Consequence (Reckless Killers Book 2)

by V. Hunter

  I wouldn't survive it. There was no way.

  Something I shouldn't have been thinking about anyway since I had no intention of sleeping with the man. I wasn't that kind of girl, as cliché as it sounded. The only man I ever slept with was Alex and look how that had turned out. I didn't feel compelled to jump into bed with a man again anytime soon.

  Especially not a dark, broody one like Jairo. The man seemed to ooze trouble and I couldn't afford to get caught up in that.

  No matter how damp my panties got...

  I cleared my throat so hard it startled Sofia. "Sorry," I told her with a quick laugh.

  She smiled back, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. The excitement from earlier in her bedroom seemed to be gone. I thought for sure letting her wear my sweatshirt over the dress she obviously hated would be enough to cement the good start to things for us. As she sat across the table barely making eye contact, I wasn't so sure anymore.

  Jairo seemed to notice my preoccupation with his niece. He looked back-and-forth between the two of us for a moment. The middle of the table was dressed with a bowl of fake fruit. Jairo reached in and plucked a fake grape out. I watched him curiously and he winked when he caught me looking. I willed myself not to blush, an impossible feat considering my fair skin and how easily embarrassed I was.

  A sharp whistle pierced the air and it took me a second to realize the sound came from Jairo. Sofia looked up at him, her own little face confused. He looked her right in the eyes and threw the grape at her forehead, the fake fruit bouncing off and then rolling halfway down the long dining room table.

  Sofia watched the grape until it came to a stop. She turned back to Jairo, and just when I thought she would get upset, she let out a soft chiming laughter. Seeing her finally relax helped me try to do the same.

  I had to admit, my first instinct didn't seem quite right.

  When Jairo caught us destroying Sofia's room and she hid behind me so quickly, I assumed she was all-out scared of him. Now, though, I realized she only seemed scared when she thought she might get in trouble. She actually looked at him with a surprising amount of adoration, though he seemed oblivious to it.

  They had quite the interesting dynamic between them.

  "Miss Brooke?" Sofia turned her attention to me. "How long are you sleeping over for?"

  Guilt weighed heavily on me. I didn't really know how to answer, particularly since I hadn't wanted to stay in the first place. My heart was starting to thaw a little towards the two of them, though I didn't want to examine that too closely just yet. I looked helplessly to Jairo to answer.

  I felt his hand squeeze my knee under the table. I was sure he meant the gesture to be reassuring, but I felt myself nearly come out of my seat as the warmth of his touch seemed to zap a lightning bolt of pleasure straight up to my lady bits.

  I brushed his hand away and then put my hand over my face in a way I hoped looked casual so that I could hide the deep red I knew started to form on my cheeks the second his hand touched me. Luckily, he wasn't looking in my direction.

  "You don't need to worry about that right now, okay, Sofia? Brooke will be here for a few days and I'm sure you all will get to spend plenty of time together," he answered.

  "Right. Because that's all I'm here for. To spend time with you," I added pointedly. Jairo only rolled his eyes at me.

  I knew it wasn't the right time to bring it up, with Sofia sitting across the table, but I asked anyway, "What exactly is your plan? I only packed clothes to last me through tomorrow."

  His mouth settled into a deep frown.

  Before he could scold me for speaking out of turn—which I had no doubt he was about to do—the door to the kitchen opened and a plump man waddled out from the kitchen. He carried out a tray that it seemed he could barely keep balanced. He did a double-take when his eyes landed on me.

  "Good evening, ma'am," he greeted me. He was the first warm, friendly face I'd seen.

  "Hi." I smiled back.

  "I'm Cooke," he introduced himself. "I've brought out salads for everyone to start with. Dinner for the evening was meant to be salmon with a vegetable medley, but I can fix you something else if you'd like or if you have any allergies."

  "No, what you've fixed is fine, I'm sure. And I'm sorry—but did you say your name was Cook?" Surely they didn't expect me to believe they had a cook named Cook.

  "C-O-O-K-E," he spelled for me with a sheepish shrug, "I understand it's an amusing coincidence."

  Jairo cleared his throat with a distinctly displeased sound that sent Cooke reeling several steps back from me. From that distance, he struggled to place my salad in front of me, finally forced to let it rattle unpleasantly as he failed to make it the extra inch close enough to set it down gently. I gave Jairo a good, swift kick under the table for being an asshole.

  He grunted and muttered angrily under his breath until Cooke left the room again.

  "You didn't have to kick me," he said then, sounding like a petulant child.

  "And you didn't have to be rude," I returned.

  Sofia watched the exchange with rapt attention. I imagined she didn't often see anyone going toe-to-toe with Jairo over anything. He struck me as the sort of man that people rarely said no to. An interesting thing since I didn't neglect to mention the way his eyes sparked with enjoyment every time I took him to task over something.

  Despite how exasperated he acted, he clearly liked disagreeing with me. I was enjoying it more than I'd meant to, too.

  The table fell silent as we ate our salads. I was nearly finished with mine—feeling starved after missing lunch—when I realized every bite Sofia took looked like it physically hurt her. She kept taking more bites but chewed for forever. I glanced to see if Jairo noticed but he seemed oblivious.

  "Sofia? Do you not like your salad?" I asked.

  Her eyes stayed trained on the plate in front of her as she shook her head. I started to ask why she didn't say anything but remembered how she said she usually ate alone. After getting used to eating alone, she probably didn't realize she could say anything. She didn't usually have anyone present to complain to.

  Sofia started to take another bite despite her admission. Jairo quickly scooped the plate up and stood. "I'll be right back," he said as he pushed open the door to the kitchen.

  A moment later, his leaned back out of the doorway.

  "Do you like bread?" he asked Sofia. She nodded. "Cheese bread?" She nodded again.

  He disappeared again only to return a couple minutes later with a plate overflowing with cheesy bread. It was a massive overcompensation since a piece or two would have sufficed, but it was incredibly endearing to see he put in the effort to correct an obvious mistake.

  "Thank you," Sofia gushed with wide-eyed amazement as he put the plate in front of her. She managed to shove a whole thick piece in her mouth as Jairo returned to his seat.

  He leaned over to me and whispered, "I gave her too much, didn't I?"

  "Definitely. Way too much," I confirmed.

  His laugh came out as a low rumble. I barely smothered a laugh myself, not wanting to get too buddy-buddy with him, but amused nonetheless. It only took a split-second for him to ruin that brief camaraderie.

  "Are you so easy to please as well?" he asked, his voice dripping with suggestion. It was like a switch had flipped and he was a whole different person as his eyes trailed suggestively over me.

  "That's—that‘s—" I couldn't even find words to respond. His insinuation horrified me and was incredibly inappropriate.

  He seemed to mistake my speechlessness for something else entirely. He leaned forward and used the cover of the table to slide his hand up my upper thigh. I shot up from my seat so quickly that the entire chair tipped backwards. I ignored it as it crashed to the floor, angry tears running over my cheeks.

  I turned and fled the room without bothering to excuse myself. I hated to do it to Sofia, but I couldn't stand to be in the same room as that infuriating man for one more second. He had
no right to speak to or touch me so intimately. We weren't lovers—despite how he seemed to keep trying to treat me as one.

  It was only after I left the dining room that I realized I didn't know where to go. My suitcase got left by the front door when I arrived, and I used a bathroom to change into my casual clothes before dinner. But now my suitcase was nowhere to be found.

  Incredibly annoyed, I prepared to stomp back to the dining room to ask what happened to my stuff but was intercepted by Tomas. Though, a more accurate description would be I smacked straight into him. He put a hand on my shoulder to steady me but stopped touching me the second I was no longer in danger of falling over.

  "If you're looking for your luggage, I just took your bag to your room," he explained.

  "Thanks," I said, then shuffled uncomfortably on my feet. "Uh, could you tell me where that is?"

  "Come with me, I'll show you." I followed behind him as he went up the stairs and turned left towards Sofia's room.

  As we walked past her door, I was surprised to see someone had already cleaned the room up. I fully intended to do it myself, but I couldn't help the relief I felt knowing I wouldn't have to. That was quite the mess we'd made by the time we were done.

  Tomas stopped at the end of the hall and pushed the last door open for me. I stepped into the room as he started to leave. My bag was sitting right inside the door, just like he said.

  "Thanks," I called out after him, but Tomas didn't turn to acknowledge me so I wasn't sure if he even heard.

  I closed the bedroom door firmly behind me and reached for the door handle. To my great horror, the door didn't have a lock. My stomach did somersaults as I stared at the plain door handle. How could I possibly sleep in there knowing anyone could walk in at any time? In frustration, I kicked my small suitcase until it pitifully flopped to its side.

  As I stepped further into the room, I noticed a chair by the window. I quickly grabbed it and dragged it over to the door, thinking maybe I could use it to rig the handle not to turn. No such luck, the chair was several inches too short. I left it abandoned in the doorway as I went to flop on the queen-sized bed in the center of the room.

  I let my eyes close as I tried to take deep, steadying breaths. The anxiety of the day finally seemed to be catching up to me. I tried to flee, then I tried to fight, and now I felt too exhausted to do either.

  When I finally worked up the energy to open my eyes again, I shot straight up on the bed. There, in the corner, just in like Sofia's room, was another one of those freaking cameras.

  13

  Jairo

  I carefully balanced the dinner plate in one hand as I knocked on the bedroom door with my other. After the way Brooke stormed off, I figured I might be best off approaching her with a peace offering, so I got Cooke to fix her a plate I could take up to her room for her. She ate her salad, so she wasn't starving, but I figured a real meal would be good for her.

  There was no answer, so I knocked a second time, louder in case she just hadn't heard me.

  Still no answer.

  My adrenaline spiked. Had she found some way to get out of the house unnoticed? If she tried to make a run for it out there she would be signing a death sentence for herself. There was wilderness in every direction—and at night there was no telling what sort of animals she might come across. We were in mountain territory, the woods wouldn't be safe for her to wander alone in.

  Feeling slightly panicked, I pushed the door open.

  "What the hell?" I muttered when it hit something with a loud bang and then bounced back towards me.

  I opened it more carefully, peering around the corner to find a chair sitting partway in front of it. It was light enough that I just pushed the door a little harder and the door scooted enough away to let me step inside.

  Brooke was standing at the window with her back to me.

  I could tell she heard me enter because her body language was tense, but she didn't seem to have any interest in acknowledging me. I set her plate of food down on top of the dresser and walked to the center of the room. Her shoulders slumped forward, probably because she realized ignoring me wouldn't be enough to make me leave.

  "You don't have to block the door. No one will come in without your permission."

  "You just did," she pointed out.

  I scoffed at her. "Only because you didn't respond and I was worried something was wrong."

  "The only thing wrong is you." There was a heavy dose of venom in her voice. I hadn't expected to piss her off quite so much with my little comment at dinner. Apparently, I unknowingly crossed a line.

  Probably by touching her, but damn if it hadn't been worth it. Having my hands on her was every bit as good as I expected—and that had been with her clothes on. It could only get better once I managed to get her into bed, which I was still more than determined to do.

  "Anyway," I changed the subject, "I just came up here to leave your dinner and to tell you not to cover any of my cameras again. They're there for everyone's safety—yours included."

  She spun quickly, her eyes lit in anger as her face contorted in displeasure. "It's not fair for you to take my privacy away like that. I don't care about whatever it is you all are apparently so afraid of, I deserve privacy. And I shouldn't have to hide out in the bathroom to get it," she spit out at me.

  "There are cameras in the bathroom, too," I responded, since it seemed only fair to make sure she knew. Those were less obviously placed, but still necessary for safety protocol.

  Her mouth dropped wide open as her eyes darted in the direction of the en-suite bathroom.

  "You're disgusting," she said, tears forming in her eyes.

  "I don't watch those cameras," I tried to defend myself. "They're only there in the event something actually happens."

  "You don't watch those cameras? But you do watch the others? So... what then? You've been watching me this whole time like some freaky pervert? It's ridiculous and you can't expect me to stay here knowing that.

  "I don't know what you want me to do. It's not like I can just turn them off," I said. I would never even consider that option. I was in too dangerous a business not to take every possible precaution, especially where Sofia was involved. If someone made an attempt to get into the house when I wasn’t there, I needed to be able to track that immediately. I wouldn't risk my nieces safety—or any of the staff's either.

  "What I want is my freedom back. So I can go home." Brooke's mouth set in a firm line that indicated anything else would be less than welcomed.

  Of course, the one thing she wanted was the exact opposite of what I wanted. It really pissed me off that she was so adamant about leaving when she hadn't even given it a chance yet. And didn't she care at all about how Sofia bonded to her so quickly? My niece would be heartbroken if she were to leave right now.

  No, it wasn't a request I was willing to honor. Brooke would have to get over it.

  I couldn't force her to stay indefinitely. A man in my position would never welcome the kind of questions something like that would inevitably bring. But I needed more time to convince her to stay of her own free will. Surely she would realize it wasn't so bad there.

  Hell, maybe she would realize that I wasn't so bad, either.

  It'd been a while since I last had a woman's company. I got so busy with the business and Sofia that I rarely left the house myself anymore. But I still knew exactly what women liked, and I could be very good to Brooke if she would let me. I might not know all the right things to say to her, but I would definitely know what to do with a body like hers.

  Curves like hers deserved to be worshiped.

  I realized then that Brooke was still staring at me, waiting for some sort of response. She wasn't going to like it.

  "You're not going home until I say so," I answered. Admittedly, it wasn't the best choice of words.

  She threw her hands up in exasperation. "This house is a prison and I wish I'd never agreed to come here."

  "You're acting like a
child. There's nothing wrong with this house. It has anything a reasonable person could possibly want. It's a good home, despite how much you don't want to admit that." No one else had ever complained.

  "No, this is just a cold, lonely house. Nothing about it makes this a home." She swiped at the tears running over her cheeks. Every word pierced me in the chest so that she might as well have been stabbing me with an actual knife. She wasn't done, either. She blurted out, "That's probably why your niece is so miserable stuck here with you."

  Those last words went too far.

  I stalked towards her, my own anger changing the dynamic of the room completely. Brooke's temper seemed to fade immediately as I approached her. Her expression faded to something much softer as she started trying to backtrack her words—but I wasn't listening to her any more. She needed to be taught a lesson about acting like a brat that was all there was to it.

  Her nervous steps backward did nothing to stop me. Her back hit the window as I took a final step closer, pressing into her so that she couldn't go anywhere. Neither of us acknowledged the way my hard cock pressed against her hip, but I knew she could feel it through her thin jogging pants.

  My mouth crashed over hers.

  I thought she might fight me but the second my lips touched hers she was kissing me back.

  Brooke's lips parted for me as her back arched, her breasts straining forward to brush against my chest. I let out a low groan that disappeared somewhere between my mouth and hers. Her mouth tasted sweet but met mine with a fiery heat that couldn't be contained. My hands trailed over her body as she rubbed against me like a cat in heat.

  She obviously hadn't been kissed properly in far too fucking long.

  I ran my hands over her sides, my thumbs caressing the sides of her breasts so that she arched even more. As she moved partially up onto her toes, my dick settled against the apex of her thighs. She pulled back to let out a soft whimper at the contact.

  I dove right back in on her mouth, capturing it with mine all over again. My hands moved down to cup her ass, dragging her against my erection as her legs tensed while she forced them to stay closed rather than accommodate me. My hand moved to the waistband of her pants.