“Yes.” She bucked against again. “Aren’t you going to take off your clothes?”
“Nope.” The last thing he wanted was to be caught bare ass naked and defenseless in April Linus’ bed. “But I can take off the knives?”
“No. I like how the weight of the blades feel against my nipples.”
He came into her so hard she grabbed his shoulders and gasped. She was so tight and wet, he wasn’t sure how long he would last, but he was determined to do better than Rich Boy. Jonas began to move inside her, finding a deep and steady rhythm as he kneaded and suckled her breasts.
“Oh my god, Jonas. Oh god, yes! Oh!”
He was glad she was having fun, but she needed to pipe down. The distant sound of a birthday pool party drifted in through the open window. Anyone could be wandering the grounds below the birthday girl’s bedroom. Or what if someone came looking for her? Jonas didn’t want to think of the repercussions of being found balls deep in the boss’s daughter, especially when the boss was an international arms dealer.
“Don’t stop, Jonas! Oh, Jonas!”
“Shh. Someone will hear us.” He shifted forward and covered her mouth with his, keeping her tongue busy as he moved inside her. Her ripe breasts pillowed against his chest and the heavy blades that got her off. His lust spiked another notch, and he quickened his pace. Her hands grabbed his ass, urging him on. His balls tightened, and his release gathered in his lower back like a summer storm, fast and powerful. He was close.
Female giggles drifted into the room as a pair of party guests passed beneath April’s window.
Grabbing April’s hips, Jonas held her still as he pounded into her harder and faster. She grabbed a pillow and shouted into it as she came hard, contracting around his erection and milking him to follow her to a place he didn’t deserve to go. He went anyway because he was too far gone to care about the consequences.
The orgasm shot up his shaft tearing a guttural shout from his throat. He groaned helplessly, shuddering and bucking against her until every last ounce of pleasure was spent and he collapsed.
If someone had pointed a gun at his head, he wouldn’t have been capable of moving. April held him without complaint, even though he knew he had to be crushing her.
When their pounding heartbeats slowed to a more even tempo, she said, “I think you’re the one who needed the pillow.”
He was too spent to disagree but managed to roll off of her and onto his back. “If they come for me, let them.”
He passed out and woke up forty-five minutes later with April curled up beside him sound asleep, much like she was now.
A rustling on the far side of the bed brought Jonas’ head up. He was expecting Linus’ fat orange tabby who had a knack for showing up in unexpected places, but it wasn’t the cat. A small blond head popped up instead and pair of slanted blue eyes peered at Jonas across the mattress.
Shit, it was the kid. Guilt wracked him as he tried to remove his arm from April’s grasp, but she wouldn’t budge. The solemn faced kid climbed up onto the bed and crawled toward him.
“What were you doing under the bed?”
He inspected his mother and then raised a finger to his lips, “Shh! Mama’s sleepin’.”
Like a log. A bit a drool was leaking out the side of her mouth.
The kid propped a pillow against the headboard and leaned against it with his legs bent and a tiny foot crossed over his opposite knee. He picked up the cell phone he’d brought with him, swiped it to open the screen with his chubby little fingers, and started playing a game.
Jonas settled back against his own pillow and slung his free arm over his head.
The kid didn’t seem the least bit fazed to find a strange man in his mom’s bed. Jonas didn’t know if he found that amusing or if it made him jealous as hell, though he suspected he had no reason to be. April might have the body of a siren, but she was a good girl with morals. Despite the poor choice she made on her nineteenth birthday.
It wasn’t lost on Jonas that this cozy scenario was a foreign experience and one that he’d likely never encounter again. He’d always known he’d never have a wife or a family of his own, but it wasn’t something he consciously thought about. For this freak, Twilight-Zone, moment in time, he decided to close his eyes and allow himself to imagine a world where he was a different person and this was real.
Chapter Sixteen
“Brazil? We’re going to Brazil?” April gaped at her father across the expanse of his mahogany desk early the next morning. It was just past the crack of dawn, and she was still groggy from sleeping most of the past twenty hours, so she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
“After the incident yesterday, it’s the only way I can be certain my family is safe.”
April used to be a world traveler who could drop everything and fly off to Paris on a moment’s notice. Times had changed. She had changed. She was a single mom now with responsibilities. “Archie doesn’t have a passport, and I don’t want to leave him.”
He waved off her concerns. “He’s just a child, we can get around the passport issue.”
By bribing customs, he meant. April paced from the desk toward the row of windows that looked out over the front drive and garage. The early morning sun cast a sparkle over everything it touched. She turned away from the bright, cheery morning and folded her arms. “I don’t feel comfortable taking my child to another country without a valid passport.”
“Then leave him with Molly, but you’re going.”
“Why? What happened yesterday? Who tried to shoot you?”
Philip leaned back in his chair and tossed his pen on the desk. “This may be difficult for you to accept, but it was Donovan Mika.”
“What? No. Uncle Donny can be a little eccentric, but he isn’t dangerous. I saw him in Miami and—”
Her father stood up so fast, his chair skidded backward, hit the wall, and tipped over. He came around the desk. “What did he say to you? Did he threaten you?”
“No, I’m fine. He didn’t really say anything.” She shrugged. “Quoted Shakespeare. I suppose it was odd, even for him.”
Philip removed his cell phone from the holster on his belt as he came around the desk to meet her. “Listen to me, April. Donovan Mika is deranged man. You must not believe anything he tells you. Better yet, you need to stay as far away from him as you can. He absolutely can’t be trusted.”
“But why? What happened? He’s my godfather. Mama loved him like a brother.”
“People change.”
Wasn’t she thinking the exact same thing about herself a moment ago? It was one thing to be more conservative about making travel plans. It was another to be capable of showing up on a friend’s door steps with the intent to kill. “He obviously needs help, Daddy. Something had to have happened to push him over the edge like that.”
“No. I won’t risk it. You must stay away from him. I wouldn’t put it past him to use you to hurt me.”
“But—”
“There are things you don’t know. Donovan was jealous of me. He wanted what I had.”
April shook her head confused. “What? Your money? Your success?”
“My wife.”
“Oh.” That she hadn’t known. Her memories of her mother had been reduced to a YouTube montage of short video clips containing random glimpses of her life. April struggled to remember what had happened the last time she saw Uncle Donny at Casa Linus. He’d argued with her father on the lanai. The smell of barbeque permeated the air as she swam in the pool with her mother. “It’s nothing. Just a disagreement,” Hope said distractedly as she stared toward the house. Was it true? Had Uncle Donny carried a torch for Hope Linus? And was he resentful enough to come after her father all these years later? Recalling the strange way he’d acted when he thought she was Hope’s ghost made April’s skin crawl.
Philip touched her arm and she jumped. “Key West is not safe while Donovan Mika is on the loose. You must come to the compound with us.”
<
br /> “What about my friends? You promised to help them. Juan was beaten up Saturday night because they didn’t have the money. Do you have it now?”
“I have an appointment at the bank at nine AM.” He turned away to type a message on his cell phone.
“Can I have it by the end of the day?”
“By the end of the day, you’ll be on a plane to South America. Come into town with me, and you’ll have the money before ten.” He slipped his phone back into its holster. “You can deliver it yourself, but you must take a bodyguard. Roman is available.”
She mentally recoiled at the thought of going anywhere alone with Roman Leto. “I want Jonas.”
Philip lifted a quizzical eyebrow. “What’s wrong with Roman?”
“I don’t like having someone follow me around, looming over me. Jonas has a knack for staying close, but making himself invisible.”
“Fine.”
“And he’ll travel to the compound with us,” she added on impulse. Jonas objectives were in direct opposition to hers. In that regard, he was her nemesis, but he made her feel safe. If Uncle Donny was a threat, her security was more important than anything else.
Her father stared at her for a moment contemplating the idea. “I hadn’t planned on bringing him with us but, yes, he can come.”
Jonas stood on the sidewalk in front of Glitter waiting for April. She’d promised to meet him at 10:30am sharp, but she was seven minutes late. A light ocean breeze rustled the palm trees, but it was still hot. The morning sun was already high in the sky beating down on him through his black Henley. Maybe he needed to rethink the long sleeves. He moved under the cover of the awning and leaned against the brick building, as he bit into a strawberry Twizzler. While he chewed, a pair of cute college coeds passed by on the sidewalk and eyed him with interest. He pretended not to notice.
He pulled out his phone and reread his last text from April: Couldn’t find you at the house. Meet me in front of Glitter at 10:30am sharp. Daddy says you have to be my bodyguard until Donovan Mika is caught. Oh, and we’re leaving for Brazil this afternoon. You’re coming with us.
Jonas had been out hunting Mika when he’d gotten the message. The wounded scientist had somehow managed to vanish without a trace, but then, he’d had over a decade of practice doing just that. If Linus was worried about Mika getting close to April, Jonas had to wonder why. Mika had a clear shot at her in Miami. If he’d intended to hurt her, he would have done it then. What had Mika said to April? That’s what Jonas needed to find out. It might give him a clue as to Mika’s whereabouts.
On the plus side, his luck was looking up as far as his primary objective was concerned. If Linus was heading for Brazil, there was a very good chance the auction would be happening soon. Maybe the incident with Mika had motivated Linus to move up the date. Mika most likely had caught wind of the PRIM auction on the black market and had come out of hiding to disrupt the sale, or perhaps, he was after the tech himself. In either case, Jonas had to get his hands on the PRIM before Mika or anyone else.
Jonas snapped off another bite of Twizzler and sent a text to Vera. Where are you? Need to touch base. She hadn’t returned his last two texts, which wasn’t unusual. It was a control thing for her. Now that she had dirt on him, she thought she had his balls in vice. Ghosting him was part of her power play.
If Vera didn’t get her ass back to Casa Linus and make sure she was invited on the trip, Jonas would be going deep into enemy territory naked. He’d operated without backup before, but his life wasn’t the only one at stake this time. There were innocent civilians in the line of fire: April and the kid and Linus’ wife and her two little girls. As Jonas chewed slowly, he imagined April getting hurt because she was too stubborn to abandon her mission to help her friends. He finished the length of candy and chucked what was left of the package in a nearby trashcan. April had gotten herself into this mess, she could get herself out. It wasn’t any of his concern.
“Beautiful mornin’,” a guy with a thick, Bronx accent said as he stopped beside Jonas to stand in the shade.
Jonas grunted in response and eyed the guy’s companion, a four-foot-long orange Iguana wearing a custom-made Yankee’s jersey. At the end of its matching leash, the animal cocked its head to the side to size him up.
“Do you wanna picture with Sal? It’s five dollars.” On the far side of middle age, the street busker wore a green t-shirt that said in capital letters: I DON’T IGUANA ANY TROUBLE. Below it, smaller: People for Humane Invasive Species Management www.HISM.org
Jonas ignored him.
“I’m kiddin’, you don’t look like a tourist. I know ’em when I see ’em. I started out as one myself. I came down to Florida on vacation a few years ago and never left. Quit my six figure Wall Street job to educate people on the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of green iguanas. The organization I founded is lobbying for a ban on the sale and possession of invasive species as pets and a scientific approach to curtailing the green iguana population. Sal and I do street photos on the side. My daughters think I’m nuts, but they love me anyway. You got any kids?”
Before Jonas could decide how to answer that question, the door to the club opened and April stuck her head out. “You’re here! I hope you weren’t waiting long?” She grinned at Iguana-man. “Hey, Perry.”
“Hiya, April. How’s the rug-rat?”
“He’s great.” She shuffled outside in a pair of platform heels that added an extra 6 inches to her height. A black corset strangled her waist over a white peasant top, and a green satin mini skirt layered with crinoline barely covered her crotch. Around her bare shoulders, her golden hair floated like a cloud.
Jonas’ blood pressure spiked. What was she wearing?
“Tell your boy that Sal learned a new trick. He can balance a baseball on his head.”
“That’s so cool, Perry. Archie will love to see that.”
“You take care of yourself. I’ll see ya later.”
“Bye.” She waved, watching the leashed iguana follow Perry up the street toward Mallory Square.
“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” The question was out of Jonas’ mouth before he could censor himself.
April adjusted her corset with a little tug. “Oktoberfest. Carly begged me to cover lunch. Two servers called out and, with Juan in the hospital, there’s no one to cover the shift.”
“And that’s your uniform?” He gave her getup another once over and, this time, got hung up on the amount of cleavage swelling above her ruffled neckline.
“Yes.” She put her hands on her cinched waist. “Do you have a problem with it?”
A crawling sensation in his gut made him want to reply: Yes, I do have a problem with it, but he didn’t understand where the impulse was coming from. He shouldn’t care what she wore. He didn’t care.
Grunting in response to her question, he pushed past her and went inside the club.
Glitter looked like a sports bar that had burst out of the closet and never looked back. Oversized pictures of drag queens covered the dark, wood-paneled walls along with a collection of sparkly purses, fans, shoes, and other accessories. The tables and booths between the sturdy four-sided bar at one end of the room and the large stage at the other were empty, but a giant drag queen stood center stage testing the microphone. In her long black wig and a body-hugging black dress, she looked like Morticia Addams on steroids.
“Honey, we’re not open yet.” Morticia’s deep husky voice said into the microphone.
“He’s with me, Carly.” April shuffled past Jonas and made her way behind the bar where she opened an olive jar and dumped the contents into a bowl.
Jonas slid onto a barstool.
“Can you do me a favor?” She reached for a jar of cherries and popped the lid off with one strong twist. “Can you sit with Archie while I work?” She pointed to one of the booths beside the tinted windows overlooking the street. The kid sat on his knees hunched over a coloring book working a fat crayon down to a nub.
>
“Nope. Contrary to how it might appear, I’m not a babysitter.”
“Please. I didn’t know Carly needed me today or I would have dropped him off at Molly’s first. I’m not taking him with us to Brazil.”
“Good.” It was one less civilian to worry about. That was the only reason he felt as if someone had lifted a few bricks off his back. “Let’s go. We have to be back to the house before 2pm, and I need to pack.” And locate Vera.
“I can’t. I already promised I would help out at least until one.” She flashed her pretty smile at him as her blue eyes lit with an idea. “I’m going to be cutting it close, unless... Would you be able to take Archie to Molly’s house while I’m working?”
“Not a chance.”
“Please,” April came up on tiptoe and the tops of her breasts jiggled.
Jonas’ dick leapt with interest. His frown deepened as he forced his gaze back to her face. “Nope. I was ordered not to leave your side.”
“I’m going to try to get out of here on time, but I can’t guarantee it and my father will flip if I’m late.”
“He’ll flip if he finds out I left you alone.”
“He won’t know and I’ll be perfectly safe here. Lunchtime is pretty busy this time of year. Uncle Donny won’t be able to get close to me without someone noticing. Please. I normally wouldn’t ask, but it would save so much time.”
Jonas had gone through rigorous special ops training before surviving the physical and psychological demands of spy school. To say he was highly skilled in resisting coercion would be putting it mildly, yet he was a cream puff when it came to April Linus.
He spat a curse and turned on his heels, heading for the kid’s table. “I’ll drop him off, but I’m coming right back.” He stopped at the edge of the table and glared at the kid. “Let’s go.”
“Wait!” April shuffled around the bar after him. “The cook is making him lunch. As soon as he’s finished eating, you can take him to Molly’s. It won’t be long, I promise. Just have a seat and I’ll bring it right out.”
Passion Punch Page 14
