you saw him, Mrs. Davis?” the detective asked.

  “I’m not sure exactly, about a month ago.”

  Jake studied the woman who’d been Fortunada’s girlfriend. She was attractive, maybe in her midthirties. Her eyes, green like her daughter’s, were red rimmed and swollen from crying. Even now, she had a handkerchief clutched tightly in her hand, dabbing at the tears falling down her cheeks.

  Nolan handed her a mug shot. “Is this Hernando Fortunada?”

  She glanced at it and gave it back. “That’s him.”

  “Does he have a job?”

  “He’s a bartender at Missy’s Place. At least, he was a month ago.”

  As Nolan questioned Angie about her visit to Fortunada’s house, Eddie started bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands curling into fists. Jake put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and pushed him into the kitchen.

  “You need to calm down, Eddie. Ge
tting all agitated isn’t helping anyone.”

  “I know, man, but I just get so pissed when she talks about what he tried to do to her.”

  “I understand, but she got away. What Angie needs now is for you to hold it together and be there for her.”

  “Man, I know that, but what I really wanna do is find the asshole and hurt him like he hurt Angie.”

  Jake caught the boy’s gaze and held it. “Eddie, pay attention here. The man’s dangerous. He’s hurt people before. I’m an ex-SEAL, and even I would use caution where he’s concerned. Let the police do their job.” A small lie, that one. He’d have no problem tangling with Fortunada.

  “No shit? You’re a SEAL. Wow. Were you on the team that killed bin Laden?”

  Jake suppressed a smile. The kid was a trip. “No, that was Team Six, but back to my point. The way you can help is to stick close to Angie and her mother. Like I said yesterday, it’s possible Fortunada could show up if he gets desperate, maybe looking for a place to hide out. What if he does and they’re here alone because you’re out somewhere on a fruitless search for him?”

  “Shouldn’t I have a gun?”

  Hell no. “You have a cell phone?”

  Eddie’s eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. “Doesn’t everybody?”

  Well hell. He let his amusement go and laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. You stick with your ladies and any sign of our man, you call the police, then me. Give me your cell.”

  Jake programed his number into Eddie’s phone and handed it back. “Now, there’s something else I need to know. Who holds the mortgage on this house?”

  “Why?”

  Jake had given this some thought and knew Maria would eventually ask the same question. “The Tango stole all of Angie’s mother’s money and now she can’t make the mortgage payment. If I know Maria,”—and he was sure he did—“she’ll probably want to help out.” He would insist on contributing at least half.

  “What’s a Tango?”

  Right. No SEAL lingo. “A bad guy. Can you find out?”