“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Your brother’s included?”
The mood in the car shifted abruptly. “No.”
“Can’t for him or won’t?”
“Can’t.” Javier sighed and leaned his head back against the seat. “I’ve put a lot of work into identifying possible attacks and protecting him from them. There’s not a single trick I know that would work on him—by definition.”
“Why go to all the trouble? No bounty hunter or skiptracer I’ve ever met is on your level. Not even close.”
“Do you go into a fight assuming the other guy doesn’t know what he’s doing?”
“Never.”
“Right. I don’t believe in underestimating the enemy. I’ve been underestimated myself one too many times.”
She glanced at him. Despite the personal opening his sentence suggested, his face had closed off. She prodded him. “I don’t see how you could get underestimated that way. You’re handsome, in great shape, obviously smart. You carry yourself with confidence. I don’t see how a person could fail to notice you.”
“You’ve obviously never been in a room with Fernando. Everything else disappears when he’s around. It’s always been that way.”
Emily raised an eyebrow. “I get that he’s your big brother, but I seriously doubt he’d steal my attention from you.”
“I hope not, because I’d have to hit him.” He winked just in time to keep the conversation lighthearted, but she had to wonder what stood between the brothers. For all Javier’s loyalty, she sensed a bitter undercurrent.
She smiled nervously. Somehow she’d gotten back into a conversation about their attraction to each other. She refocused on her uncomfortable questions. “Even if you’ve protected your brother from hacking, I’m sure you know how to get in touch with him.”
“Emily, I said I was helping you track down my brother, but that was just to piss that guy off.”
“Right. I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I like you, Emily. I want you. There’s nothing fake about either of those things. I enjoyed helping you with your other job. And I don’t know what I think about my brother right now. I’d rather stay with you than deal with that. But…” He trailed off for so long that she thought he wouldn’t continue. “None of this means I’m going to betray Fernando. In any way. Not now. Not ever.”
“Then how long is it before you contact him behind my back? Isn’t not getting in touch with him as much of a betrayal as anything else? I think you need to make a decision, Javier.”
She checked on him with a sidelong glance. He’d turned away from her, staring out the window. She empathized with the anguish he must be feeling. She hadn’t given much thought to what it must be like to be Fernando Bonavita’s brother, but little glimpses she got from Javier told her plenty. He obviously loved his brother, respected him even. But Javier gave no sign of being a criminal like Fernando. She hesitated, then asked another question.
“Is all your hacking to protect him?”
“I did some for you this morning.” He sounded testy. She tried a reassuring smile.
“I mean, if you can break into databases, you could be stealing people’s identities, setting yourself up with plenty of money, right? It seems like you’re pretty good.”
He sucked in his cheeks, distaste clear on his face. “I do look for and find plenty of bugs that I can’t use to protect Fernando. I would never exploit them for personal gain. I don’t take advantage of people’s mistakes like that.”
“Really? So do you help fix the problems you find?”
“What?”
Emily sighed. “Do you have a real job? Or do you just work for Fernando?”
Javier winced. “You know, the last woman I dated used to ask me that all the time.” He fingered the diamond stud he wore in his right ear. “She asked so often that I cut ties with my brother for a few months and tried to ‘go straight’. Turns out people don’t really want to hire you for lucrative positions when you never got a high school diploma. I worked as a bag boy and found out she cared about getting taken out with Fernando’s money a lot more than she cared about my moral integrity.”
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t seem to hear her. Words continued to rush out of him. “So, yes, I just work for Fernando. Because there’s nothing else. Because he’s the only one who cares about me.”
“I’m sorry,” Emily said, more vehemently. “I was just trying to figure out how you spend your time.”
“I don’t spend my spare time stealing people’s credit cards, if that’s what you’re asking.”
She shrugged, hoping to calm the conversation down by playing it cool. “I get it. It’s damn hard to make a living, especially these days. It just seems like you should be able to do something else with your hacking skills.”
“Are you suggesting I steal credit cards?”
She sighed. At least she had a strong answer on whether Javier operated by the lights of a moral compass. “I just thought you could help fix the bugs. When I was first working as a bounty hunter, I was looking things up online and saw something about ‘bug bounties’. I guess some companies pay people to catch problems with their software the same way I get paid to catch fugitives.”
“I could never make a living doing that. They only pay good money for really big bugs, like in a browser itself, not just on a website.”
“Sometimes, I think I can’t make a living catching fugitives. But you just have to go for the right quarry.” Emily caught the irony of her own words and smiled. “I’m hoping, anyway.”
She glanced at him again and found she had his full attention. Javier wore an appreciative expression that sent answering thrills through her body. She basked in its glow for a minute, and the sense of intimacy that came with it. Damn, he’d gotten to her. It wasn’t just flirtation anymore. The more she learned about him, the more she genuinely wanted him. And he looked good enough that, under any other circumstances, she’d already have taken him up on everything his kisses had offered.
Javier looked away and removed the diamond from his ear. “What are you doing?” Emily asked.
“I gave my ex the other earring in this set. I never stopped wearing mine, even though we ended things…a while ago. I was just looking at you, and I couldn’t understand why I stayed hung up on that woman so long. Fernando always said she wanted me to be someone I wasn’t. I thought he didn’t like that she wanted me to go straight.” He bit his lip. “It was something else though. She never bothered to try to understand what I’m actually good at and who I actually am. There’s a way that Fernando hasn’t either. You’re the only one who’s ever thought about what might actually be good for me—when you’re not handcuffing me, that is.” He quirked an eyebrow in one of his patented flirtatious expressions but didn’t sustain it. He cleared his throat, dropped his eyes and pocketed the diamond.
Emily’s heart went out to him. She’d basically kidnapped him to save her own ass from legal trouble and trouble with Bonavita’s gang, and now here he was saying she was the only one who’d ever really considered him as a person? She’d laugh if it weren’t so sad.
The moment tipped her into a decision. She drove in silence until she saw an empty parking lot beside an abandoned office building. Emily took a deep breath and pulled in.
“Where are we going?”
Emily parked, shut off the car and grabbed Javier. Smooth skin, hard muscle and a light layer of stubble. She kissed him and moaned in surprise at the intensity of the arousal that stabbed through her the moment his tongue touched hers.
“Can we make a deal?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t like the last one you offered me.”
“Hear me out.” She gave in to temptation and tasted another of his kisses before finishing her thought. “I’m not asking you to betray your brother. You’ve made your position on that more than clear. But I don’t want to be your jailer anymore. You stay with me, and if you want, y
ou can say I’m forcing you to. But no more handcuffs. No more watching you suspiciously. And no more fighting whatever this is between us.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m going to put my trust issues aside. I’m asking you to do the same.”
She closed her eyes quickly, not able to face the look in his eyes. He followed with the kiss she’d hoped for.
Now that she’d admitted her desire, she couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough. She snatched handfuls of his shirt, untucking it and reaching for the bare skin underneath. He hesitated, then joined her efforts, his hands just as determined to unbutton and reveal.
Without breaking the kiss, Emily climbed across the car and into his lap, another jolt hitting when she settled against his erection. His fingers slipped under her shirt, finding her nipples with unerring precision. She groaned into his mouth as he flicked them hard. Emily wound her arms around his neck and kissed him with everything she had.
She ought to wait, get them home, do this in her bed and take her time. She didn’t have the will for that. Her body demanded his without delay. She slid her hands down his sides then farther still, searching for his zipper. Emily shifted to straddle him, balancing on her knees to make room for her hands to loosen the clothes that came between them.
He pulled back before she could free his cock. “Emily.” Considering his nonstop flirting, his face seemed awfully serious.
She narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“Who was that guy back at the bail bonds place?”
A fair question. She could get that out of the way no problem and get right back to finding relief. “An ex. But it is very, very over between us. Nothing to worry about there.”
“Are you using me to get back at him?”
She blinked. Javier had spent the past day making it clear he wanted to sleep with her. She hadn’t expected him to question anything when she finally gave in. She searched for an appropriate response but his arms tightened around her and a smile cracked across his face.
“I’m completely fine if you are. I’m just trying to figure out how much gratitude I owe the man. Do I get to consider him a complete jerk, or do I have to buy him a beer first?”
Emily laughed in surprise. “Matthew Lodi doesn’t deserve a beer from you, trust me. This is totally my decision.” She moved her hands out of the way and lowered her body into a more intimate straddle. Javier gave a satisfying moan. “I’m doing this for my pleasure,” she said. “Think you can help with that?”
“I’m willing to risk my life trying, ninja lady.”
She rolled her eyes at the nickname. “You can stop talking anytime.”
“What? I thought it was my clever banter that got me into this enviable position.”
“Hardly. I’m actually falling for the checkered past and mischievous smile.”
“Whatever works,” Javier said, then took her advice and used his mouth to nibble down her neck instead of forming words. Emily moaned and arched her back to offer more of her skin to him.
He yanked the tank top over her head. “You’re not worried about someone seeing us?”
“Don’t worry. My daddy already wants to kill me. It would have nothing to do with you.”
His lips quirked into a smile. “It’s my own hide I’m worried about. What if your daddy saw and wanted to kill me?”
“I’ll fight him off and then you can get us new identities for our escape to an exotic destination.”
“Then I guess I’ve got nothing to worry about.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth, using hints of teeth that sent piercing aches through her body.
Emily leaned as far back as his hands would allow, savoring the increased tug on her breasts. “More, please.”
Javier grinned against her chest and bit down a little harder. She wriggled and pulled back even more. The ache in her nipples flirted with becoming real pain. She winced and sucked air in between her teeth and increased her efforts. “You okay?” Javier murmured.
“Very okay. I like for it to hurt a little.”
“I could work these gorgeous nipples over all day.”
She shook her head. “No need to flatter me. I just appreciate what you’re doing.”
Cold air across her wet nipples startled her. Emily jerked back to reality as Javier sat back.
“Emily. Do you like getting spanked? Because I should give you a few whacks for what you just said.”
“I like it.” She let a challenge flash through her eyes. “If you can manage it.”
“If I can… You do like getting spanked.” Javier flipped her over before she had time to react. In the cramped passenger seat, Emily had to twist to avoid hitting her elbow on the parking brake. “I’ve been waiting all morning for an excuse to get you out of these shorts.”
Adrenaline thrilled through Emily’s body. “Make me, Javier.” She tossed a grin over her shoulder at him.
He smiled back. “You see, I told you I was willing to risk my life for your pleasure. You promise not to kill me?”
“How about I promise not to kill you too hard?”
“You definitely need to be spanked.” Javier yanked the waistband of her shorts down over her ass, bringing her panties down with them. Emily shrieked and pretended to swim forward through imaginary water. She flailed in the direction of the driver’s seat but didn’t budge from his lap.
“Oh you are letting me win,” Javier said. His palm cracked against her bare ass. Emily shrieked a lot more realistically, and the quality of his touch changed in a second. He stroked her stinging skin softly. “You still happy, Emily?”
She growled and arched up against his hand, wanting him to make her ass heat and prick with ever-increasing arousal. “Don’t let up on me until I tell you to.”
“If you say so…” He gave it to her as hard as she could have wished, rapid staccato slaps raining down until she lost all sense of time. She squirmed and cursed in his lap, but Emily didn’t ask for mercy and he didn’t give her any.
The blows hurt but she held herself in place, sensing pleasure waiting on the other side of the sensation. Already, every sharp strike spread forward from her ass, seeming to settle in her clit. She propped her hands against the sedan’s cup holder and pushed her ass higher, daring him with her posture to keep it up.
With her curses quieted, Javier began to talk, short sentences ground through clenched teeth between smacks. “Now. You have gorgeous nipples. You are gorgeous. It’s not flattery. It’s not trickery. It’s the truth. Understand?”
“I’m tough, not pretty.” Emily had accepted this long ago. Matthew had said otherwise, but Matthew would say anything to get what he wanted.
“You’re both, honey.” The pace of Javier’s blows slowed, but each one landed more heavily than before. “Just like this pretty ass of yours. Turning such a pretty red for me because you’re tough enough to take this hard spanking.”
Heat concentrated in her ass, under his hand, but rippled outward through her body with each slap. Emily would have to think later about what he’d said—right then, her body took over decisively, flipping her into pleasure mode. Now pain felt only like the most intense pleasure available. She wanted more of it, and more of him.
She ground her body against his lap, finding his unabated erection and tempting it for all she was worth. Javier groaned. “Nice try, Emily. But I think someone told me not to let up until she said so.”
“I want you, Javier.”
“Does that mean you’ve had enough spanking?”
She laughed a little. Apparently Javier had already figured out a few important things about her. She hated admitting defeat, especially when goaded. “I can take more,” she said.
“Oh okay. I guess you’re going to have to wait on that other thing you’re interested in, then.”
She cried out in mock outrage, but actually his prolonged spanking felt delicious, especially when he yanked her shorts down further and started in on the backs of her thighs.
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“You just let me know when you’ve had enough,” Javier said.
“I am going to tackle you so hard later.”
“Be that as it may, I am very committed to making sure you get spanked enough now.”
While she’d admired Javier’s muscular build from the beginning, Emily had never expected to find him so tireless. From some inner reserve, he produced an even heavier hand and even more vigorous punishment. Emily bit her lip but finally burst out with a series of sharp cries and another descent into cursing.
“I’m sorry,” Javier said. “That didn’t make much sense to me. Did that mean I’ve spanked you enough? It’s so hard to tell.”
“I think I hate you.”
“Oh then I’d better live up to my reputation and go even harder.”
Somehow, he did. Each crack of his palm against her ass rang with authority through the small space in the car. Emily gasped and went limp in his lap, the pain crackling over her skin, a constant sexual electricity. “Javier, please,” she whispered, but even she didn’t know what she was asking for.
“Anytime you want it to stop, you just say so, honey. Surrender.” His words caressed her ears and every inch of her heated body. Emily sighed and relaxed into the seduction of them. Surrender. She didn’t go easily to that place, but peace shimmered within it. Could she trust Javier enough to release herself so deeply into his care?
Emily wanted to, but an image of Matthew flashed through her mind. She’d given herself to him, and he’d decided she was weak and in need of his condescending intervention. She gritted her teeth and tears started in her eyes. “Never,” she whispered.
Javier’s hand froze just above her ass, then lowered slowly to cup one round cheek. “Emily,” he said. “It’s just a game.”
“I know.”
He rubbed gentle circles over her stinging ass. “I’m not sure you do. You can say you surrender just for fun. I won’t take it for any more than it’s worth. You don’t have to prove a damn thing to me.”
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