by Jenny Penn
“I don’t know.” Janie hesitated to agree, silently wishing she could just crawl back into the safety and security of her life before she’d met Ken and forget about all of this.
“Well, I do. Your brake line was punctured,” Tex informed her with a grimness that left her feeling sick. “You almost got killed. You hit a car and sent it into an intersection and almost killed them. We’re not taking any more risks.”
Janie closed her eyes and fought against the reality of what he’d said. It was horrifying. Somebody had actually tried to kill her. She’d almost killed somebody else. What had her life become?
“So, we’re a couple, as of now. Understand?”
Janie’s lashes fluttered back up as she turned to stare at Tex for a long moment before finally giving voice to her doubts. “I don’t think that’s going to work. We’re not…believable as a couple.”
Tex sighed and nodded. “I know. That’s why we’re going to get you a makeover.”
“Makeover?” Janie didn’t like the sound of that. “How about we just get a different man? Maybe…Brick?”
“Brick?” Tex straightened up with an indignation that was impossible to miss. “You’d rather date him?”
“I didn’t say that,” Janie quickly denied, feeling a blush heat her cheeks. “I just don’t see why I have to be the one to change. Why don’t you get a makeover?”
“You mean a make under,” Tex muttered with a roll of his eyes, making Janie stiffen as she flushed with a different kind of heat.
“Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Uh-huh.” Janie glared at him until finally Tex put his hands up and confessed to what they both knew he was thinking.
“Okay, truth is that…well, I’m little out of your league.”
As if she even wanted to be in that league. “And totally lacking any class.”
“You asked,” Tex shot back defensively. “I’m just being honest.”
“You’re an ass.”
Those words popped out of her mouth without thought and brought a second blush to Janie’s cheeks as she realized what she’d said. She’d never been so rude. It didn’t even matter that Tex might have earned such an insult. It still wasn’t right to give in to the urge to give it to him.
“I’m sorry,” Janie instantly apologized. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Tex snorted up a laugh, responding to being insulted in the most peculiar way. “Yeah, but you meant it, and don’t sweat it, sweetheart. I’ve been called a lot worse.”
He probably deserved it, but Janie was done arguing with the man. There was no point. She’d take her complaints to her mother. If that failed, Janie might actually talk to Brick.
* * * *
Tex knew that Janie didn’t like the plan. He didn’t like the plan. Using her as bait was risky, but there was no hope for it. He was going to have to play Casanova, and she would learn her role. Tex knew just who would make the perfect teacher–Maryanne.
A fellow bounty hunter and new recruit of Big Bob’s, Maryanne knew not only how to dress for a part but she also knew how to bring a man down. That was something Janie needed to learn and fast. His hopes, though, of pulling Maryanne onto the team went sour as Brick showed up to inform him that Maryanne had just been admitted to the hospital.
“What the hell happened?” Tex demanded to know as he stepped out into the hall with Brick, not wanting to wake Janie if she’d really fallen back asleep, though he suspected she was faking.
“She got mowed down and hit her head on the pavement,” Brick answered succinctly.
“Well, shit.” Tex sighed. “I’m betting Jason and Collin are fit to be tied.”
Brick didn’t respond to that, other than to shrug.
“And we’re out the best candidate to help out with Janie.” Tex paused to eye his cousin before offering the man a smirk. “Which, by the way, I think she might have a little crush on you.”
“Huh.” Brick grunted but didn’t bother to comment further.
He didn’t fool Tex, though. Tex could tell his cousin was interested and couldn’t help but tease him over the matter.
“Actually, she suggested you play the part of Romeo to her Juliet.” Tex hesitated again for a second before prodding Brick. “You interested? Because I don’t mind taking a backseat here.”
Brick remained silent for a moment too long, giving away the answer he avoided giving. “That’s not the plan.”
Brick always stuck to the plan. Tex rolled his eyes. “Fine then. You sit with her for a while. I’ve got to go find somebody to help me turn her into something other than a wallflower.”
That had his cousin’s gaze narrowing dangerously on him, and Tex knew he risked getting hit again. That was just why he beat a hasty retreat. Besides he really did have to go find somebody to help Janie look more like a woman than an uptight prude.
Chapter Three
Janie stared at the reflection in the mirror, unable to believe that the woman staring back at her was her. Her hair had been cut and dyed and her face painted with a light coating of makeup that made her eyes appear bigger and her lips fuller. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a romance novel, and that felt weird. Even weirder was the grin Tex was wearing as he stood behind her, smiling down at her reflection with a twinkle in his eyes that made her want to shift in her seat.
“Perfect.” Tex turned and nodded toward Gina, the hairdresser he’d corralled into giving Janie her first makeover. “You do amazing work.”
“In all things,” Gina responded with a suggestive purr curling at the edges of her words. “Or have you forgotten?”
There was no denying in that a second what she meant or how it made Janie feel, which was very uncomfortable. For some reason she really didn’t like the way Gina was eyeing Tex. After all, the man was supposed to be her boyfriend, even if it was just for show. Janie knew how crazy that sounded and could only conclude that the chemicals Gina had used to dye her hair had soaked too far into her skull.
“Trust me, honey, I haven’t forgotten,” Tex assured her, but his gaze cut back toward Janie as he studied her in the mirror.
She quickly schooled her features to assure that nothing of what she was thinking showed through. After all, Janie didn’t want him to know how unnerved she really was by everything going on. Her nerves didn’t settle down as he extended a hand toward her.
“Come on, sexy. Time to go shopping.”
That sounded ominous, despite the excitement tinting his words, but Janie had little choice but to take his hand. She’d already lodged her complaints about Big Bob’s plan to trick everybody into thinking she and Tex were in a relationship. Helena wasn’t hearing any of it.
Nobody was, not even Brick, who she’d tried to shyly ask to take Tex’s place. He’d just looked at her with his big, dark eyes and shook his head slowly. That had left Janie feeling rejected and more than a little sad. Tex wasn’t helping with either of those emotions as he escorted her back out into the bright light of the mid-day sun.
It was hot out, and Janie felt a little uncomfortable with the way Tex was holding her hand. Big and strong, his fingers gripped hers with a strength that made her heart skip a few beats. The sensation had her feeling even more self-conscious, an emotion that exploded when Tex suddenly shoved her up against the brick wall of one of the downtown boutiques.
Before she could ask what he thought he was doing, Tex was kissing her. Janie stood there in shock as his lips broke over hers, forcing her mouth open for the invasion of his tongue. Then he was plundering her moist depths, leaving Janie shaking as he pressed the hard length of his body against hers. He felt good and tasted better, and despite all common sense, Janie felt herself melting against him, her tongue rallying to duel with his as her hands lifted to grip his shoulders and hold him tight.
Tex groaned, his head shifting as he deepened the kiss, and Janie could feel the hard ridge of his erection growing into a solid bulge against her. That s
o shocked her she couldn’t help but jerk backward, only there was nowhere to go. She was trapped and being consumed by a lust that frightened her with its potency.
Nothing had ever felt like this. Janie hadn’t even thought anything could feel like this. The passion and heat, that was stuff that filled out romances, illusions that didn’t come real—only they were.
Her heart raced, her skin flushed, and deep below she could feel her intimate flesh quiver to life with a thick cream that sent a shaft of embarrassment racing through her. Still, that didn’t override the tide of need clenching at her muscles.
Her nails dug into Tex’s shoulders and her body lifted against his as her lips closed down over his tongue and she sucked. Janie didn’t know where that urge came from but knew that Tex liked it from the way he groaned and pumped his hips up against her. Then, a second later, he stumbled backward, looking at her with a shocked expression that really should have belonged to Janie, but she didn’t have the reason or strength left to do anything but stand there and stare up at him in wonder.
“Shit!” Tex muttered and shook his head as if trying to clear it, but the fresh air was working just fine on Janie as she leaned there against the wall.
What had she just done? She didn’t know, but she knew who to blame. “Why did you do that?”
Tex blinked and glared at her as if she were somehow to blame for what had just happened. He certainty sounded defensive as he tossed her question back at her.
“Why did you?”
“Why’d I what?”
“Suck my tongue,” Tex spat as if she’d attacked him. “Damn, woman! You don’t do that shit unless you’re planning on having a man replace his tongue with his dick.”
Janie flushed at his crude language, feeling all flutters of her awakening desire dissolve beneath a hot rush of outrage. One thing was for sure. Tex might look like he walked out of a romance novel but he certainty didn’t act like a hero.
“There is no need to be disgusting, especially not when you’re the one who started it.”
“I was just playing a role,” Tex shot back as if that made any sense.
“For who?” Janie looked around the deserted street. “There is nobody around.”
That earned her a growl but no answer as Tex reached out to snatch her hand in his and jerk her off the wall. “Come on. We have shopping to do.”
“You’re an ass, you know that?” Janie grumbled as he began dragging her down the street. This time she didn’t feel the slightest bit ashamed at having used a dirty word.
* * * *
Tex knew he was in trouble. Serious trouble. He knew he shouldn’t have kissed Janie. Of course it was bound to happen at some point, given their charade, but that wasn’t why he had pinned her up against the wall and ravished her right there in full view of anybody who might have been watching. True it would have played into the image they wanted to project of two lovers driven together by uncontrollable desire, but it was just supposed to be an image.
An image that, for a moment, Tex had forgotten all about as reality had reared its head. For a moment he’d been overwhelmed with a lust that had nothing to do with Big Bob’s plan to catch Janie’s stalker. That hadn’t even factored into Tex’s thoughts when he’d shoved Janie up against the wall.
All that he’d been thinking about in that moment was how good she looked and how very kissable her lips were. He hadn’t actually expected the lush promise of Janie’s mouth to be fulfilled by the sweet taste of her or the way she’d ground herself into him. Buried beneath the layers of prim and sass burned the heart of a true vixen…a vixen he wanted to ravage.
That was the stupidest idea he’d ever had.
This was all Gina’s fault, Tex decided right then and there. She’d managed to take a mouse and turn her into a damn sexpot. Looks, though, were deceiving. While Janie might be a wanton in disguise, that didn’t change the fact that she was raised for home and babies. Those were two things Tex always avoided.
He couldn’t avoid their shopping expedition. Neither could he escape the fact that Margie, another lover who had agreed to change his charge into a woman befitting his company, had a great eye for clothes and how to make a woman look like the sun set between her legs. Just like Gina, Margie took Janie under her wing and re-introduced her to the world as a woman meant to drive men mad.
Tex was already half-crazy to begin with. That had been proven earlier when he’d given in to the insane urge to kiss Janie, but now seeing her in modern, form-fitting clothes, he had a whole new urge. He wanted to see her naked.
That was wrong, a bad, horrible impulse. Tex reminded himself of that every second for the next two hours as he escorted Janie out to a popular restaurant and made sure everybody saw them having a good time. It was a charade, of course, because he was miserable. Worse, he was in pain.
Hard and hurting with a deep desire that just wouldn’t quit, Tex found himself fighting off a tension that just wouldn’t quit. Janie didn’t help with the way she squirmed and blushed, looking all sweet and tempting him to corrupt her. God but did he want to corrupt her.
Even after they’d returned back to his house and she’d gone to bed, all he could do was lie there on the couch dreaming up all sorts of things he shouldn’t even be thinking about. He lay there all night, fighting every dirty impulse that his imagination could come up with, leaving Tex miserable and grumpy by the time Brick appeared the next morning.
“Mornin’.” Tex greeted him with a mutter as Brick simply walked right into the house.
It wasn’t much of a house. More like a cottage, really, with one main room and a small galley kitchen along with a short hall that led to a utilitarian-style bathroom and bedroom. Tex had been standing there watching the coffee brew as he listened to the water running through the pipes and tried not to imagine just how good Janie would look all wet and gleaming in the shower.
He was not going to join her. He was not, but he’d been halfway to changing that opinion when Brick showed up. The big man had saved him but didn’t greet him as he settled down at the island counter that divided the kitchen from the main room. His cousin settled in with a studious gaze to watch Tex as he continued to stand there and glare at the coffee pot.
“You look like hell,” Brick finally commented in that steady tone that Tex knew was a mask for the emotions that ran deep within his cousin.
“I feel like it, too,” Tex admitted, drawing a lifted brow from Brick that had Tex snorting. “No, not like that. I don’t even know why you’d think that.”
Brick didn’t say anything but just stared, studying Tex in a way that made him distinctly uncomfortable. Tex could guess at what thoughts were running through his cousin’s mind and knew the other man had seen him kissing Janie the other day. He could also tell what Brick thought of that move.
“I had to kiss her, man,” he stated in his defense. “The woman is so uptight that nobody was going to believe that we were an actual couple if I didn’t get her to loosen up.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. It is,” Tex shot back firmly. “You don’t really think I wanted to kiss that mouse, do you?”
As if on cue, the water running through the pipes shut off. Tex’s gaze shot instantly toward the bathroom door and then almost immediately he realized what he’d done. Sure enough, Brick was watching him and wearing a smirk. Without a word, Tex turned back to the coffee pot and glared even harder at it, his fingers curling around the counter as he heard the bathroom door open up and the soft, rapid steps of Janie retreating back to his bedroom.
“Nah.” Brick broke the tension thickening in the air as the bedroom door clicked shut. “You’re not interested at all.”
“Shut up,” Tex snapped. “Or I might be tempted to point out the fact that you are just as interested.”
Brick snorted at that as Tex shot him a look.
“Which brings up the question of why you didn’t accept Janie’s offer to play her boyfriend.”
�
��You know why.”
Tex suspected he did. Brick was a big, rough fuck. Janie was way to delicate looking to take what Brick liked to do, or so she appeared. Appearance, though, could be deceiving. Tex didn’t share that wisdom with his cousin, strangely feeling less than willing to help Brick out with Janie.
After all, she was his girlfriend, at least for the moment.
* * * *
Janie pinched and pulled at the skirt that seemed to cling to her body, no matter how much she tried to stretch it out. The same went for the skintight shirt. The spandex-like material snapped back into shape with every tug, refusing to relent even an inch. Janie sighed and gave up the battle, accepting that she’d simply be as uncomfortable and self-conscious today as she had been last night.
It had been a trial by fire to sit out in public dressed in a form-fitting outfit, pretending to be fascinated by Tex, who was clearly sulking after their kiss. He acted as if she were to blame for what had happened, but he’d started it. No matter how often Janie reminded herself of that fact, she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty and almost ashamed by her response.
She’d wanted him, wanted him with animalistic need that had haunted her all night and straight into her dreams. Just the memories of the fantasies that had filled her mind while her defenses were asleep had Janie blushing, even as the lust returned to heat her veins. She didn’t know what was wrong with her but suspected it had something to do with having spent the night cocooned in the warm scent clinging to Tex’s sheets. Heady and masculine, it infused every breath she took, drugging her until her whole body tingled.
Janie was afraid to even consider what that meant. All she knew was that she couldn’t stay here. Not for a week. Not for another day. Stiffening up with that determination, she headed out of the bedroom to go confront Tex, only to find Brick sitting at the island counter.
He glanced up as she entered the room, his eyes widening with a mixture of shock and appreciation. Their eyes met and locked, and in that moment, Janie completely forgot what she’d been about to say. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so awkward or weird but strangely beautiful and oddly bold.