by Jami Alden
The wall was back in place, every brick cemented tight as she brushed past him to go to the kitchen.
“That was Jerry,” he said. “He wants me to go to Vegas tonight.”
Her head whipped around. “You’re going tonight?”
“As soon as I get the plane ready.”
Her eyes widened behind her glasses. “You have a plane.”
He nodded. “My father keeps it for business travel.” Not entirely true, but he wasn’t about to tell Toni that his father leased a jet so he could follow up leads about Ethan’s missing mother. Toni might have been ready to spill her deep, dark secrets, but he wasn’t up for revealing his.
Toni looked like she wanted to ask something but Ethan stared pointedly at his watch. “I have to get going.”
She went over to her desk and started shutting down her laptop. “Give me five minutes to get my stuff together.” She flipped her laptop closed, shoved it into a backpack, and carried the bag down the hall to her bedroom.
Drawers were open, and she was shoving clothes into her bag. His mouth went dry as his gaze caught on a scrap of pink lace dangling from a drawer. “You don’t need to go with me.” Seriously, five more minutes in close proximity to Toni and her Victoria’s Secret stash and he couldn’t be held responsible for anything he did. He grabbed her wrist to stay her hand as she reached for a brush. “I’ll call you as soon as I find anything out.”
She snatched her wrist from his grasp. “Are you kidding me?”
He looked at her determined face, knew she wouldn’t back down. Thinking about what she’d revealed about her sister, he couldn’t blame her. And he couldn’t do that to her—ditch her here, leave her to twist while he went after Kara alone.
“Fine. But bring something more appropriate for going out than what you’ve got on.”
She looked down at her T-shirt, dark jeans, and black Converse All Star sneakers. “What’s wrong with what I’ve got on?”
“Toby’s at one of the hottest hotels in Vegas. They won’t let you into any of the clubs looking like that.”
She rolled her eyes but rummaged through her closet, emerging with a fistful of silvery fabric and a pair of shiny shoes, both of which she stuffed into her backpack. “What about you, Ace? You’re pretty cute, but I doubt you’re what the bouncers are looking for.”
He gave her a tight grin. “We’ll stop by my place on the way to the airport. Looks like we’re going to Vegas, baby.”
Toni took a deep breath and sank deeper into the buttery-soft leather of the copilot’s chair of the twin-engine private jet. Frustrated desire still simmered in her core, and every nerve ending was on high alert as Ethan checked the instruments and communicated with the flight tower. Her skin was hot and too sensitive for the fabric of her shirt. Her satin bra felt like sandpaper against her nipples. And the idea of his piloting the plane was so ridiculously sexy, it made her squirm in her seat as she tried to keep her mind off the scorching feel of his lips and hands running over her naked skin.
If only they’d been able to finish what they started. No, bad idea, don’t even go there, she told herself harshly. Kara was missing, possibly in danger, and she was so busy lusting after Ethan she could barely keep her brain in gear. What was wrong with her? In the time she’d broken up with John, she’d met plenty of guys she could have been attracted to if she’d allowed herself. But she didn’t have time for a guy, a relationship, any of that bullshit. She needed to keep herself focused, first on finding Kara, then on getting herself moved back to Seattle and forgetting this entire unfortunate detour her life had taken after her mom died.
But Ethan had been so sweet, comforting her, a look in his blue eyes that said he understood what she was talking about when she’d told him about Michelle. His strong arms and big hands had felt so good, she’d just wanted to sink into him and stay wrapped up against his chest for a couple of weeks.
Ugh. So did every woman with a pulse. Like the bearer of the dark pink lipstick that had found its way onto Ethan’s ear.
That’s the kind of man you’re dealing with, Toni. A guy who gets lipstick all over him and is kissing someone else two days later.
She should have pushed him away the second he’d put his arm around her, and definitely when he’d leaned in. But he’d smelled so good and tasted even better. And the way he’d kissed her. So hungry, like he was starving for the taste of her. And his hands, rough but tender as they’d cupped and squeezed her breasts. Her nipples tightened at the memory.
And, she admitted to herself, feeling lame and weak and girly as she did, it felt so good to feel wanted. Especially by a man who looked the way he did.
It galled her to admit it, but she knew if Kramer hadn’t called, she would have been naked, on the couch, on the bed, hell, the kitchen table if that’s what Ethan wanted, legs spread wide as she eagerly took him inside her body.
Between her legs, her sex fluttered as though mourning for the climaxes that would never be. She crossed her legs, willing her libido out of hyperdrive.
Ethan had no trouble shutting it down, she thought, glaring into his back. She was a mess, but from the moment Kramer called he’d flipped like a switch, all business all the time, as if he hadn’t just had his lips on her breast and his hips between her legs, rocking her to heaven on her secondhand couch.
The man was dangerous.
But as she watched him adjust his headset and go through a final instrument check, she wondered if maybe some bed rocking, wall banging, no strings attached might be exactly what she needed. She’d never been one for one-night stands, but her body’s enthusiastic response to Ethan told her she’d missed sex a lot more than she’d realized. As long as she kept firmly in mind what sex with Ethan would and would not mean, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to give big stud over there a ride.
“What?” Ethan asked as they started to taxi down the runway. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
She was grateful that the dark hid her flush as she scrambled for a reply. “I was thinking how cool it is that you can fly. I don’t think I’ve ever met a pilot.”
“I was pilot in the navy for eight years. Fighter jets.”
“You were in the navy?” She couldn’t keep the incredulous tone out of her voice. Still, she was impressed. “You don’t strike me as a military type.”
Somehow, she couldn’t see Ethan, with his charming smile and devil-may-care swagger, fitting in with a rigid disciplinary structure. However, she could easily imagine how hot he must have looked in his flight suit.
“I did okay,” he said with a smile. “My brothers were, too.”
Now that was interesting. Several of her high school classmates had gone into the military as a way to afford college, but since when did the sons of über-wealthy businessmen voluntarily join the military?
As though he had read her mind, Ethan said, “We’re the fifth generation of Taggart men to serve our country.”
“And you were all in the navy?”
“Nope, just me. Derek and Danny both went to West Point and joined the army. Danny eventually went into the special forces, and Derek was a sniper. But I always wanted to fly.”
A family of warriors, she thought with a delicious little shiver. Somehow, the idea that Ethan wanted to go fast and fly planes didn’t surprise her. “So you wanted to be like Tom Cruise in Top Gun?”
His eyes creased at the corners as he grinned. “Something like that, but taller and not jumping off Oprah’s couch.”
Toni laughed and slanted him a sly look. “And I bet you enjoyed having a different woman in every port.”
“I was on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf for eight months at a pop. I had to find my fun somewhere.”
She could only imagine what kind of fun he found. Her mouth went dry as the kiss they both seemed determined to forget blazed through her consciousness. She swallowed hard and steered the subject away from Ethan’s undoubtedly vast experience with women around the world.
“So I suppose you big, tough ex-military types focus more on the personal protection side of security in your business.”
He nodded. “We do plenty of that. But we keep up on the high-tech stuff. Especially Derek.”
“A sniper turned computer genius. Sounds interesting. You said he’s your twin?”
“Yeah, fraternal. But I guess we look alike.”
She didn’t know what made her say what she said next, but he was so sexually confident, and she was so at sea, she wanted to see if she could get under his skin. “Maybe you could fix us up.”
Ethan turned his attention away from the instrument panel, and even in the dim light of the plane she could feel the impact of his stare. The small space was charged with energy and heat.
“I don’t think so,” he said, in a tone that told her she’d scored a direct hit. He turned back to face the windshield.
He was silent for several minutes. Toni leaned back against the headrest and looked out into the darkness. There was almost no ambient light, only the occasional bright dot of a small town illuminating the desert darkness. Ethan’s voice startled her out of her trancelike state.
“So how did a computer genius like you go from having a lucrative job in high tech to working as a PI?”
How did he—? Oh yeah. Her job at SafeTech must have come up on her background check.
Toni shrugged. “Kind of happened by accident. I used to work in network security, and after I moved down here, a friend of a friend wanted me to do some family Internet security.”
He cocked a curious eyebrow. “I haven’t heard that term.”
She laughed self-consciously. “It mostly involves spying on their kids. It’s really scary when you see how many sleazebags are out there, trolling the Net and targeting young kids, and it’s hard for parents to keep on top of it.” She gave a shudder. “Through that first client I got several referrals. I also do some financial tracking, help people find assets their spouses might have moved to offshore accounts.”
“And cheating spouses?” Ethan asked.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Not too much, but definitely more than I’d like to. It’s bad enough when I have to show women the e-mails their husbands are sending to their girlfriends, but sometimes even that’s not enough proof. Like last Friday I was out until three, waiting outside the Sheraton to take a picture of my client’s husband.”
“Hell of a way to spend a Friday.”
Toni remembered the lipstick. While she’d been folded up in the front seat of her Honda, Ethan had been folded up around another woman.
She wondered if the plane came equipped with air sickness bags. “All I know is that even the most devoted husband will screw around if he thinks he can get away with it.” And she’d certainly been proven right in her own love life.
“What about the wives? Haven’t you caught any of Marcy’s friends with their pool boys and their trainers?”
She heard the harsh edge creep into his voice. “I’m sure it happens,” she finally said, “but so far I’ve only been hired by the wives.”
He looked like he was about to argue but let the subject drop as the lights of the Las Vegas strip came into view.
Jerry picked up the phone on the second ring as the fifty-year-old Macallan he’d just swallowed turned to battery acid in his stomach.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.” He’d sent Manuela home, closed and locked the door to his study just to be safe. Taggart and that bitch Marcy had hired were on their way to Vegas, of all places, after finding a link to some guy they thought was Kara’s boyfriend.
Kara’s boyfriend, the amateur pornographer. Jerry had never thought he’d see the day when he’d prefer his daughter be in the company of a wannabe porn king, but even that would be better than where she really was. He’d been going crazy for the past day and a half, knowing Connors had her. Wondering what he was doing to her.
“Is Kara okay?”
“She’s fine. Would you like to speak to her?”
There was the muffled sound of the phone being passed. Then, “Daddy? Are you there?”
His heart raced in relief as his gut twisted in guilt. “I’m here, Kara. Are you okay? Has he hurt you?”
“Not really,” she sniffled. “But I want to come home. You have to get me out of—”
“As I said,” Connors cold, clipped voice came back on the line. “She is perfectly safe for the time being. But if you want her to remain so, you will turn over the prototype without further delay.”
“It’s not ready yet.” Cold sweat bloomed between Jerry’s shoulder blades as the lie spilled from his lips. His conscience ate at him. What kind of man equivocated when his daughter’s life was on the line?
But he couldn’t give up the prototype. Not before he made a few more modifications. “You have to give me more time to run some more tests. The buyers won’t be happy if it doesn’t work.”
“You let me worry about my customers.” Connors’s voice went even colder, if that was possible. “You have other, more important concerns.”
“You’ll have it in a few days. Just let Kara go. We can forget this ever happened. I’ll turn over the prototype as soon as it’s fully functional.”
“Your daughter is very, very beautiful, Jerry. I’m sure you know that.”
Bile burned at the back of his throat at the unmistakable tone in Connors’s voice. “Don’t you touch her, you sick fuck.” It was a possibility he hadn’t allowed himself to entertain for the past day and a half, ever since he realized that Connors had Kara. He’d calmed himself with the fact that this was a business transaction. Connors was pissed that Jerry was waffling on delivering the BioChip prototype, so he was using the best leverage he could find. It made perfect business sense, in a fucked-up criminal sort of way.
He didn’t allow himself to dwell on the possibility that his daughter might be raped because of his mistakes.
“Don’t worry, Jerry. Beautiful as she is, I have enough self-restraint not to sully the merchandise.”
“Merchandise?”
“I wasn’t always in high-tech. Prostitution used to be a lucrative part of my business. But nowadays, women—even beautiful, seemingly unattainable women—are willing to flash their tits at the camera, fuck anyone who asks. It hardly makes it worth paying for anymore. Whores have become a commodity. Which is why I moved into the technology business,” he said, as though explaining his résumé during a job interview.
“But there is one thing men will still pay for, Jerry, because it has become so very rare. Innocence.”
Jerry’s blood froze in his veins.
“Though I personally prefer a more experienced woman, I can understand the appeal. There are men who will pay—and pay well—to have first crack at a young woman. Like your daughter, for example. She is so pretty, so fresh. She will generate a great deal of interest.”
Jerry tried to speak, but all that came out was a garbled sound of horror and rage.
“Don’t worry. I won’t sell her to just anyone. The group I deal with is very exclusive. Wealthy men, much like yourself, who crave a taste of innocence. In the event that you do not deliver the prototype on time, I’m sure they will pay more than enough to allow me to pay my customers back.”
“I can pay you back!” Jerry sputtered, finally finding his voice. “I’ll give you back my cut, plus whatever they paid you. I’ll double it, whatever you want, just let Kara go.”
Connors’s laugh cracked over the phone line, sharp as a gunshot. “Now Jerry, what kind of learning experience would I be providing if I allowed you to buy your way out of this? Besides, Kara is so beautiful, her virginity so unusual at a comparatively advanced age, who knows what price she’ll fetch? I may make enough off her to earn a profit.”
He spoke of selling Jerry’s daughter’s body with the same emotion as if it were a used car.
“You sick, perverted fuck. If you harm one hair on her head…” Jerry let the threat linger, though he
had no clue what he would do if Connors hurt Kara. He had Jerry over a barrel and he knew it.
“Turn over the prototype and you will no longer have reason to worry.”
Jerry ran a hand over his face, wishing he could wake up from this nightmare he had created for himself.
A nightmare in which he had to make a choice: hand over a technology that would spawn the next generation of biological weapons, resulting in the deaths of millions, or allow his daughter to be raped by some disgusting old man who got off on fucking virgins.
“The latest version didn’t work.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. In the last test, the prototype didn’t work perfectly, but with a slight modification to the sample preparation, it produced results beyond anything they’d ever seen. If he’d continued to run his experiment, he would have eventually ended up with a measles virus immune to any vaccines or drug therapies.
“Yes, as you mentioned. For that reason, I will speak to my customers and tell them there will be a slight delay. But do not wait too long. My customers are eager to see a demonstration.”
A shaky, hopeful breath billowed from his lungs. He could still modify the chip. Once he had Kara back, he’d grab her and Kyle, move all of his money to an offshore account, and go so deep into hiding no one would ever find him. Maybe he’d even fake their deaths, just to be sure. A plane crash—
“You are lucky that the delay works in my favor. It will give me time to settle negotiations for Kara’s fate in case something should go wrong.” Connors’s voice cut like a blade through Jerry’s wild imaginings.
“Nothing will go wrong,” Jerry bit out.
“I hope not. But I’ve taken some lovely photos just in case. Marketing material, if you will. You’ll see them if you check your e-mail.”
The scotch bubbled sourly in Jerry’s throat as he pulled up Kara’s computer. He’d hidden it from everyone, used it to communicate with Connors so there would be no evidence of their communication on his own computer. He logged in to his free Web mail address and clicked on the message. His extremities went numb with shock as he took in the image of his daughter. She lay on a bed, in a white nightshirt, her face a mask of fear as she stared at the camera.