by Jen Talty
“Crap,” she muttered. “I forgot about that. “How the hell did he know where I was?”
“He didn’t.” Nick snagged the cold bag and sat down next to her as he pressed it against the lump he’d made on the back of her head. “I found you.”
“Well, un-find me, because I’ve got a job to do and my father knows I’m a big girl and can handle myself.” She shrugged his hand away after taking the bag.
Had Nick been an ordinary man, she could have easily overpowered him in the bathroom, taking control of the situation, but Nick wasn’t average.
Then again, neither was she.
“You’ve been missing for a week,” he said. “Not a single phone call and when you missed your date, your father got worried.”
“I’m sure my mother was more concerned about the fact I ditched a friend’s son, but I have a job to do, and I intend to see it through,” she said in a stern voice. One that he suspected made many a man quake in his shoes.
But not Nick.
No. She had an entirely different effect on him.
“What’s the job?” He wanted to slap himself for asking, partly because he knew the basics of the case.
“I thought you knew everything about me?” She cocked her head, her full lips pursed together like a lipstick commercial where she was about to kiss something, leaving behind a lipstick impression.
All he could think about was kissing her mouth with enough force that it would make her lips swell. “I know you wax yourself.” That was an asinine thing to say. He cringed, waiting to be smacked, but all she did was stare at him.
“Do you know if I wax it all off, or leave a little behind?” Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him, but her slight grin sent his mind tumbling to a place where he’d yank her pants to her ankles to find out.
“I’m guessing all of it. Or maybe hoping.”
She turned, tucking one leg under her voluptuous ass. “And I bet you man-scape, enjoying the hot wax on your body before ripping it off with exquisite pain.”
He became fully aware that she wore nothing but her pajamas and the thought of her being totally bare tightened his groin.
She leaned forward, pressing her arms against her sides, the movement bringing her breasts together and thrusting them further out of her top. “I bet you’re the kind of man who likes to have his control stripped.” Her moist breath tickled his skin as she kissed his neck.
The sofa shifted and before she could stand up and make a run for it, because he knew she was playing him, using her body…one he couldn’t ignore…he snagged a fist full of her hair.
Her eyes went wide.
“Hon, I wouldn’t play this game if I were you,” he said.
“Who said I’m playing anything?” She smiled as she gently placed her hand on his thigh, dangerously close to his growing erection. “You’ve got me all hot and bothered.” Her nervous smile showed a vulnerability he couldn’t handle.
He blinked a few times, forcing himself to break the intense gaze. “As much as I’d like to flip you over on your back and toss your legs over my shoulders, I’ve got a job to do.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you.” Her fingers dug into his thigh muscle. “I’m not going back until this case is closed. You can tell my father you found me. Hell, I’ll even call him. But I’m not leaving.”
“Maybe I can help you with your case.” With his hand still holding her hair, he tugged slightly, exposing the soft curve of her neck. He pressed his mouth on her skin, feeling her pulse beat against his lips. “And when we’re done with that, I’ll help you get that first fuck after your husband died out of the way.”
She jerked her head back. “Excuse me?”
He glided his fingers through her thick, dark hair, before dropping his hand to the sofa. “You haven’t had sex since he died, have you?”
“That’s none of your fucking business and it has nothing to do with you helping me with Ramos.”
“Fair enough.” He smiled. “But you’re still leaning over me with your breasts close to my mouth and your hand...” He looked at his thigh.
“Point taken,” she said, shifting to a sitting position, making sure not a single part of her body touched him. “Sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it.” He rolled his head, staring at her profile. The light from the lamp hit her just right, showing off her porcelain-like skin. In all the years since Joanne had passed, not a single woman had turned him on the way Leandra did.
And it wasn’t just physical.
“Staring at you in the mirror with my hand over your mouth, I had some interesting thoughts. Like bending—”
She jabbed him with her elbow. “No need to express it. You’re a perv and I’ve turned into crazed, sex-starved widow.”
“I’m not a pervert.” He scowled. “And I’ve been where you are. Wish I could say it gets easier.”
“Not at all?”
He shrugged. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d told a woman he’d been married, much less that his heart had been so shattered, it barely pumped blood. “My wife died shortly after we were married. I vowed I’d never have sex again. Now that’s all I do.”
“All you do?”
He laughed. “I don’t do relationships. But we’ve gone so far off the issue at hand. Tell me how I can help with Ramos and your case.” He clasped his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.
She let out a long breath, resting her head on the back of the sofa. “Ramos is running a human trafficking ring.”
“And how exactly does that affect you?”
“My client’s daughter is one of seven young women missing in a twenty-five-mile radius over the course of a week.
“When was she abducted?” The tension between his legs had simmered down, but it hadn’t fully gone away. He suspected it might never with her close by.
“About a month ago.”
“She’s probably long gone by now.”
“I know, but if I can get into where he keeps them, I might be able to find his records and find to who and where she was sold.”
“It’s a long shot.”
“But I have to take the chance. After doing some more digging, I’ve found a pattern in different locations in Florida regarding missing young adults.” The passion fused in her voice sealed his fate.
He’d do whatever it took to help her.
Then fuck her.
“There are a lot of missing kids all over the country and that doesn’t make for a pattern of any kind,” he said.
“It does when three victims in the last four months were found alive, all telling the same story.”
“And what story is that?”
“A ring of human traffickers. Each kid was from a different area. One from Miami, one from the panhandle and one from Ft. Myers.” She locked gazes with him. Her deep chocolate eyes danced with adrenaline, something he knew well. “The identical details each gave to the authorities about their abductors couldn’t be coincidence.”
“Do you have case files on these?”
She nodded.
“I want to see them.”
“I don’t need or want your help.”
“Either I stay and help, or I take you to your father now.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “What do the cops say?”
“They’re looking into the victims’ stories, but all three had been runaways prior to this most recent disappearance, and had been into drugs and/or prostituted themselves at one point. The cops don’t think much about most of the missing kids since half of them had been or are troubled teens, and the other half, over the age of eighteen.”
“So, they believe they were all runaways.” Nick had spent a few years as a local police officer and knew the drill. Often, with missing kids over the age of sixteen, unless there had been substantial evidence that an abduction had occurred, an Amber Alert wasn’t enven issued. It was a catch-22 because many of these runaways got themselves in some deadly situations, but many didn’t fit the crite
ria for an amber alert. “Which brings me to why you’re staying in Ramos’s house.” He looked into her dark, succulent eyes. “You went from a hotel ten miles away to his house.”
She arched a brow. “You’ve been watching me?”
He nodded. “I needed to figure out how to get in and out without getting us both killed, but it also appeared that you and he were…” Nick looked at the ceiling. “…friendly.”
“That’s downright disgusting,” she said under a tight lip.
“I’m teasing you.”
“I’m not laughing.”
He nodded. “So how did you end up at Ramos’s mansion?”
“I found out Ramos needed a quick sale since his regular buyers backed out. Not to mention he has to move the current group because of this Fed that’s been poking around. I decided to give Ramos a solution by providing him with a new auctioneer with his own contacts.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re sleeping in Ramos’s house.” A thought that disturbed Nick on way too many levels.
“I rang his doorbell.”
Nick coughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
She shook her head. “I had approached him at a restaurant and he blew me off, so I showed up and he admired my big balls.”
“I don’t want him admiring anything about you,” Nick said under his breath. “Was staying a condition of getting the gig?”
“Partially, but I didn’t want him to check out my car rental, so I Ubered.”
Smart, but not so smart.
“Where’d you find the buyer?”
“Haven’t found him yet.” She tossed the vegetable bag on the table. “But Ramos wants to meet my guy tomorrow and do the sale as soon as possible.”
“Who’s your backup and how do you see this going down?”
“I have none and I have no idea.”
“What!? Are you fucking crazy? And this is all supposed to go down tomorrow?”
“I need to find my client’s daughter and this is the only way.” She stood, leaping over the coffee table. “I need to get back. My phone and laptop are both there and one of my contacts could be trying to reach me.”
“You think I just fell off the turnip truck?” He pointed to the dining room. “I gathered all of your important things that I could find.”
“I still need to get back before daybreak.” She planted her hands on her sexy, hips again.
Hips that he wouldn’t mind grabbing in the heat of the moment.
Fuck. What the hell was his problem?
She made it worse by shifting, as if she knew his mind had just plummeted into the gutter.
“What time is this meeting tomorrow?” he asked.
“I told Ramos I’d have an exact time and place by morning.” She rocked back and forth, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.
“But if you can’t make that happen by tomorrow, you’re as good as dead.”
She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “After Ramos has his way with me, which I suspect he’s beyond kinky or perverted and I doubt I’d like it much either.”
Nick balled his fists. The idea that Ramos might lay even his pinky finger on Leandra made his blood cells burst like exploding popcorn.
“Consider me Batman. I’ll be the buyer and I can get a team of men here in a few hours to do the rest.” He stepped up the two stairs dividing the family room from the dining room. Grabbing her round hips, he turned her.
“What am I supposed to be? Cat Woman?” Her hands rested on his shoulders. “I doubt that is the right costume for me.”
“Oh, hell, yes,” he said, giving her hips a squeeze. “You were made for that costume.”
She titled her head, giving him an inquisitive stare. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“No, it’s not.”
“For all I know you work for Ramos and you’re setting me up.”
He cocked his head as he slinked his hands to the small of her back. Bad idea was putting this situation mildly. “Call your daddy and find out who I am.”
Her fists came down hard on his chest as she balled his shirt, heaving him forward. He counter-acted, but found himself tumbling backward, holding her tight, taking her with him.
“Fuck,” she mumbled, pulling back, but it was too late as he tripped backward over the steps, scrambling to make sure they made it to the sofa and they didn’t land on the floor, but clutching her tight, anticipating her landing on top of him, her round breasts smashed against his chest.
Maybe he was a pervert after all.
She dug her heels into the carpet, while her fists pulled at his shirt, slowing them down enough that when his ass hit the sofa, he slid to the ground with a thud.
A painful grunt echoed from her lips when her knees hit the floorboards.
A pleasurable groan escaped his throat as her body landed on his thighs, his fingers digging into the top part of her ass.
“That didn’t go as planned,” she muttered.
“I don’t know about that.” He winked. “I kind of like how it ended.”
“Ugh. Let me go, or else—”
“Or else, what?” For fuck’s sake. He was acting more like his womanizing little brother, Ramey. And there was a difference between having a romp in the sack with a woman who gladly understood and accepted what he was looking for, versus going through women, leaving a string of broken hearts along the way.
His broken heart had been enough.
Not to mention Leandra’s.
She leaned over, her hot breath on his ear. Her fingers glided down his chest in an erotic dance that tossed him off balance, sending a warm shiver across his skin.
He swallowed.
Her eyes turned a seductive dark brown with a hint of a sparkle as she raised up on her knees, her hand at the top of his pants.
“We need to stop this.” Dropping his hands to his sides and his head to the sofa, he took in a few deep calming breaths. He tried to snap his focus onto the operation and not the sexy woman sitting on his lap. “I’m sorry. I’ve behaved incredibly inappropriately and I have no excuse.” He could tell Leandra that he’d been all fucked up since the day his wife had died and how things got compounded a few weeks ago when his older brother got engaged and then dropped the bomb that his bride-to-be was pregnant, but that would make him sound even crazier than being perverted.
He closed his eyes, waiting for her to stand up, but instead she plopped herself right back on his lap.
He groaned, unable to control his body’s reaction to hers. “Keep sitting like that and I won’t take responsibility for what happens next.”
“I’m a big girl,” she said in a faint whisper. “Who are you really, and why do you make me crazy?”
“I can’t answer the second one.” He dropped his forearm over his eyes. “But to the first one, I’m just an ex-Army guy hired to do a job and I’m really good at what I do.”
“Are you one of the good guys?” Her fingers laced around his wrist, tugging, while her other hand tilted his head. “I need to see your eyes.”
He blinked as he let all the air in his lungs swish out in a single pant. “When it comes to what side of the law I stand on, I’m a great guy.”
“Good.”
“Now please get up so we can devise a plan to bring down Ramos and find your client’s daughter or I will grab you again, because when it comes to bedding women, I’m not a man who sticks around, so in that department, I’m a bad guy.”
Her mouth moved closer to his and it took every ounce of control he had not to flip her on her back and strip her naked. When her lips brushed against his, he gripped the sofa cushion. Her beautiful eyes searched his with a combination of lust and confusion, matching his own swirling emotions. “I don’t want a man to stick around.”
“You’re playing with fire,” he whispered.
“I know.”
He groaned, cupping her cheeks and shoving his tongue deep inside her mouth. She tasted like honeysuckle on a warm summer’s evening. His
body shivered as she sucked on his tongue, taking command of the kiss, torturing his mouth. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. Everything about this woman made him dizzy. Not only did he want to bury himself in every part of her body, he wanted to hold her in his arms, caress her soft skin. Kiss her temple and watch the stars together.
Yanking his lips from his, he stared into her eyes. “Save the girl first. Put Ramos behind bars. Then we fuck like there is no tomorrow.”
“Sounds good to me.”
A deep growl vibrated from his throat.
He’d just met his match.
Chapter 3
LEANDRA WRAPPED THE BIG, white towel across her body before wiping the steam off the mirror. No matter how long she stood under the hot water, she couldn’t get Nick’s sexy touch off her body.
And honestly, she didn’t want to.
But she had to.
The focus had to be on finding Skyler and the rest of the missing kids before they were sold into slavery all across the globe, never to be found. Though she knew Skyler had most likely been unloaded already, a thought that haunted her every waking moment.
She slipped on her thong, remembering how quickly Nick grew hard as she straddled him. When he’d grabbed her, an electric pulse shot through her body. The lust in his eyes commanded her body like a like a conductor controlling his orchestra.
And that kiss.
Wow.
She shook her head, running her fingers through her wet hair. Thoughts of screwing the man senseless needed to stop. It shocked her that she’d even thought about another man other than her husband that way. In the last year, her family had decided it was time for her to date. She’d put them off, but her mother wouldn’t let it go and went about fixing her up with every single man she knew.
Some of them were hot, too, but she couldn’t picture herself getting naked with them, much less wanting to take their manhood into her hands and mouth, or anywhere else for that matter.
Ugh.
She finished getting dressed before putting on her make-up, trying to hide the dark circles that had suddenly appeared under her eyes. She’d tried to get a couple of hours of sleep once Nick had helped her back through the bedroom window ad Ramos’s house, kissing her gently on the lips, telling her to be safe, and if at any point she wanted out, all she had to do was call him and he’d come rescue her.