The tips of her breasts teased the muscles of his stomach with her every move. She curled her fingers more tightly around his erection, but while her actions were driving him crazy with desire, he wanted to be inside her now.
Grasping her hips, he gently nudged her bottom down his torso until she sat, her back facing him, her hair a sexy, tangled mass around her face as she gazed at him over her shoulder.
Jake admired the long, graceful lines of her back, following her spine with his thumbs until he reached her behind, where he spanned to grasp her hips again. She reached for a condom in the basket on the bedside table, then guided the coated tip of his erection to rest against her slick, hot aperture. He tightened his grasp and thrust upward with every ounce of energy he possessed. Her head snapped back, and she moaned, the sultry, sexy sound winding around him, clutching him as he pulled back and thrust again.
"Oui, oui, mon cherie," she murmured, nearly catapulting him over the edge.
She moved her body in perfect symphony with his until her breathing came in ragged gasps. She leaned forward and rested her hands on the mattress between his legs, her movements becoming slower, more concentrated, her moans deeper. Jake was unable to tear his gaze away from where they were joined. His hard flesh fusing with her soft, her wetness dripping over his erection. He reached down and cupped her bottom in both hands, then spread her a little farther open, allowing for even deeper contact … and completely lost it.
The world exploded into a flash of white hot light.
* * *
Chapter 10
« ^ »
Michelle had never felt so utterly boneless, sated, exhilarated. She fastened the fluffy white hotel robe around her damp skin as she left Jake behind in the shower, a decidedly wicked-feeling smile claiming her lips. Before their first time together, she'd suspected that Jake was an ingénue when it came to matters of sex … well, not an ingénue, exactly, but very definitely conservative and reserved.
Tonight he'd shown her a few things she hadn't thought were possible. Just thinking about it made her want to climb into that huge bed to wait for him so they could start all over again.
For the first time, she glanced around the room. Thick white carpeting, monstrous king-size bed, stylish curtains with matching bedspread, gilt-edged mirrors and antique furniture reproductions all combined to make it comfortable and tasteful. But it was the river view from the window covering one full wall that caught her attention. The setting sun slanted bright orange streaks across the Maumee River. It looked magical … which was fitting, because this evening had certainly proved magical to her. She wrapped her arms around herself, then stared at the thin gold band on her finger. Strange that such a simple piece of metal could signify so much. Not unlike Jake. She'd never thought she was attracted to the strong and silent type. But this one man … he'd slipped inside her heart with the simplest of ease.
God help her, she loved him. In an all-consuming way that made her want to forget who she was. Forget who he was. Wipe the slate clean and start all over again. Just him, her and Lili.
The muffled chirp of a cell phone filled the room. She glanced first at the bed, then at the pile of clothes on the floor. Bending over, she fished through the items until she found Jake's jacket. She stepped toward the bathroom as she took the slender receiver from a side pocket.
"Jake?" she called into the bathroom.
She was answered by his tuneless humming. She could have sworn the song was "You Are My Sunshine," but she couldn't be sure. She was more concerned with the ringing instrument in her damp palm.
She stepped into the other room, staring at the phone as it continued to ring. It could very well be Jake's brother bearing news of Gerald's return to Toledo. The possibility both frightened and excited her. Excited her because it meant she might very soon be holding little Lili in her arms again. Frightened her because it would mean the abrupt end to all she and Jake had found in each other's arms.
Biting hard on her bottom lip, she pressed the receive button. "Hello?"
"I'm sorry, I must have dialed wrong," a male voice said.
"No, no, wait!" Michelle quickly interjected.
Too late. The line was dead.
Sighing, she pressed disconnect, then sank onto the mattress. She stared at where steam billowed out from the bathroom. Perhaps she should go in there and climb into the shower with Jake. See if there were any spots she missed on the first go-around. And even if there weren't, she could always start again from the top and make her way down that long, lean body—
The phone rang again, and she nearly dropped it.
This time she didn't hesitate. "Hello? Jake McCoy's … phone."
Silence. Then, "Who's this?"
Michelle closed her eyes. Such a simple question. Such a complicated answer.
"Michelle," she said, clearing her throat, aware that her accent had thickened with the heightening of her nerves. "You have information on when Gerald Evans is scheduled to return to Toledo, yes?"
Silence again. "Michelle who?"
She tucked her hair behind her ear and closed her eyes. "Lambert. I'm…" What? Jake's wife? Oh, wouldn't that make this conversation interesting? "You're Jake's brother, yes? David? Or Mitch?"
"Mitch. And you're Jake's… I'm sorry, I think I missed the second half of your statement."
"Friend," she said, instead of any of the other dozen answers that flooded her mind, lover topping the list. But still, even that title didn't seem to fit. He was much, much more than her lover.
She looked up to find the man in question watching her from the bathroom doorway. Michelle felt her cheeks go hot. "One moment, please, while I put Jake on the line."
He crossed the room, a towel hung low on his slender hips. Michelle swallowed hard, longing to lick the lingering water droplets from the clean skin of his stomach. She slowly held out the cell phone to him. "It's your brother Mitch."
Jake took the phone and grinned at her. "Bet your conversation with him was interesting."
She couldn't help smiling. "Yes. That it was. He hung up on me." At his raised brow, she explained, "The first time. Then he called back." She motioned nervously toward his hand. "He's waiting with news of Gerald now."
When he raised the phone to his ear to receive the information, in a flash, all good humor left her. Michelle pushed from the bed and strode toward the large picture window, her attention more on Jake's reflection in the tinted glass than the lights beginning to come to life on the nearby suspension-cable bridge.
"Mitch," Jake said, making the one word sound like a greeting and a command for him to speak. Michelle noticed his grimace. "Never mind who Michelle is. What have you got?" A pause. "Uh-huh. Ten o'clock. I see. Yeah, yeah, I know. I owe you big for this." Another pause then Jake glanced at her. "No, you haven't met her before. Yeah, I'll tell her." He turned and slowly paced away from her, but she could still make out what he said. "It's complicated. I can't fill you in on all of the details now, but I'm helping Michelle find her daughter, Lili… Yes, I suspect this Gerald Evans has her. That's all I can tell you now. What?" A deep-throated chuckle. "Yes, she's … attractive." A pause. "Thanks, Mitch. Yes, I'll keep you posted."
He disconnected, then tossed the phone to the bed. "Mitch asked me to apologize for his abruptness."
She shrugged, pretending nonchalance, when in all honesty, nonchalance was the last thing she felt. Only problem was, she was having a difficult time defining exactly what she did feel. Adrift? Uncertain? On the one hand, she longed to be a part of all that was familiar to Jake, wanted his brothers to know who she was and hoped they accepted her. On the other, she knew it was foolish for her to forge anything that stretched beyond now, this moment, because the next moment might not be hers to decide what to do with.
"So," she began, tucking the robe more tightly around her. "Was your brother able to get the information?"
Jake said nothing for a long moment. He sought and found her gaze in the smooth glass and held i
t. He looked so solemn. All the sexy playfulness that characterized the past two hours slipped away, replaced by the stark reality of now.
She'd known this moment would come. But she couldn't say she'd been fully prepared for it. Her heart beat a steady, almost painful staccato in her chest. The current of electricity that had hummed through her muscles only moments before was replaced by an odd numbness.
Jake finally spoke to her reflection. "Yes. Gerald's plane arrives in an hour." He cleared his throat. "Mitch was also able to verify that Evans booked a companion ticket. Looks like Lili is going to be with him."
* * *
Adrenaline rushed through Jake's veins, strong and pure. It had been a long time since he'd felt so driven to do something. It was likely he'd never felt it. He forced himself to concentrate on when that last time would have been, but his mind refused to cooperate. All he could think about was that in the next few minutes, everything he'd come to know in the past two days could change.
He glanced at Michelle, who stared at the front of Gerald Evans's house unblinkingly. He'd have given anything to have left her at the hotel, in that posh honeymoon suite wrapped up in that too large terry robe, somehow managing to look as sexy as all get out when any other woman would have been overwhelmed, lost in all that white. In the shower, he had entertained visions of him saving the day, sweeping little Lili from Gerald's custody then returning to the hotel room to reunite Michelle with her daughter.
But Michelle would have none of it. She'd been charmingly furious when he even started to suggest she stay behind. She'd go without him if need be, she'd told him. And nothing short of tying her up would stop her.
He suppressed the urge to touch the end of a curl that impeded his view of her face, the image of her tied to that soft bed tempting him. It would be a mistake to touch her because he needed to be sharp. Needed to forget notions of tangled sheets and soft moans, hot tongues and even hotter other refuges.
He forced a swallow down his tight throat, then looked in his rearview mirror to see a car approaching.
"I think this is it," he said quietly.
Michelle nearly leaped from the car. Jake gently grasped her arm and held her still.
"We need to see if he has Lili with him first."
She bit her lip and nodded. "Of course. Yes, you're right." The late-model Lincoln all-terrain vehicle slowed, then pulled into the drive to their left. Yes, it was Gerald, all right. But if he was going to do what he thought…
The garage door began to open.
Jake cursed and opened his door. "Wait here."
He knew the instant the words were out of his mouth that Michelle would disobey them. But he couldn't concern himself with that. If little Lili was in that car, then the garage door would impede them from confirming the fact.
As he hurried up the driveway, the clap clap of Michelle's shoes sounding on the pavement behind him, he patted his chest. He realized he was checking for his ID. Of course, his firearm probably would have been equally welcome right about now.
The Lincoln pulled inside the garage. Jake ducked under the dosing door. Michelle's ducking under caused the door to reverse direction, leaving them in plain view of passersby.
Jake moved toward the driver's side, Michelle to the passenger's.
"Agent Jake McCoy of the INS," he called. "Get out of the vehicle slowly, Mr. Evans."
The man inside the car opened the door, then cautiously swung his legs out, his eyes watchful, his hands in the air. "What the hell is going on here?"
Jake took no chances. He thrust his forearm against Gerald's collarbone and shoved him against the side of the car. His gaze locked with the other man's.
Gerald barely blinked as he held his hands higher. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but you should know that my wife heard me pull in and is probably this minute on her way out to greet me."
"Your wife is in Lansing."
Gerald Evans's unhesitant smile made Jake grimace. He was obviously a man used to talking himself out of tight spots, no matter the physical disadvantage. "Yes, I guess she is. So why don't you just let me go so we can talk to each other man to man."
It immediately struck Jake that there was no way he and Gerald could have been any more different. Where he was tall and dark, Gerald Evans was blond and of average height. Where he had an economy with words, Gerald was obviously a master of them, instantly measuring what needed to be said and fitting the words to the situation.
Jake had a hard time seeing this man and Michelle together. But he all too easily understood how Evans had talked her into letting him spend time alone with Lili.
"Where's Lili?" Michelle said as she rounded the vehicle, looking in first one window, then the next.
Gerald went rock still. Jake pressed him harder into the cold metal. "Jesus. You're the last person I expected to see here, Michelle."
"I bet she is." Jake ground the words out, itching to rearrange a few of the guy's pretty-boy features. "Answer her question."
Evans rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and sighed. "I don't have her."
"Where is she?" Michelle repeated, giving up her futile search of the empty vehicle. "Did you drop her off somewhere on your way home?" Her anxious gaze found Jake's. "We should have waited at the airport."
Gerald looked momentarily confused. "What do you know about the airport? And why do you think…" His voice trailed off, realization apparently dawning. "You're probably talking about the companion ticket." His irritating grin drove Jake's impatience level up a couple of notches. "My wife was scheduled to go with me. But her father fell ill, and she went to her parents' instead. You should have checked your facts a little more thoroughly."
Jake stared at the man he held prisoner. "Where is she?"
Gerald's eyes were suddenly stony, challenging. Jake noticed the malice lurking there, and knew that nothing short of torturing the guy within an inch of his life would make him give up the information. "I don't have her," he said again.
Michelle started rifling through Gerald's jacket pockets, then peeked in the car window. She opened the door and slid the keys from the ignition.
"Don't mind if we have a little look around your place, do you?" Jake asked, thrusting his arm against Gerald's windpipe.
Gerald gasped. Jake removed his hold, and Gerald bent over double, coughing. Across the garage, Michelle's hands shook violently as she found the right key and unlocked the door.
"Why don't you lead our tour?" Jake suggested, hauling Gerald up by the back of his jacket and thrusting him in the direction Michelle had gone.
Ten minutes later, after a thorough search through the large, four-bedroom house, the three ended up in the kitchen near the garage door entrance. There had been no sign that a child of any age had ever been there. Of the three extra bedrooms, two were empty, one a swanky home office. There were no telltale stains on the pale Berber area rug in the living room. Nothing fit for a child was in the kitchen. No milk or juice in the refrigerator or cereal or canned spaghetti in the pantry.
Michelle looked an inch away from hurtling over the edge of an emotional peak. And Gerald looked far too smug for Jake's liking.
"Awfully big house for one man, wouldn't you say?" Jake said.
"My wife and I think it's perfect. Children would only muck it up. In fact, we decided before we even married that we didn't want children."
Jake narrowed his eyes. Then why go through all the trouble to snatch Lili away from her mother? And why stand here as though he couldn't care less where Lili was?
"You know, I forgot to ask for a search warrant," Gerald said, smoothing his jacket.
Jake clenched his jaw so tightly, he was afraid it would shatter. "I'd advise you to shut up right about now."
"Why?" Gerald crossed his arms and leaned easily against the counter. "I legally took Lili from France so I could bring her home, here, to the States. I think even a man such as yourself can understand my desire to have my only child brought up properly, in
a safe, nurturing environment."
Michelle overtly eyed an assortment of knives protruding from a wooden block on the counter. Jake pulled her to stand slightly behind him, well away from the deadly instruments.
"Legal by whose standards, Mr. Evans?" Jake asked. "Yours?"
"By our government's standards, Agent McCoy. You should know that better than any one of us here. In fact, why is she still in the country? Wasn't her visa due to expire yesterday? Shouldn't she be on a plane bound for France even as we speak?"
The knives started looking awfully good to Jake, as well. "What would you know about Michelle's visa status?"
Gerald shrugged. "Let's just say I've been contacted by someone else from the INS…" His words trailed off, his meaning all too clear.
Jake stared at the man responsible for so much heartbreak. He thought about making one last shot at getting the information they needed out of him. But Gerald's smug grin told him it wouldn't get him anywhere.
"You haven't heard the last from me, Mr. Evans." He grasped Michelle's arm and guided her through the front door.
* * *
Michelle sat shivering uncontrollably in the passenger's seat, despite the warmth of the night, despite the jacket Jake had draped over her shoulders.
Gerald's coldness was something she had never expected. No, she hadn't thought he'd just hand Lili over to her, not after having gone through so much to take her. But the malevolence in his eyes had chilled her to the bone. For several long, torturous moments, she'd feared for her daughter's life. The shock of that possibility had never dawned on her, and her oversight made it doubly worse. Could Gerald have harmed Lili? For some sick, demented reason had he decided that he didn't want a child with his blood running through her veins in the world?
Jake's warm fingers threaded through the hair over her left ear, making her realize she was rocking slightly back and forth, clutching Lili's elephant as though clutching her daughter.
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