Passion Punch

by Tricia Leedom

  As two women came through the curtain, April slipped past them and found Jonas standing outside the lady’s room with his arms folded. When he spotted her, his scowl deepened?

  “What the hell are you doing outside besides making yourself a target?”

  “Getting some air. I felt a little dizzy.”

  His forehead crinkled with concern. “You should have told me you weren’t feeling well. We could’ve left the party sooner.”

  “It came on suddenly, but I’m okay now. We can go.” She hesitated, wanting desperately to tell him about distressing encounter with her godfather and hear his opinion about it, but Jonas had made it clear he wasn’t interested in friendship.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine, but I could go for a nightcap in the room.” They started for the elevator.

  “I’d join you, but I’m working.”

  She rolled her eyes dramatically and slapped his stomach. His abs were shockingly hard. “Stop being such a boy scout, Jonas, and live a little.”

  Chapter Eleven

  April couldn’t think about the unexpected reappearance of her godfather as long as Jonas was touching her. His warm, strong hand rested on the small of her back guiding her with gentle pressure toward the elevator. The first time he’d touched her this way, when they were waiting in line to congratulate Greenlee and her fiancé, sparks of heat had zinged through her bloodstream. This time was no different. As soon as the doors closed, his hand disappeared. Cool air tickled her bare skin making her feel oddly bereft. She glanced at him. His slanted eyes peered straight ahead. His well-defined lips pressed into a hard, straight line as uncompromising as his square jaw. His back was straight. His fists clenched and unclenched.

  Freed from the distraction, her thoughts returned to Donovan Mika. He had always been quirky, but she couldn’t recall ever hearing him spout random Shakespeare quotes. The last time she saw him was at her family’s annual Fourth of July barbeque the summer her mother passed away. They hadn’t known Hope was sick and life was happy and normal. That night, Uncle Donny had had a heated argument with her father and stormed out of the house without saying goodbye. Less than two months later, Hope was dead and Donovan was the only close family friend who didn’t make it to her funeral.

  Hope had a special friendship with Donovan. She often said he was the big brother she never had. Her mother trusted him, so April was inclined to do the same, but not enough to drop everything and run off with him, even if Archie wasn’t waiting for her at home.

  Did Donovan know about her father’s criminal activities? Had he tried to warn her mother, but she’d refused to listen? Was that what Donovan had meant when he said he’d failed Hope? If so, her father had been a criminal longer than April realized.

  She appreciated her godfather’s concern, but she didn’t need rescuing. She only had to make it through the next three months and her friends would be out of trouble, Archie’s future would be secured, and she could finish school and start her career in hotel management.

  That would be easier to accomplish if Jonas Smith the super spy wasn’t trying to bring her father down.

  Jonas swiped the key card and held the door open for her. April went straight to the minibar and kicked off her heels.

  “What will you have?” When Jonas didn’t respond, she glanced at him and noted his broody expression with a small flutter in her stomach. Why did she find his grouchy, aloof demeaner attractive? She put a hand over the dancing butterflies to settle them. “Fine. More for me.” She reached for a mini bottle of vodka and a cranberry juice and went about mixing herself a drink.

  “You’re trembling,” Jonas observed, and his rusty voice tickled her nerve endings. “What’s got you so rattled? Something happen you’re not telling me about?”

  “I’m not trembling.” She grasped her drink tighter and lifted it to her mouth. She took a long sip off the top so she wouldn’t spill it before she made her way to the pair of brown leather sofas facing each other in the center of the room. The sliding glass doors at the far end of the space overlooked a breathtaking view of the city landscape. Dots of light sparkled like the diamonds she once used to bedazzle her cell phone case. She’d been a different person back then, kind to others but spoiled, desperate to be popular, to be sexy and cool, when down deep, she was anything but those things. If her snobby friends had known she’d seduced Jonas on the night of her ninetieth birthday, it probably would have gotten her shunned, but being with him had made her feel truly sexy and cool for the first time in her life.

  Turning away from the view, she faced him and her heart skipped a beat. She’d never seen in him in anything but a black t-shirt and black cargo pants and it caught her off guard. He was a ruggedly handsome guy, but in a tux, he was gorgeous and somehow seemed even more dangerous.

  Like a spy.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you.” She sat on the far end of the couch. “I’m upset because I figured out you aren’t who you claim to be.”

  If Jonas’ poker face wasn’t legendary, it should have been. It didn’t waver as he focused on a spot across the room.

  “You weren’t in prison, Jonas. You weren’t making that stuff up tonight about having a military background. Jimmy Panama is an ex-Navy SEAL. You’re friends. You helped him find Sophie’s father. And Molly’s daughter Cheyenne told me you saved her mother’s life when you shot a moving target from fifty yards away, in the dark, during a hurricane like a professional sniper. She swore me to secrecy when she told me that.”

  Jonas’ gaze narrowed and dropped to the floor. A muscle worked in his cheek.

  April took another long sip of her drink before placing it on the coffee table. “If you are worried I’m going to tell my father, I won’t. I know he’s a, um, volatile man. That’s why I’ve been protecting you these past five years. I’m not about to stop now.”

  “Protecting me?” His head snapped up. “From what?”

  “I meant the identity of Archie’s father. My father has threatened retribution against the man who got me pregnant, even though it wasn’t your fault.”

  “It was an accident. We used protection.” Jonas moved around the sofa and sat at the opposite end of it. “If anyone is to blame for what happened that night, it’s me.”

  April reached for her drink again. “Actually, it was my step-mother’s fault. The condom we used came from a box in her bathroom vanity. They were an off brand, but I didn’t know any better at the time. Courtney admitted to me later that she bought the box online from a company who purposely made faulty condoms to help women who were desperate to get pregnant. She tried them when she was dating my father hoping to trick him into marriage, but they didn’t work.”

  “She admitted to that?”

  “Yeah. She says she told my father on their honeymoon, and he thought it was funny. They have an odd relationship.”

  “Who knew Philip Linus had a sense of humor?”

  April sat forward and moved closer to Jonas. “Can you wait to arrest him until after Christmas?”

  Jonas’ dark gaze revealed nothing. He reached for April’s glass and took a long drink before setting it on the coffee table. “Why do you think your father will be arrested?”

  “I don’ know. My guess is that the he made some bad business deals or owes back taxes or something?” She sat forward and her spaghetti strap slid off her shoulder.

  Jonas snorted with disgust. “You’re still protecting him.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She picked up her drink. There was nothing left but ice. She drew lines in the condensation on the side of the glass. “When you came to my room that night, you had to know you would be putting your job in jeopardy. Did you take the chance because you knew you were leaving? Or did you come hoping to seduce information out of me?”

  His knuckles skimmed her bare arm as he caught the spaghetti strap and slid it back into place. His touch was like a match, igniting a blaze that spread across her skin like wildfir
e.

  “I didn’t know I was leaving.” His thumb brushed her collarbone then repeated the motion sending a titillating shiver down her spine, before he removed his hand. “And I didn’t hammer you with questions, did I?”

  “No, not with questions.” A smile tugged the corner of her mouth.

  His chiseled features remained pensive. His midnight blue gaze unnervingly serious. “How come you’re not angry or bitter?”

  “About what?”

  “Getting knocked up. Having to move out of the mansion. Struggling to get by on your own.”

  April stood and went to the window. Crossing her arms, she stared at her reflection in the glass. “I was spoiled, growing up. For my 5th birthday, my parents gave me a $200,000 fairytale playhouse. When I turned eleven, they took me to Australia because I wanted to see koala bears in the wild. For my 15th birthday, my father hired my favorite band to play at my birthday party.”

  “What was your favorite band?”

  She turned around and tried not to smile at his cocked eyebrow. “I’m not telling you that.”

  He snorted softly and stood. Sliding off his jacket, he tossed it onto the back of the sofa. “

  She moved toward him. “I’ve gotten some extraordinary gifts in my life, Jonas. A diamond studded cell phone case worth 1.7 million dollars for my seventeenth birthday. A boob job for my 18th. When I found out I was pregnant, I was absolutely devastated. I thought it was the worst possible thing that could have happened to me, but in the next instant, I knew I couldn’t terminate the pregnancy. I didn’t even have to think about it. The day I gave birth to Archie, I realized why. None of those other things mattered. He was the greatest gift I’d ever been given. So, no, I have zero regrets and nothing to be bitter about.”

  As he undid his tie and loosenend his collar, he studied her. His gaze liquid black in the lamp light. “I came to your room that night because you asked me to and not even the threat of your father’s wrath could have kept me away.”

  April gasped softly and flushed.

  He stepped into her personal space bringing his body heat with him. “I also have zero regrets.”

  She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “Except for Archie.”

  “The kid is better off not having a jackass like me in his life to screw it up.”

  “Why are you so hard on yourself?” she shouted in frustration. Her heart constricted over the thought of her sweet little boy growing up without a father because Jonas thought he was deficient in some way. “You don’t have to be the perfect dad. You just have to show up.”

  She spun away searching for her drink. Spotting it on the coffee table, she grabbed the glass before she headed for the minibar.

  “That’s part of it too. I can’t guarantee how much longer I’ll be in Key West. I travel a lot, and my life is constantly in danger.” He scratched the back of his head roughly. “I could be killed tomorrow. Do you really want the kid to get attached to a guy like that?”

  “I think you’re making excuses.” She grabbed another tiny bottle of vodka off the shelf and skipped the cranberry juice this time. “You’re trying to make me take your side, but I won’t. You’re not a terrible person, Jonas. A terrible person wouldn’t care about their child’s welfare.”

  “Damn it. Listen to what I’m saying. I don’t want to be a father.”

  Instead of pouring the contents of the bottle into her glass, she set it down hard on the counter. “Newsflash. You are a father. What I think you’re worried about is being a good one.”

  “How can I make you understand? You were a spoiled kid, right? Well, I was the complete opposite of spoiled. I grew up in a leaky single wide mobile home in the boondocks. My mother died when I was born, and my old man was the worst human being on the planet. Complete trash. I can’t tell you what a decent father looks like let alone how to be one, so let it go, April. I’ll pay you child support, but beyond that, I’m out.”

  She moved around the counter to meet him in the center of the room. Afraid to spook him, she tentatively stepped close enough to flatten her palm against his chest. It was shockingly hard beneath his shirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “I don’t want your fucking pity.”

  “I can’t do anything about your awful past, but I can give you hope for the future. This is the last thing I’m going to say about it, Jonas, and I promise I won’t bring it up again. Archie changed my life for the better. He’d change yours too, if you’d let him.”

  A shrill noise made her jump and she looked toward the hotel phone on the end table. “You expecting a call?”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  Jonas stepped around her and picked up the handset. “Yeah?” The hard edge in his voice made her body quiver. “She’s here. Hold on.”

  “Who is it?” She took the phone from him.

  “Don’t know.”

  “Hello?”

  “April? I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

  “Carly?” April glanced at Jonas and shrugged.

  “Yes, I’ve been trying to reach you on your cell for the past hour.”

  “I turned the ringer off for the party. What’s the matter? You sound upset. Has something happened?”

  “Yes.”

  Carly was known for getting hysterical over minor things, but the odd waver in her relatively calm voice was worrisome. “Tell me.”

  “It’s Juan. He’s in the hospital. They beat him up. Oh, April, it’s bad.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “If mobsters did beat up your friend, it’s not safe to be anywhere near him,” Jonas said from the doorway to April’s bedroom. As soon as she hung up the phone, she gave him a brief summary of the call and then sprinted into her bathroom to change into a hot pink tank top and white short-shorts that showed off a distracting amount of thigh. Now she ran around the room tossing her belongings into her suitcase. “There’s nothing you can do for your him tonight. He’s in stable condition. Wait until morning.”

  Jonas had an ulterior motive for wanting to stay in Miami. After April was safely in bed, he planned to slip out and search the hotel for Donovan Mika. He had to be the former associate Linus was worried about. There was a reason Mika had chosen to resurface after disappearing for over a decade, and Jonas suspected it had something to do with the PRIM. The technology he invented for his Mamba X-4 aircraft was very similar to Albatross’ long-range missile. It wouldn’t surprise Jonas to learn the arms dealer had appropriated the tech for the weapon he was about to sell for a boat load of money.

  “You can come with me or stay here, but I have to go.” April zipped her suitcase closed. “I want to be there for Juan when he wakes up in the morning.” She paused to scan the room for anything she may have forgotten. Spotting her cell phone charger plugged into the base of the desk lamp, she retrieved it.

  “I can’t protect you if you leave on your own.”

  She stuffed her phone charger into one of the front pockets of her suitcase then dragged it off the bed and wheeled it toward him.

  Standing in the doorway, Jonas blocked her path.

  She stared at him, as if expecting him to move, and her perfume filled his nose. The lush vanilla scent reminded him of the clematis that grew near his favorite reading spot when he was a kid. In late summer, when the pure white buds on the overgrown shrub were in full bloom, he’d pop a squat in the warm grass with a book and breathe the sweet-smelling breeze.

  “Damn it, April,” he grumbled and stepped aside.

  “If you don’t want me to go by myself, you should start packing.” She pushed passed him and ran over his foot with the suitcase wheel.

  “Ouch.” He cursed under his breath and hobbled after her. “Why is that guy so important to you that you’d drop everything and race back to Key West in the middle of the night?”

  She stopped to pick up her purse. Pain shadowed her eyes for an instant and then was gone. “Because Juan was there for me when Archie was a baby and I was trying t
o figure out how to be a mother. Being the oldest of twelve children, he knew the basics. He not only supported and encouraged me then, he’s always had my back. And I love him.”

  Jonas stiffened as wave of anger smacked him in the face. “Who’s this guy again?”

  “Juan. My friend from the club where I work at part-time.”

  “I thought he and this Carly person were together.”

  “Juan and Carly? No, they aren’t a couple. They’d kill each other.” She opened her purse and withdrew her cell phone.

  Why he’d assumed a woman like April Linus was single, he didn’t know, but it pissed him off to hear she was in love with some stooge who couldn’t handle himself in a fight. If he couldn’t protect his own ass, how was he going to protect April and the kid?

  She went to the door. “I’ll call the pilot and ask him to prepare the jet. If you aren’t downstairs by the time my taxi arrives, I’m leaving without you.”

  “April. Stop.”

  She opened the door and stepped back as three men wearing black ski-masks barged into the suite. The first two came at Jonas. The third grabbed April in a headlock and shoved a rag in her mouth.

  Jonas retreated a step to give himself room to execute a spinning jump kick. He connected cleanly with the first hostile’s head, and he tumbled over the back of the couch. Dodging a right hook from the second hostile, Jonas came back with a right cross punch that connected with bone and knocked him out cold.

  “Jonas!” April shouted around her gag.

  The first hostile, who was on his feet again, charged Jonas. He kicked out, intending to plant his foot squarely in his opponent’s belly, but he found air instead. The hostile deflected the kick, grabbed Jonas’ leg, and flipped him off balance. When he landed hard, face down on the floor, the hostile planted himself on Jonas’ back and pinned his arms. “Got him. Do it now.”