He reached for the packet she hadn’t even seen him place at the corner of the bed next to his phone. She took it from him, opened it, and rolled it down over his thick shaft.
“You’re driving, darlin’,” he said, his white teeth showing in a grin. “Just tell me what to do.”
“Oh, Sax, if you knew what saying that does to me…” She swallowed the words.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d like handing over control. But watching you figure yourself out is very gratifying indeed.”
No other man would have done this. His ego would never have tolerated it. She leaned over him, lacing her fingers with his. Kissing him again seemed the safest way to communicate her feelings.
Because oh, yeah, you have feelings for this man.
She released one hand and guided him inside while impaling herself on him. His hands came up to her hips as she found a rhythm. His fingers tightened in synchronization with his faster breathing. She gripped his shoulders, reveling in the feel of him deep within her.
He had infiltrated all of her. Her core. Her cells. Her heart. It wasn’t the same as it had been with Lane. This deep, driving need for Sax felt very different.
“Want you,” she said on deep breaths, “on top,” she finished. “Over me, around me.”
“Hold tight, darlin’.” Sax helped her to roll, keeping them intimately connected. He braced his arms on either side of her head, his body kissing hers as he took over the rhythm. “Oh, yeah, this is nice, too.” His accent wrapped all over those words just as he was wrapped around her.
She slipped her hands around his back. “Mm, very nice.”
He drove into her harder, faster, his breath huffing out with each thrust. He kissed her, deep and slow, sending a surge of pressure through her core. She met him thrust for thrust, urging on a sensation she’d never felt before. A squeezing, spiraling, soaring feeling.
Her fingers involuntarily dug into his back. “I feel…something.”
He chuckled, never losing his rhythm. “I sure hope so.”
“No, something different. Like I’m going to explode. Or maybe implode.”
“Just go with it. Ride it for all it’s worth.”
And she did, releasing her analyzing and riding the wonder as sounds she’d never made rolled from her mouth. Her whole body seized, and she lost all sensation in her fingers and toes as every bit of sensory input concentrated in the center of her body. He kept thrusting, kissing her as though to capture all of those crazy sounds she was making. Then he gave a harder thrust and she felt his body convulse as he let out a string of guttural curses.
Finally his body went from rock hard to completely relaxed as he rolled her to the side, their legs intertwined as they both caught their breath.
“Do you always cuss like that when you come?” she asked, a laugh in her voice.
“No, never.” He rocked his head back and closed his eyes. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. I have a feeling it means something good.”
He turned toward her, his eyes taking her in. “It means I completely lost my mind.”
She grinned. “Me, too.” She placed her hand against his damp face. “Thank you, Sax. For letting me find myself. You gave me an incredible gift.”
“I told you, it was a selfish act. That’s what I am, Jennessy. Selfish. Spoiled. Self-centered. All I think about is what I want. About running off to fight for my country, my family and our company be damned. Now I’m running off to fight for justice, same thing.”
“Who told you that?”
“Every woman I ever dated more than a few times.” He cupped her face. “And you will, too, if we were to…well, we’re not. But if we were thinking about it…which we’re not.”
“You’re trying awfully hard to convince me that you’re a terrible person.”
“I’m not a terrible person; just a terrible boyfriend.”
She pressed her hand against his chest. “You’re a tangle of everything you’ve been told from the time you were a boy. You’ve convinced yourself that you’re not cut out to be a boyfriend or a husband, all the while telling yourself that you’re all right with never having a permanent connection. Just like you tell yourself that you’re not allowed to be angry over whatever happened in Mexico, because you still have all your body parts and your cousin doesn’t. You’re being terribly unfair to yourself, Sax. More so than all those women and your father combined. You’re probably the only guy I know who considers putting your life on the line for your country selfish.”
“It is when you’re supposed to be using your college education to help run the family business. When your family’s all worried about you dying and they remind you of it every time they write or Skype. I’m not letting anyone else down, most of all you.”
Because he cared. Too much.
His phone dinged, and he lurched upright. “Willie’s awake.” He pulled up the transmitter software, and together they listened to shuffling sounds. Water running. The refrigerator door closing. “We have fifteen minutes for the drug to take effect after he ingests it. We’d better get moving.”
Darn, why was Willie an early riser? This might be the last opportunity she’d have to convince Sax to give them a try. To give himself a try.
They quickly dressed, he disposed of their garbage, and they went back to the employees’ housing area. The sun was just thinking about coming up, spilling gray light across the horizon. There were a few more lights on inside the cottages, so they had to take the long way through the woods to the back of Willie’s place. As Sax listened through the earbuds, he was all business again, as he should be. The same kind of mask he used to cover his feelings.
He took a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on. “Don’t touch anything.” He crept onto the back porch and let himself in with a key. Willie was sitting on the kitchen floor where he’d apparently just flopped down. His eyes were rolling as he tried to focus in on the two people entering his home.
She remained near the door as agreed, in case things got ugly. Sax knelt down beside Willie. “Hey, buddy. How’re feeling?”
Willie squinted. “Who’re you?”
“I’m your friend. You invited me over, remember?”
She thought she’d feel vindicated at seeing Willie drugged and helpless, but it just brought back all those ugly feelings about her own ordeal.
“You remember that, right?” Sax asked in a deliberate way.
Willie nodded, though he clearly didn’t.
“You were going to tell me who you’re working with, doing the ketamine thing. So we could all work together.”
“No,” Willie pushed out. “Can’t…”
“Yes, you can. It’s okay to tell me who your cohort is. We’re going to be very rich together, and you’ll be able to help your sister with her chemo.”
Willie’s eyes widened, and he nodded in sloppy movements. “I do it for her.”
Sax patted his shoulder. Hard. “I know. You’re a swell guy, Willie. What’s your cohort’s name?”
“It’s…it’s…”
“Yes?” He didn’t want to feed him a name.
“Reed will get mad if I tell anyone.”
She and Sax exchanged a look. She’d been sure it was Oscar.
Sax turned back to Willie. “Does Oscar know about it?”
Willie snorted. “No way. Jerk wouldn’t let us do this.”
“Yeah, not a swell guy like you.” Sax slapped his shoulder again. “So, here’s what you’re going to do, Willie. Give me your phone. I’m going to fix things with your ketamine dealer.”
Willie slapped his hand over his pocket, then shook his head. Sax located a cell phone on the kitchen table and woke it up. It required a passcode. He shoved it at Willie. “Put in your code, buddy.”
He stared at it for a long time. Sax had to wake it again. “Passcode. Numbers.”
“Four, two, six, nine,” Willie intoned, his gaze unfocused.
Sax touche
d the numbers and the phone’s contact list came on the screen. Bernard was, of course, near the top. Sax touched Willie’s chest with his finger, sending him to the floor. “Take a nap.” He dialed and walked closer to Jennessy. She could hear a man answer.
“Hey, this Bernard? It’s Willie. How you feeling, man?” Sax did a pretty good imitation of Willie. The man on the other end raised his voice in an angry answer, and Sax cut in. “Look, I’m eating crow, okay? The man and woman, I know they’ve been causing a lot of trouble. They were the ones who swapped out the K, but they’re leaving today…No, they’re not cops. Funny thing is, my boss thinks they were the ones buying drugs, and he’s kicking them out. So I’m gonna make this right. I’ll buy more K and I’ll give you a thousand bucks for your trouble. Same time and place…They’re not gonna be there, man, I promise…I’m a good customer. You gotta give me a break on this.” Sax had to cajole for another minute before he finally said, “Thanks, man…Okay, see you tonight.”
The moment he disconnected, Sax leaned down to Willie and tugged him to a sort of sitting position. “Where do you keep the money to pay? You must have it from the other night.”
“I shouldn’t—”
“Get the money, Willie.”
She cringed as Willie unsteadily got to his feet and walked into the back room. She had been like that, too. Following Willie’s orders. He’d been telling her that she wanted to have sex with Saxby. Funny that it ended up being true, and she focused on that instead.
Willie returned with a burlap bag. Saxby was dumping the rest of the juice into the sink. He took the bag. “Willie, you’re going to go back to sleep. You’re very tired.”
He nodded, clearly on board with that.
“Anything that doesn’t make sense was just a dream.” Sax steered him to the bedroom and returned a minute later. “Let’s roll.”
A couple of employees were outside now, sipping coffee on their porches. Sax kept out of sight as they wound through the woods and then connected to the path again. Decadence was barely waking up. The people wandering around were mostly the dregs of the night shift. He checked on Willie. No sound from the transmitter. Then he made a call.
“Hey, buddy, it’s Sax. I just had to tell you, I met this woman who’s a style consultant. She solved the mystery of what fabric would work best with my complexion: Tweed. Can you believe it? I know, I get excited about the craziest things. Anyway, gotta run. Have a few things to do before I fly out. Was Knox able to come?…Cool. Talk at you later.”
She shook her head, smiling. “Tweed.”
“Sounds like,” he said in a low voice. “Let’s grab a smoothie. I’m going to call Darius.”
It felt like days ago that she’d come here to scout out victims. When even fatigued and still in shock, seeing Sax walk up to the Hangover Hut jolted her heart.
He ordered some high-protein drink with papaya and mango. She ordered a pineapple cherry one, and they settled at a table in the far corner. She took a deep pull of the last of the tropics she’d experience for a while and caught Sax watching her. Gripping his phone, frozen in the moment.
“What?” she asked, feeling the same sense of loss that she saw in his eyes.
“I was just remembering when we met here, and I saw you from across the patio. You looked so beautiful. Even after everything you’d been through, you were freakin’ gorgeous.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“About how gorgeous you looked?”
She pushed at his arm. “No, silly.” Her smile faded. “I can’t believe this is almost over.”
“Yeah. I know.” Their gazes locked for a moment. “Jennessy, I…” He blinked. “I’d better call Darius.” He fished the business card out of his pocket. She wanted to grab the phone out of his hand, but she stilled herself when she heard somebody answer.
“Darius, it’s Saxby Cole. I need to talk with you this morning…We’ll meet the cart at ten.” He disconnected. “That gives us time to get a proper breakfast. Connections opens at nine. We can come back before then to see if Willie shows.”
“Did you order me around like you did with him?” she asked. “Not to do inappropriate things, I know, but to get me under control.”
“No orders. I coaxed and cajoled. I wanted you to pee in the cup. That took some convincing. Did watching him bug you out?”
“A little. It’s scary to see someone under someone’s control. Especially to know I was like that.”
He squeezed her hand. “You were safe.”
“I know. We’re going to make sure the other women who come here are safe, too. And the women those dealers get ahold of. I can’t even imagine.” She shuddered. Human trafficking. She’d heard a news story every so often, but she thought that kind of thing happened in far-flung countries.
“I’m glad you’re going home, Jennessy. I keep thinking, what if I hadn’t been able to stop them from taking you?”
She squeezed his hand. “But you did. And pretty soon I won’t be your concern anymore.”
There. A shadow at the mention of that. She knew he had feelings for her. He was just too honorable to act on them.
Chapter 17
Twenty minutes later, Sax held up his empty smoothie cup. “This isn’t going to do it. Let’s get some breakfast.”
He led her to the quieter restaurant, where they could sit on the back patio. She ordered an egg-white omelet and bowl of fruit, while he indulged in a six-egg omelet, hash browns, and slabs of ham steak. He felt famished. They enjoyed coffee afterward and watched the hungover drag themselves in. Including Predator Eric, who looked none too happy.
Jennessy wrinkled her nose at the sight of him. “Gee, poor guy. He didn’t get a semiconscious woman to have sex with. I can’t even imagine what a guy gets out of that.”
“And miss the pleasure on a woman’s face as she comes? To revel in the breathy sounds she’s making because of you? Besides the ethical and legal ramifications, the fun of sex is the participatory factor.”
She shot him a sheepish smile. “Did you enjoy that with me?”
“Oh, yeah.” Their gazes locked for a moment, and he had to clear his throat and shift back to the predator. “So I can’t imagine wanting to have sex with a woman who was out of it.”
“He’s not a bad-looking guy. You wouldn’t think he’d have trouble meeting women.”
“I think it’s more about being in control for men like that, taking a woman against her will. But he’s too much of a coward to assault one, so he drugs her.”
Eric sat by himself, gruffly ordering and then complaining about his eggs. Sax couldn’t help again wondering what would have happened if she’d ended up with him. Well, that would have happened. It killed him to even think of it. By the dark expression on her face, she was probably thinking the same thing.
The squeeze of Sax’s hand on her arm pulled her from her thoughts. “Don’t even go there, darlin’.” Like you have room to talk.
She nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. “I don’t want him to keep coming here and doing this.”
“Already on it. He has his pool bag with him. As soon as he leaves, we’ll follow him out. You pose near him, and I’ll pretend to take your picture. Only he’s going to be the focus. Then I’ll send it to Chase, see what he can do.”
“That would make me feel much better.”
As soon as Eric headed to the pool, they followed. Once he was settled on his chaise lounge, he glanced over at the Connections office. It was about to open, and he was no doubt going to pay Willie a visit.
“Stand there, honey,” Sax said, waving his hand to guide her to the right. “So’s I can get the pool in the background. There, perfect.”
She hammed it up, even lifted her foot behind her. He took several shots. A few had Eric in the background. Two did not. Those were for Sax.
He texted them to Chase. “More to come.”
Reed walked toward the door and unlocked it. Eric shot off his chair and headed over,
and Sax led Jennessy to the lounger next to his. He reached into Eric’s bag and felt around until he put his hand on a room key. There were a few people in the vicinity, but no one was paying much attention to them.
“Let’s get a drink,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her away. They went into the lobby and up to one of the available clerks, and he flashed her a big smile. “Hey, there. My key’s not working, and I’m wondering if I grabbed the wrong one at breakfast. Can you check please?”
“Sure.” She ran the card through the reader. “Are you Eric Brown?”
“Nope. Well, that explains it.” He extracted his wallet and handed her his ID, leaning across the counter enough to spot St. Paul, Minneapolis, on Eric’s record. “Room 126.”
She verified his information and made him a new card.
“Thank you.” Usually he threw in a “darlin’ ” in this kind of situation, but it wouldn’t come out. The word stuck in his throat as he’d looked at Jennessy. Weird.
They went back to the pool area. Sax dropped into a seat at a vacant table and texted Eric’s name and city of residence. Check this guy out. Sexual predator.
“I bet it’s no coincidence that we’re outside Connections,” she guessed.
“Nope. Because any minute…yep, there goes Reed to check on his late cohort.”
Reed turned the “Closed” sign and stalked off. Sax pulled his cell phone from his pocket, signed into the transmitter’s profile, then rewound the recording. He heard a phone ring several times, no answer. Once again, he extracted his earbuds and handed one to Jennessy, who snuggled up next to him to listen.
Dayum, he was going to miss her.
Knocking preceded what sounded like the door opening in the recording, then they heard Reed’s voice. “Willie? You in here?” Footsteps. “What the hell, Willie? Did you decide to sleep in?”
“Mmph.”
“You get drunk last night? Because of the shit that went down at the Point?”
Willie was still under the influence of the drug. “Sleep,” Willie managed to say. Least that’s what it sounded like.
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