by Rena Koontz
“Lookie! It’s Jakey. Wha a nice sapprise.”
Jake grabbed her arm and tugged her toward him. “I’ve got her now, Ted. You can leave.” Kenna fell into his arms and sagged toward the floor.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Jake understood each word, spoken clearly and distinctly. Ted wasn’t one bit drunk.
Jake hoisted Kenna into an upright position and hugged her to his chest. “I’m the guy who just ruined your seduction plan. She is hardly in a condition to consent so I’d say I saved you from rape charges.”
Mackenna’s head snapped up. “I can’t afford to lose my job. He-He already tried and I puked after.” Her eyes closed and her head rolled back onto his shoulder.
Ted’s eyes widened and he shook his head to deny it.
Jake felt heat rocket through his body. “What?”
Kenna’s boss waved his hand in the air. “She’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. I don’t appreciate you being here, buddy. Mackenna and I are dating. We both had too much to drink and I’m making sure she gets home safe. Who did you say you were?”
Jake’s chest heaved. “I know who you are and you’re not dating. And believe me, buddy, you don’t want to know who I am, not really. Stay away from her or you’ll find out.” He tucked his hand beneath Mackenna’s knees and lifted her into his arms. As he approached her apartment door, he yelled over his shoulder, “You better be gone when I turn around. And if you ever touch her again, I swear I’ll kill you.”
He pivoted at Mackenna’s apartment door and viewed an empty hallway. Old Ted must have taken the steps because the elevator hadn’t pinged. After feeling inside the entire contents of Mackenna’s purse, which she clung to with one hand, he located her keys and opened the door.
She’d said Arthur took everything but Jesus, this was like walking into a cave. No wonder she hadn’t wanted him to enter last night. How was she living like this for even one day?
They stumbled through the main room, and he spied the kitchen to the right and a coffeemaker.
“How about some coffee, honey?”
“I just want to sleep.”
“I know, but let’s pour a little caffeine in you first. You’re likely going to be sick soon. We might as well get it over with.” Ordinarily, he’d settle her on the sofa or in an easy chair but that wasn’t an option. He leaned her gently against the wall and held her shoulders. “Let’s ease down to the floor, okay? C’mon.”
Gravity took over and she landed on her backside with a thud. The wall supported her head and she stretched out her legs.
“Stay here, and I’ll brew the coffee.”
“I don’t feel so good, Jakey.”
Despite the pathetic look on her face, he smiled. No one had called him Jakey since the third grade.
Mackenna’s eyes closed. She might have already drifted off but at least she was upright. He started the coffee and wandered the rest of the apartment. One futon in a bedroom and her clothes neatly folded and stacked in another bedroom. No surprise there. She was careful about her personal appearance so it made sense her home would be neat as a pin. Although, there wasn’t much to keep clean in this vacuum. The bathroom looked the most normal with cosmetics, toiletries, and accessories arranged in an orderly line against the back of the sink. Curious, he opened the linen closet and found three bath towels bearing the discount store’s label. This was no way to live especially for a woman like Kenna.
The coffee sputtered and spouted its final brewing stages. Strolling toward the kitchen, he eyed Mackenna’s designer purse, still dangling from her arm. The polite thing to do would be to remove it and deposit it on the kitchen counter.
But a good investigator never passed up the chance to scrutinize . . . what? What did he suspect the contents of her purse might reveal? Something to implicate her in the robberies? Or proof of her innocence? Which did he want to find?
Gently, he eased the purse off her wrist and peeked inside. A clutch wallet and her cell phone mixed with a tissue pack, cosmetics, hand cream, a comb, three pens, contact lens solution, and a few cash register receipts. She’d had to buy the linens he saw and the coffee pot at the discount store just weeks earlier. She wasn’t kidding when she said her ex had taken everything. What would make a man do that?
Her cell phone asked for a code to unlock the screen so he clicked it off and dropped it back inside. A couple charge cards and her driver’s license filled her wallet. The compartment for bills held three dollars. His stomach sank. Demond said her bank account bordered on empty. Was that all the money she had?
He snapped the wallet closed and set the purse on the counter. Time to pump some coffee into her. He’d done his share of worshipping the porcelain throne after a night of over indulgence and as ugly as it could be, she’d likely feel better once she got that over with. After that, he wasn’t sure what to do.
Chapter 11
Midnight blackness suffocated her. Mackenna hyperventilated and sprang up into a sitting position. Two green dots flashed in the distance and to her left, the orange glow of a digital clock illuminated the time. Seventeen minutes after three.
“Relax, Kenna. You’re okay.” A man’s deep voice sliced the darkness.
Who was he? Where was she? Her throat clogged with fear and she skittered backward until the wall halted her escape.
She blinked but it was too dark to see.
Someone moved beside her. “Take it easy, sugar. I’ll turn on the light.”
The luminosity blinded her. She squinted and tugged on a sheet? A blanket? Some type of cloth protection that she plastered to her heaving chest. Jake cocked his head.
“Easy, honey. You look like a frightened puppy. I won’t hurt you.”
Mackenna blinked again and laid her palm on her throbbing forehead. Jake was next to her in bed, naked from the waist up. He boosted himself into a sitting position on arms that bulged with muscles then arranged the pillows and relaxed into them. Immediately she recalled the muscular system poster displayed in her doctor’s office, the one that defines every muscle in the human body. Had he been the model for that placard? A thin layer of tan skin barely covered every ripple and swell in his chest, which was topped with a smattering of dark hair. She may have a hangover and be confused about her whereabouts but she certainly was able to appreciate the fine specimen sharing a bed with her. Her pounding heart switched gears from fear to outright attraction. Holy cow. He was hot!
So was she when all of a sudden, the room became uncomfortably warm. Or was that her reaction to Jake, whom she might now mentally refer to as Juicy Jake. Her mouth watered for him.
Mackenna drew the sheet closer to her chin and tucked her hair behind her ears. What happened to her ponytail? “Where are we?”
Jake folded his hands in his lap. When he spoke, his words were soft. “We’re at my place. I wasn’t about to leave you alone and the idea of sleeping on your apartment floor didn’t appeal to me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. No recollection of the past . . . How many hours? She glanced at the clock again. No idea. What was the last thing she remembered? Certainly not crawling into bed with Jake. A body like his would be impossible to forget no matter how drunk she’d been.
She eyed his chest and taut stomach. “Are you naked?”
The corners of his mouth edged upward. “Normally I would be but, out of deference to you, I kept my skivvies on.”
She glanced down at the white cotton T-shirt she wore, aware that she was braless and wore only panties. “You took my clothes off?”
Jake flat out grinned. “No, ma’am. You did that all by yourself. You were quite entertaining, too. If you lose your bank job I’m certain you have a future at a strip club.”
She gasped and felt her cheeks heat.
“I’d like a rep
lay of that performance someday when you’re sober. I must say, you tempted every bit of my manly restraint. You are quite the vixen.”
Her hand flew to her mouth in horror. “Oh my God. What did I do?”
“Now I see why you say you can’t drink. A lesser man would have succumbed to your attempts at seduction.” He raised one hand, stacking his thumb and forefinger a half-inch apart. “I came this close to saying yes.”
“Some Southern gentleman you are. Didn’t you try to stop me?”
She could swear his eyes beamed. “Sugar, if I hadn’t stopped you, you’d be naked right now and we’d know each other a lot better than we do.”
She dropped her head into her hands. “Dear Lord. I want to die.”
His voice deepened and assumed a serious tone. “That’s the other reason I wasn’t about to leave you alone, Kenna. Look at me, please.” She raised water-rimmed eyes to his.
“You kept repeating how you’re unlovable, that men only want you for sex and not to see the real you. But I want the chance to show you how a real man treats a woman. When you’re ready, that is. If you’re interested.”
Her head dropped against the wall and a tear escaped the corner of her eye. “I’ve never been so humiliated.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead.
“No need, honey. We’ve all hit low points in our life. But that’s over for you now. I’ll find some aspirin for that headache.” He threw the sheet off his legs and stood, bringing to life the bottom portion of the muscle medical illustration. Sinewy thighs and a tight butt tucked into blue boxer briefs strolled from the bed and into the adjoining bathroom. Had she been standing, her knees would have weakened.
She crawled to the edge of the bed and stood as Jake returned with a glass of water and two colored caplets in his palm. Her eyes feasted on his torso. The man was ripped. She swallowed the pills with a sip of water, unsure how they’d sit on her stomach, and then excused herself to use the restroom. Jake had placed a cellophane-wrapped toothbrush and toothpaste on the sink. He certainly wasn’t like any man she’d ever known.
One look at her pale complexion and raccoon eyes and she groaned. She brushed her teeth, pressed cool water to her face with her palms and scrubbed her teeth a second time. When she returned to the bedroom, Jake perched on the edge of the bed waiting.
Her gazed dropped to her feet. “Thanks for the toothbrush. My mouth feels disgusting.”
A deep, sexy chuckle escaped him. “Your mouth is beautiful. I hope I get to kiss it some more.”
She coaxed her hair behind her right ear. “You kissed me?”
Now a richer laugh that could heat a cold cup of coffee. “You started it but I confess I happily obliged.”
This was beyond humiliation. Could she will her heart to cease beating and drop dead right this second?
Jake grinned and waved his hand to the side, indicating she should return to bed. “You first, ma’am.”
Mackenna tugged at the hem of his T-shirt, cognizant that with the light behind her, it likely was transparent. “Maybe one of us should sleep on the couch.”
“Not necessary. I’m not the rapist, remember? We still have that to discuss, by the way.”
Her stomach pitched. Bits and pieces of the night replayed in her mind in foggy snippets. But the events of the prior day remained clear.
Wordlessly she crawled across the queen-sized bed and backed up against the wall again, drawing the sheet to her chest. “Wh-What do you mean?”
Jake resumed his place, plumped the pillows, and leaned back, covering himself to the waist. “I believe your boss forced you to have some type of sex, I’m just not sure when. I hoped I could prevent it. That’s why I waited for you at your apartment. But I think I was too late. For that, honey, I’m truly sorry.”
Mackenna swallowed the lump in her throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His head bobbed slowly. “So now I know two things about you. You’re a poor drinker and a terrible liar.”
She raised both hands to her head and twisted her hair into a ponytail, only she had nothing to secure it with. A few more twists and she draped it over her left shoulder. “Please, Jake. It’s not what you think. I can’t afford to lose my job. You saw my apartment. I have no money, nothing. If I don’t play along with Mr. Gleaner, I’ll be out on the street.”
“That’s a load of crap, Mackenna. The man raped you.”
“He didn’t. He would have but the intercom buzzed and interrupted him and I ran from his office. But he told me last night that since I agreed to go to dinner with him and whatever else, I could never accuse him of sexual assault because I’d be a willing participant.” The aspirins sat like a rock in her stomach.
“No, Kenna. There’s a difference between a choice you make and an ultimatum he gives you. Do you want to sleep with him?”
She gasped. “No. God no. He makes my skin crawl when he touches me.”
“Is your job on the line?”
This was too degrading. She dropped her head into her hands but Jake didn’t let it go. His voice was slow and silky. “Answer me, honey. Did he imply that you’d lose your job if you didn’t consent to his advances?”
Her palms muffled her response. “Yes.”
Jake took a deep breath and lightly caressed her arm. “Tell me what happened, sugar.”
“I don’t want to. I’m ashamed.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of unless you let him get away with hurting you again. Did you tell him no?”
She hung her head. “I never used that word. No.”
“What did you say?”
“I think I said I didn’t want him to touch me. Something like ‘please don’t.’ That’s not the same thing. He explained it to me at dinner.”
“It is the same thing. Dammit, Kenna, tell me what happened.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, unchecked by her trembling hands. “Please, Jake. Don’t make me tell you. He’ll fire me, I know he will.”
Time stopped while he filled his lungs with an audible breath and exhaled slowly. Then he tugged on her wrists to draw her hands away from her face and lifted her chin with his forefinger. Those blue eyes of his had deepened to purple and she saw into them, into a man with a kind, gentle soul. A man who for some reason seemed determined to protect her and was apparently destined to play a role in her life whether she wanted it or not. Jake extended his open hand toward hers. “Give me your hand, honey. Please trust me.”
She wanted to cry herself to death. Sob until her lungs exploded or simply melt into nothingness because at this precise moment, that’s what she was. Nothing. Jake whispered her name.
Slowly, she slipped her unsteady hand into his and immediately, his fingers wrapped around it, strong, warm, and comforting. “You’re not in this alone, Kenna,” he whispered. “Tell me when it happened.”
Her fingers closed around his hand and she clung to it, praying for courage.
“Yest-Yesterday afternoon.”
“Where?”
“At the bank.”
“Where specifically?”
“The manager’s office.”
“Did he force you to have oral sex with him?”
He held tight when she tried to draw her hand back. She barely shook her head. This was mortifying.
“Did he penetrate you?”
“No.”
“Please tell me, honey. It’s important.”
“He-He stood behind me and pressed himself against me. He was aroused and he-he rubbed himself against me. He—” A sob escaped her, and Jake tightened his grip. “He told me I had two choices, either let him or pack my things and get out. He-He ordered me to bend over his desk and he raised my dress. Before the intercom buzzed, he ran his hands over me and started t
o remove my panties.”
Despair took over and she sobbed, shaking her head in denial. Jake released her hand and edged toward her. He positioned himself beside her, his back against the wall just like she sat, and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder. As if his muscles were magnets, she felt the tightness in her body release and she leaned into him. As her tension eased, her emotions overflowed and she hung her head and cried.
Jake cooed to her like she was an injured toddler, raising her left hand to his lips to kiss it, and then drawing her closer to him. She wanted to crawl under his skin and stay tucked away from bank robbers and sexual predators and the FBI. How long they stayed in that position, she didn’t know. Long enough for her to cry her heart out. At some point, he eased her head to a pillow across his thighs. His thumb drifted along her arm in a slow rhythm and every so often, he raised her fingers to his lips and lightly kissed them.
~ ~ ~
When Mackenna awakened, she found her head rested in Jake’s lap. Behind her, soft snores. She raised up an inch at a time so as not to disturb him and saw that he’d propped up the other pillows beneath his arm and laid his head on them. The forty-five-degree angle couldn’t be comfortable. Likely his neck would be stiff when he woke.
Exhaustion enveloped her. But the breakdown and extra sleep cleared her head. She studied the man who, even in sleep, clung to her left hand. Those long eyelashes and the unkempt hair that now fell over his face. Why couldn’t a man like him desire her instead of that monster of a boss?
Glancing around the bedroom, she frowned. On top of the bureau Jake had deposited his watch and wallet. Aside from that, the space was empty. The blinking green lights belonged to a router, which sat next to a laptop on a kid–sized desk. No drawers, no piles of papers on top. Mackenna surveyed the rest of the room. It was so impersonal. One abstract painting of a wildlife scene hung behind the bed. It would have been centered except Jake had the bed shoved against the wall. No family pictures, mementos, or other clues about the man she was in bed with were anywhere. Even the nightstand held only a digital clock, a pen and pad, and his cell phone. Had he not been truthful? Were they in a motel instead of his apartment?