TheFugitivesSexyBrother

by Annabeth Leong

  Javier glanced down at his clothes. He should really be dressed as Fernando but hadn’t had the patience to wear suits when he didn’t have to. He frowned at the image on the screen. He’d locked all the doors and the ground-floor windows were sealed and made of shatter-resistant materials. He had a minute before he had to decide his next step with the girl.

  He went to the closet, stripping off his T-shirt on the way and stepping out of his jeans. Fernando’s clothes hung a little loose on him—their bodies were close, but the tailored touches Fernando had added emphasized his thicker physique. Javier was slightly taller and slightly leaner. He found a pair of dark-gray pants that fell far enough down on the leg and looked okay in the mirror. Javier turned to the dress shirts and found himself confronted with a dizzying array of fits and colors. How did his brother deal with all this complication every morning? And why did he care so much?

  Javier shook his head at himself and reached for the nearest one, only to freeze at the sound of Fernando’s upstairs bedroom window sliding open. Had the woman really climbed up here in a matter of minutes? She hadn’t been carrying any gear.

  He shrugged on the shirt and stepped out of the closet, still buttoning it. She stood just inside the window, her stance wary and her eyes on the computer screen. Handcuffs and restraints swung from the belt loops of army-green short-shorts. Her gaze flicked toward him, her blue eyes large and bright against the sandy backdrop of her face. She wore no makeup, but a generous scattering of freckles added plenty of interesting color and shape to her features. A smile spread over Javier’s face before he could think the situation through.

  The interloper scowled in response, producing a can of mace. “You think this is funny, Bonavita?”

  Javier held up his hands quickly. He didn’t want to get sprayed. But he couldn’t back down completely or the game would be up before it had even begun. He imitated the cool confidence his brother always possessed. “You wanted to see me so badly you couldn’t knock?”

  Her frown deepened. “You watched me approach the house on video monitors and decided to…change your clothes?”

  “Couldn’t let you think I didn’t care about our date.”

  She glanced at the monitors and shook her head, her lips forming the word “stupid”. Javier cocked his head, but before he could ask she brandished the mace more fiercely. “Take whatever weapons you’ve got and put them on the floor.”

  “What you see is what I’ve got.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to believe that.”

  Javier shrugged. “If you want to strip-search me, I won’t stop you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Pig.”

  “Then I guess we’re going to stand here all day.”

  The woman sighed and set down the can of mace. Javier’s body relaxed, but before he had a chance to enjoy it he was on the floor, the woman on top of him. She couldn’t have weighed much, but she knew how to make her body heavy. Her legs wrapped his thighs in an intimate hold that kept him immobilized, and the blade of her forearm wedged under his chin threatened his windpipe.

  Javier gasped from the shock of his back crashing to Fernando’s hardwood floor but recovered as quickly as he could. “Beds are much more comfortable.”

  “In your dreams, Bonavita.”

  Moving with practiced confidence, she rolled Javier onto his side without relaxing the strength of her hold. She snapped a set of handcuffs around his wrists.

  “Whoa, whoa. Baby, let’s talk about this.”

  “Very funny. Like you don’t know why I’m here.” A light layer of sweat had appeared along her neck. She smelled wild and powerful, like leaves, salt and sun. Javier knew he should be more concerned about himself, but he couldn’t get his mind off the idea of her lying on top of him for an entirely different reason.

  She returned Javier to his back, the position forcing his cuffed hands to dig in to his spine. He curled up to remove the pressure, but a sharply placed knee to his chest forced him back down and pinned him. “Woman, you are serious.”

  “Are you just figuring that out?” Her hands slid inside his shirt. For one delicious moment, Javier’s eyelids fell shut and he shivered at her touch. She stopped moving and he opened his eyes slowly to confront her solemn stare. “You are enjoying this way too much,” she said.

  If his hands had been free, Javier would have tried to enjoy it a lot more. He’d forgotten how it felt to roll around with a woman, forgotten the sensation of soft, warm flesh against his own. Sure, the situation clearly meant serious trouble for Fernando, but Fernando wasn’t here, was he? Javier felt wild and invincible. He grinned up at the woman. “How could I not? Look at you.”

  She glared, but her cheeks turned rosy, bringing out a clearer view of her abundant freckles. “Wonderful. The first man to be stunned by my good looks happens to be the most dangerous quarry I’ve had in years.”

  Encouraged, Javier waggled his eyebrows at her. “I’m dangerous, all right.”

  The woman cleared her throat, shook her head and drove that knee a little deeper into his ribs. “Look, just be quiet and let me do my job, okay?”

  She slipped her fingers into the waistband of Javier’s pants, circling his hips and reaching behind his back. Her touch really was getting to him, the distinct calluses on her fingertips somehow emphasizing her femininity even more. No woman had touched him there since Terri and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it.

  She paused again, frowning, then reached into his pockets.

  “It’s not in my pocket,” Javier said helpfully.

  She made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat and continued her search. “I know you’re handsome, but do you really think this nonsense is going to get you anywhere? Just because I’m a woman, I’m going to be totally overwhelmed by your hotness and forget that you’re worth fifty grand to me?”

  Fifty. Grand. Javier swallowed hard. The time for pretending to believe Fernando’s lies about a jilted lover had long passed. “You think I’m handsome?” He spoke lightly, his brain still working to come up with innocent explanations for the substantial sum of money the woman claimed his brother was worth. The erection stirring in his pants wilted as he considered the full implications of the situation.

  Meanwhile, the woman determined that his pockets were indeed empty. She sat back on her heels, her shifting weight creating new types of discomfort in his compressed chest and spine. “What really matters, Fernando,” she said, “is that I think you’re evil.” She snapped another set of metal restraints around his ankles, adjusting them to an uncomfortably tight squeeze.

  “Evil?” Javier echoed. He blinked. He tried not to know the details of Fernando’s activities, but he’d never heard whispers of anything he’d consider evil. Drugs, yes, but he told himself Fernando sold to people who would buy anyway. Maybe this woman had a strict view of the law? “Don’t you think ‘evil’ is taking it a little far?” He attempted his best version of Fernando’s charming smile.

  “You think I can’t see through that, asshole?” She rolled Javier onto his stomach and resettled her knee in the small of his back. She jerked on the handcuffs, yanking his arms farther behind his shoulders. “Guys underestimate me all the time, but I have to say, I’m a little insulted you didn’t think it was worth carrying a weapon to defend yourself from me.”

  “You think I would shoot a lady?”

  She let out a small, disbelieving sound. Javier grunted as she shifted off his back, gripped him by the hair and pulled him up to balance on his knees. “I should slap you for that one.”

  “What are you talking about? A man can’t have honor?”

  “Not when he shoots a little girl.” She spoke between gritted teeth, grimacing as she hauled him to his feet. It must have been quite an effort, because Javier’s limbs went bloodless at her words. After a fruitless struggle, she cursed and let him drop. Every bone in Javier’s body felt the thud, but the physical pain didn’t register compared to the spinning agony that hurtled
through his insides.

  “Sabi,” he whispered before he could control himself.

  “Sabi? Who’s that?”

  Javier shook his head, trying to roll away from the woman to hide his face. He had trouble drawing breath, his chest had seized up so tightly. If what she claimed was true, then everything he knew about Fernando was wrong. The brother he’d loved and idolized his entire life—the man he’d served blindly without regard to personal cost—was a monster he didn’t even know. Javier pressed his face into the floor and groaned.

  “Hey!” The woman tugged at him. “Hey, what’s your problem?”

  This time Javier couldn’t avoid the details. With a shaky breath, he gathered his scattered, confused thoughts and forced them into silence. Twisting in his restraints, Javier hauled himself up and around to face her, his body hunched and awkward in the pinching cuffs. “Tell me everything.”

  “What?” The woman bit her lip. “Listen, buddy, you’ll get your trial. And you can talk to a lawyer. Skipping bail never looks good, but the system is designed to be fair. I’m sure they explained all this to you when they charged you.”

  Javier shook his head firmly. “Please.”

  She stared at him, then shrugged. “I don’t know anything you don’t. You’re accused of shooting down a little girl in the course of gang activity. My boss, Guy, bailed you out on condition you’d return for your court date. You didn’t show, so Guy asked me to track you down and take you in. Otherwise, he’s on the hook for half a million. It’s a pretty big deal.”

  “You’re a bounty hunter.”

  “What did you think I was? Your girlfriend?” She stood, sighed and nudged him with a sneaker-shod toe. “What’s going on with you, anyway? One second you’re making my job easy by acting like a total pig and the next you’re all sick and green. Did I get you in the stomach by accident or something?”

  Now that she mentioned it, Javier did kind of feel like throwing up. He lifted his head, shaking a thick black lock of hair out of his eyes to give her a clear view of his expression. “I’m not Fernando,” he said. The words were a betrayal, he supposed, but Fernando didn’t actually expect him to get hauled to jail in his place, did he? You were supposed to try harder not to get caught, moron. Javier’s internal version of Fernando’s voice never minced words.

  The woman laughed. “Really? You’re going to try that one?”

  “It’s the truth. I’m not Fernando. I’m his brother, Javier.”

  “Give me one reason I should even entertain this.”

  “Because I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to break into a house and restrain someone the way you’ve done to me. Maybe bounty hunters have some special dispensation for the people they’re looking for, I don’t know, but I don’t think whatever immunity you’ve got extends to younger brothers who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  She paled and Javier knew he’d gotten to her. His moment of triumph almost distracted him from her horrific revelations about Fernando’s alleged behavior. Almost.

  “Come on, surely you’ve got a picture of him.”

  “The one I have with me is too small and blurry.” She paused and sighed. “I’m going to have to take you with me.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t risk leaving you here while I go investigate, can I?”

  “What happens to your career when you take the wrong guy to your boss?”

  She swore under her breath. Leaning over, she wrapped her arms around Javier again. “Come on. Get up.” She twisted his arm until he had to stand to relieve the pressure.

  A moment later, on his feet and panting, inches from her sun-scented form, Javier’s body again responded as it would have to a lover. He flushed, shuffling back to get a little distance from her distracting form. “Let me go,” Javier said, “and I won’t make any complaints about what you’ve done.”

  Her fists clenched but she stood firm. “Nice try, but if I’m wrong I’m already in trouble. If I’m right, I can’t afford to let you go.” Her arm slipped around Javier’s waist. “We’ll go to my place to sort this out,” the woman said.

  Javier let her guide him out of the room and down the stairs. The warmth of her side against his reminded him of walking downtown with Terri. He couldn’t stop thinking about pulling her even closer, about sliding his hand into the front pocket of her shorts and holding her thigh. Javier twisted his wrists inside the handcuffs, hoping the pain would return him to his senses.

  He was being kidnapped. Fernando was accused of killing a little girl. Everything Javier had thought he knew about the world had shattered. Why couldn’t he get sex off his mind?

  Chapter Four

  Neva had a nice body. Matthew reminded himself of this thoroughly, running his hands down her naked sides, feeling her curves. Bound and lying on her stomach, Neva couldn’t have rushed him if she’d tried. Matthew tugged the ropes that fastened her hands together behind her back. She was flexible for such a full-figured woman and he’d been impressed by how tightly he could tie her.

  He’d known she was a sure thing even before he’d picked her up for the night, so he’d rushed a bit through the required dinner and drinks, anxious to get back to her bedroom and the distractions promised by the shortness of her dress and the depth to which her neckline plunged. Anxious to lose himself in her pretty body, he’d parked in her driveway rather than bothering with the effort of concealing the car from the repo man. Bonavita’s gang hadn’t been as generous as he’d hoped, but he still had a few thousand to throw in for the car, just as soon as he finished paying off a few other bills and updating his equipment. The repo man would be off his back in a couple days, and Matthew found himself relaxing as if the crisis had already been averted.

  Now he just had to focus on appreciating the naked woman in bed with him, rather than reminiscing about the ex-girlfriend he couldn’t have at the moment.

  Matthew stroked a finger up Neva’s right arm, grinning when she shivered at his touch. He traced a path to the soft skin of her breast, which spilled out beside her chest. He grasped it, playing with the generous weight of it, then caressed her waist and wide, round hips.

  “Matthew, please,” Neva sighed. She spread her legs a little but he didn’t take the bait. Even from his kneeling position on the bed beside her, he could smell her arousal. He didn’t want to give her relief yet. He planned to make her wait until her wetness soaked a puddle on his bedspread.

  “I should tie those legs together to make you behave,” he murmured. Neva squirmed in response. Matthew gripped the backs of her thighs and held her in place, his hands pale against her warm, nut-brown flesh. She whimpered but didn’t continue to struggle against him.

  Matthew fought his disappointment. Emily would have kicked and bitten and hissed and made his life hell until the two of them dissolved into a desperate, giggling embrace. Matthew had always needed a good hundred and twenty feet of rope to even begin to restrain Emily, but here was Neva, rendered docile and submissive by a mere thirty feet. Matthew enjoyed domination in the bedroom, but with Emily he’d discovered how much he liked to have to fight for it. Emily had been so small in his arms but she had the spirit of a woman twice her size. Her acquiescence, when it finally came, had always been so delicious, transforming the bed into a warm bubble of affection, triumph and satisfaction.

  “Matthew?” Neva stirred under his hands and he struggled to return his attention to her.

  “Patience,” he growled, pretending his lapse of attention had been a test for her. She must have bought it, because she stopped questioning and rocked her hips backward toward him, affording him glimpses of glistening, dark-pink flesh between her legs.

  The sight brought him back to the moment. Matthew slipped his hands up to the globes of her ass, squeezing and massaging them. He settled over her, his body still clothed. He let Neva feel the bulge of his cock against the back of her leg. She shifted in response, trying to wriggle into position beneath him. Matthew kept her t
rapped, refusing to release her ass. He wanted her to persist, to give him a thousand delightful excuses to punish her, but she stilled in his grasp.

  “I’ll be good,” she promised with a sigh. He petted the back of her head in acknowledgement but his chest tightened with frustration. He wanted her to dare him to keep hold of her, and when he threatened to spank her he wanted her to stick out her tongue and tell him he couldn’t do it hard enough.

  Matthew lifted himself off Neva and undid his belt buckle, pondering the best way to satisfy himself and his new lover. For all that he appreciated Emily’s playful resistance in bed, she showed no signs of letting up on the emotional resistance that currently kept them separated. Matthew couldn’t wait to savor the sweetness of her eventual submission, but in the meantime he had needs, and Neva was more than willing.

  He pulled his belt free and leaned toward her, deliberately rubbing the rough stubble along his jaw across her tender earlobe. Her metal hoop earring chilled him in contrast to the heat of her skin. “Do you want to be a good girl for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “If you’re good, I’ll give you a reward.” Matthew rubbed his bulge against her arm to make his meaning clear, then followed up by letting her feel the leather length of his belt.

  “Please,” Neva said, lifting her ass off the bed.

  Matthew stroked her bare flesh, first with his palm and then with the belt. “Are you ready?”

  She moaned in response. Her eyes were closed, her expression blissful beneath her ever-present makeup. Matthew steadied her with one hand against her shoulder, made a loop with the belt in his other hand, then brought it cracking down across her ass.