The Ringer

by Amber Malloy

  Jax had dropped her off and told her if he wasn’t back in an hour to take the flight to Colorado without him. Instead, she told the crew not to rush and to return at their leisure.

  More spacious than any apartment she had owned, the master bedroom alone was nicer than the best of hotels.

  A childhood friend had let Jax borrow his toy. Apparently, he had taken her advice to allow people to help him. Some help.

  The master suite took up the entire back half of the aircraft. She stood in front of the bed, hypnotized by the luxurious comfort of gloriousness. Even bigger than a king size, it sat upon a wood platform and begged to be bounced upon.

  Jax told her that his buddy had inherited his fortune and then doubled it with a tech company. Afraid of flying, the guy rarely used the convenience of his transportation. He just liked to have it available.

  Caramel leather seats and couches made up the interior’s front half of the plane. From the minute she stepped on, she was dazzled by its resemblance to a Las Vegas hotel room.

  “Hey,” she said, surprised he had come back so soon. “How did it go?”

  Jax stood in the entrance, breathless and sexy. She smiled, unsure of what to make of his silence. The rigid tension in the way he held his shoulders told her something was off.

  “I told you to leave if I didn’t come back in an hour. Why didn’t you?”

  “You were running late.” She swatted his question away. “So I gave the crew a few hours off. They told me a new pilot would be called in if we didn’t leave soon. The earliest he would be available was seven.”

  She turned her watch around on her wrist. It once belonged to her father and the face always twisted in the wrong direction. “It’s only five thirty now. What’s the point of them waiting hand and foot over little ol’ me for?” She babbled on nervously.

  He crossed the length of the plane until he stood in front of her.

  “Why didn’t you leave?” he asked again, his voice a hushed whisper. Before she could answer, his mouth covered hers.

  Not a wilting lily by any stretch of the imagination, she sensed Jax was different. Lane instantly went to mush in the grip of his strong arms. She melted from the feel of his warmth. Full lips attacked hers with a slow need. Not rushed or hurried, his soft push encouraged her to want more.

  “Sorry.” He pulled away. “I’ve been waiting to do that since—”

  “We took that awkward-ass shower on the train?” she said, short of breath and out of sorts.

  “No,” he told her. “Since the first time I saw you perched on top of the toilet lid.”

  The beginnings of a shy smile worked at the corners of her mouth. She shoved her hair back and tried not to giggle like a schoolgirl. She had waited too long to let a case of the jitters frighten her from this moment. Strangely bashful for the first time, she threw caution to the wind and grabbed his face.

  Her lips connected his. The tips of their tongues met and played as their hands roamed over each other’s bodies.

  “When can we expect the crew?” He held her loosely at bay. The top of their foreheads came together, her body vibrating for more.

  “An hour, hour and a half tops,” she whispered.

  “Not enough time,” he muttered. “But it will do.” Jax slipped his fingers through her hair and gave her a gentle tug backward. The ferocity he attacked her mouth with caused her stomach to twist and turn with wanting.

  Warmth flooded her system. He sucked her tongue and then moved to the bottom of her lip to nibble. Lane stirred under the rough caress of his calloused hand, which ran over her stomach and ended at the top of her pants.

  Jax continued his sexy assault on her mouth. He popped the top of her jeans open. Eons ago sex was a friend. She wouldn’t say they were exactly close, but for a long time sex hadn’t bothered to visit anymore.

  Either all good men didn’t know she existed or the universe was mad at her. However, after a long absence, her old friend had decided to knock at her door. Hopefully no one will be disappointed.

  Jax pushed his hand down her pants. The tips of his fingers inched toward her center, touching her nub along the way.

  Lane sucked in a ragged breath of anticipation, a harsh sound, which held an underlying edge of desperation even to her own ears. But she didn’t have time to delve into the belly of those emotions. He slipped his finger inside her, ripping her mind away to places better explored.

  Wet, she almost fell apart right there on the spot. A twist of sexual fire spurred her on. She nearly tackled the man onto the couch. A torrent of clothes and limbs flew in an amazing chaotic mess. It was a surprise no one got hurt in their mad dash at liberation.

  In record time, her jeans and underwear were on the floor.

  In sync with his hands, she lifted her arms. Jax pulled her tank off and fumbled with her bra. It took him seconds to pop the hook and free her double D’s. A gasp followed a slew of expletives.

  “They’re huge, right?”

  “Only for someone who doesn’t like tits,” he mumbled over the mounds. “And I love them.”

  Jax cupped her breasts together. He went from one nipple to the other as she unzipped his jeans. She wiggled her fingers between his denim and his skin. Well rewarded for her search, she touched his rock-hard rod and pulled him out. She slowly moved her hand in a circle over his skin. He ripped the wrapper of the condom open and quickly rolled it on. In one fluid motion, she scooted up to allow Jax to thrust himself inside her.

  Relief filled her. Hot waves of pleasure ran throughout her body. Lane rode him hard. A soaring build-up rushed into her before she went careening to her peak.

  Lane wanted to collapse on top of him in a boneless heap, but after such an awesome orgasm, it seemed plain rude. She moved her hips and attacked his lips with vigor. When he clutched her butt cheeks to help her move faster on top of him, Jax let out a rough moan. When he bit her lip and released a sigh of satisfaction, the strong tension in his muscles went lax.

  Chapter Eleven

  By the time the crew boarded the plane, Lane and Jax had polished off another round of toe-curling sex. Physical exhaustion put the kibosh on his plans for more. At the very least, they could be grateful they had made it to the master suite. He wasn’t sure when they’d taken off, but he could tell by the light turbulence, they were well into their flight.

  Nestled deep within the crook of his arm, Lane roused herself awake. “How long have I been out?”

  “Twenty minutes to a half hour,” he told her, praying his semi didn’t turn into a full-on stiffy. He didn’t want her to think he was some sort of freak. Stress had finally caught up with him, and he’d needed her fantastic body for an overdue release.

  “How long will it take for us to land in Colorado?”

  “Change of plans,” he said. “We need to detour to Miami.”

  “Miami?”

  “Yeah, I’m hoping to buy us more time.” The game had changed the minute Army gave him the bad news about Sherman. It was only a matter of time before his status turned from person of interest to a bona fide suspect. And since Army wouldn’t be much help, he hoped someone else would be.

  “I take it your meeting from earlier didn’t go well,” she muttered.

  Jax rolled on top of the bombshell, forcing her flat on her back. Big green eyes peered up at him. Everything about her enticed him. Her cheeks, breasts, and hips were voluptuous yet firm. Under normal circumstances, he would have dived straight into exploring every aspect of her.

  Mind and body would have been investigated with no room to come up for air. With all of his current problems, there was simply no time for him to fully probe every wonderful dimension of Lane Garrett.

  “This morning on the police scanner…my ex-partner. He’d been shot.”

  “Oh, no!” she cried. Sympathy changed the soft contours of her face. “Will he be okay?”

  “Not sure, but it’s obvious they’re tying up loose ends.”

  “Which means w
hat for us?”

  He moved a lock of hair away from her forehead. “It means we have to find out what they’re hiding before they find out where we’re hiding.”

  “In other words….” Lane pushed up onto her elbows, her nose practically touching the tip of his. “We have to find out why they framed you with I.A., why your ex-partner was shot, and who nearly killed us.”

  “In a nutshell.” Jax bent to kiss her. A faint taste of white wine still lingered on her mouth. They’d filched a bottle from the beverage cart on their way to the master suite.

  When he had arrived at the private airport late, he had accepted the possibility she may very well have been on her way to Colorado. Elation that she was still there had turned into a rush of self-loathing. He shouldn’t have come to count on her so fast. The need for her safety did not outweigh his want for her closeness. And for Jax, that was the moment every bit of his integrity had circled the drain.

  Unable to control his desires for even a second longer, he had stalked over to her and kissed her. One kiss, he’d determined, was all he needed, even though he wanted much more. Jax had tried to control his instant hard-on. Once the realization sank in that she hadn’t left him behind, the circuits in his mind had gone haywire. With nowhere else to focus his attention, she’d gotten double barrels of his unfiltered emotions.

  Unencumbered of pretense, Lane threw a mega-watt smile in his direction. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, and her feet innocently bare. Needy want had given his senses a good kick, but his tip over the edge had been her fresh and open face. Her complete lack of guile had broken down the wall holding vestige of his integrity together.

  As she fell back onto the pillow, her eyes bore into him. The sexy woman drew him farther into her web. He should have made plans for the plane to stop at the next city and turn it around right along with Lane.

  They had their fun, but it was time to get to work. Jax opened his mouth to tell her as much. However, the red flush heating her face when she parted her legs rendered all his good intentions useless.

  Warm and wet, she tempted him. Unwilling to reject her offer, he reached for a condom before he pushed his way in, regardless of the outcome.

  Chapter Twelve

  It was a miserable, drizzly day with no sign of sun in sight. The pilot landed the plane at a private airstrip in Miami, and they caught a private town car to South Beach.

  A torrent of thoughts whirled in Lane’s head. How long would they be on the run, and what would happen once she got back to The Windy City? Questions mixed and mingled, causing a bigger ball of confusion. Of course, she had yet to answer the most important one of them all….

  Who wanted her dead?

  When she moved to Chicago almost a year ago, she had become friends with one person, and it hadn’t been her husband. Other than Ava, Parker should have been the closest thing Lane had to family, but he wasn’t. After she served him with the divorce papers, she hadn’t heard a peep out of any of the Lockland clan.

  While she turned over the last twenty-four hours in her head, the car came to a stop in front of a luxury high-rise. They got out and headed inside the building. She was not a detective by a long shot, but she couldn’t help but be bothered by the coincidence of her decoy job and running into Jax.

  This morning she remembered the weird message she had received from Honey Pot’s decoy service. At first, she hadn’t thought anything of it, but after everything that happened, she had to confess something about it troubled her. The nameless voice had been unrecognizable. Usually the decoys were instructed to make contact with their security detail before they met with the cheating husbands. Once or twice, her security had called off the date or been late, but this time they’d told her to go straight to the mark in the bar.

  The more she examined the events of that night, things just didn’t add up.

  Jax led the way to the elevator bank without a single soul around to question their presence. No bellmen were on duty. With the expensive black granite desk and brass overlays, the building was definitely snazzy enough to warrant someone at the front desk.

  Stuck in the puzzle of their predicament, she tried to flip, turn, and examine all the angles. A tingle along the base of her neck broke her concentration. She found Jax staring at her.

  The beginnings of a lopsided grin inched his furrowed brow upward, erasing the serious expression of concern he’d sported all morning.

  She tried to shake off the mushy feeling in her gut, but the moment he bumped his pinky into hers, she was a goner. Jax hooked his fingers with hers. They stepped onto the elevator together, and Lane smiled at his downright cuteness.

  “Excuse me.” A woman covered in dirty coveralls and a baseball cap joined them before the cab doors shut.

  “Max,” he muttered. He hit the button for the top floor. “You wouldn’t have been outside the building now would you?” he asked, his voice hardening as he went in full-cop mode.

  “Not since you got me this nifty gift.” She lifted her pant leg to reveal a home arrest ankle bracelet.

  “I doubt it,” Jax told her.

  Curious, Lane tried to catch the woman’s face out of the corner of her eye but couldn’t make out anything discernible. Her cap covered her everything above her nose, and her clothes were too baggy.

  “Is he here?”

  “To bail his baby brother out of trouble? Of course he is.”

  “Jealous?” he grunted.

  “Nope, delighted.” Her tone dripped of syrup.

  The cab’s doors opened inside of a suite, offering them a palatial oceanfront view of Miami. An entire wall of panoramic windows overlooked the majestic Atlantic Ocean. Once Lane focused on her surroundings, she was struck dumb by the condo.

  Light, calm colors welcomed in the tantalizing sight from the outside. A condo that floated above the clouds. She imagined Cloud City from Star Wars was an apartment in Miami.

  The woman yanked the hat off her head, allowing a cascade of blonde hair to fall free. “Honey, look who I found!” She moseyed out of the elevator first.

  Jackson Thornbird’s clone walked into the room. The only difference was this guy had a clean-cut appearance. His shorter hair gave him a distinguished air. He offered them a genuine smile before he gathered the blonde who was covered in dirt into his arms. The good-looking man didn’t appear to care about his expensive suit.

  “You didn’t give him a hard time did you, Maxie?” He gave her a kiss.

  “Of course she did,” Jax interrupted before she could answer. “Lane, this is my brother, Nate, and his fiancée, Maxie.”

  The crazy dynamic of power and money all in one spot was more than a bit intimidating. She gave a shy wave to the room.

  “Oooh, so you’re the decoy?” Maxie flipped her hair over her shoulder, giving her full attention to Lane. Shocked by her beauty, her breath hitched a beat. Nate Thornbird’s fiancée was stunning. “Jax called us,” Maxie told her before Lane asked if she were psychic. “Is it fun?”

  “Not when you’re dodging bullets,” she admitted.

  “No?” Maxie shot back as if it were the only thing that would make it fun for her.

  “Look, Max, there’s this thing I need….” Jax fumbled about for a moment before he mumbled, “I’m going to need a favor.”

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Maxie cupped her hand around her ear. “You need a huh?”

  “A favor,” Jax brow furrowed. “I’m going to need you to teach Lane some of your self-defense moves.”

  “Great top, Lane,” Maxie complimented her.

  “Thanks.” She wondered where the strange shift in conversation had come from.

  “Who made it?”

  Lane glanced down at the top she wore—an airy, sweet number. The white peasant blouse fit in all the right places, which was generally difficult with her breast size. “Ava Garibaldi, she’s my—”

  Maxie turned to Jax before she could finish. “I want one just like that, made to look lik
e I have a rack, boob job worthy. Good ones like Lane.”

  “You can’t be serious! All I asked—”

  The two squared off and bickered back and forth loudly.

  Nate made eye contact with her and shook his head as the argument between his brother and fiancée elevated.

  “According to the terms of my house arrest,” Maxie’s said, her voice rising, “I cannot associate with wanted criminals, which you are now one of, and I cannot be—”

  “All right, enough!” Nate shouted over the both of them. “You.” He turned his fiancée around and gave her behind a playful swat. “Go get some sweats for Lane.” Nate pointed at his brother. “And you, get Maxie the damn shirt she asked for.”

  “Ah, man, Ava is the worst at negotiating,” Jax grumbled like a four-year-old.

  “Don’t care. She asked you nicely, and you guys will be family soon.”

  “That’s right, brat, family!” Maxie called over her shoulder.

  “Serial killer,” he threw back.

  Nate held out his hand for Lane. “Come, I’m almost positive Maxie can find something for you to tumble around in.”

  Unsure whether to go or not, she took a glimpse at Jax. So far his family meet and greet had dissolved into the Hatfields and McCoys.

  “Go on, honey, she doesn’t bite.” Jax encouraged her with a nod.

  “Well, she does bite,” Nate whispered in her ear when she allowed him to take her arm. “But just a little and always in the right spot.” His brother chuckled and led her through the mini-McMansion of condominiums.

  ***

  “Block! Block!”

  Lane circled the boxing ring with her arms in front of her face. Two days ago her life had been semi-normal, but the seams of reality had torn apart. Apparently, self-defense meant avoid people’s fists.

  She wasn’t positive who continued to hit her. A friend of Maxie’s she believed but couldn’t be sure. She was too busy defending herself from pain. It was just her bad luck the condominium had a workout facility in the building.