Passion Punch

by Tricia Leedom

  After the meeting, Jonas made his way to the servant’s kitchen to eat breakfast and scope out the space. Roman Leto lounged in the window seat at the end of a long, rustic dining table, slicing off bits of apple with a switchblade trench knife. With his fingers splayed in the built-in brass knuckles, he stuck a piece of apple in his mouth and stared at something below the window.

  There were two sets of cameras in the kitchen. One overlooking the table and another pointing toward the pantry, as if Linus didn’t trust the servants not to raid the larder. Three windows faced the west side of the house.

  Jonas helped himself to a bagel and a strawberry yogurt from the small buffet table against the wall. He took a seat at the table and tore off a piece of the bagel.

  Leto snickered softly. “Don’t know how you do it?”

  Jonas peeled the lid off his yogurt.

  “How do you follow her around all day without popping a boner every five seconds? Hell, if I had your job, I’d have blisters on my palm.” Leto laughed harder. “Shame a woman with a body like that is such a damn prude. Don’t know how she ever got knocked up, but I’d like to shake the hand of the guy who managed to slip it to her. If it was me, I would’ve banged that frigid bitch into next Tuesday.”

  Jonas kept his gaze on his yogurt and stirred it with his spoon, completely belying the fact that his vision had turned white and hazy and his face was so hot the top of his head was about to pop off. He spoke in a conversational tone. “You want to shut your mouth or would you like me to do it for you?”

  “I’d like to see you try.” Leto chuckled low in his throat.

  Both men stood at the same time, and Jonas’ chair scraped the floor. He pulled a pair of battled knives from his harness and twirled them around his fingers. Leto chucked his half-eaten apple in the trash and readjusted his grip on the trench knife.

  The phone on the wall began to ring and the shrill, high-pitched sound pierced through some of the tension in the room.

  Keeping his eyes on Leto, Jonas crossed the room and grabbed the receiver. “Yeah?”

  “Finish your breakfast, Mr. Smith, and get back to work looking after my daughter,” Linus’ voice was casual, but it was a direct order. “And send Mr. Leto to me in my study.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Linus hung up the phone.

  “The boss wants to see you in his study.” He hung up on his end. “Hope that camera doesn’t have audio.”

  Roman cursed under his breath and glared at Jonas. “This ain’t over.”

  Splaying his arms, Jonas gestured come at me bro. Then he twirled his knives again and slid them back into their holsters.

  Leto retracted his switchblade and left the room.

  Jonas picked up his yogurt and stuffed a large spoonful into his mouth as he leaned back against the table. He found his gaze drifting toward the window. His curiosity getting the better of him, he moved to the spot Leto vacated. The top of the pool cage was attached to the house just below the servant’s kitchen windows.

  April lounged on a chaise in a skimpy hot pink bikini. Her oiled-up body was tanned and toned, and her luscious breasts busted out of cups that barely covered her nipples. No wonder Leto had been so enthralled. Jonas didn’t want to tear his gaze away either, but he knew Linus was watching. He forced himself to move away from the window. Tossing the remaining yogurt in the trash, he grabbed his bagel on the way out of the room.

  Jonas’ temper still boiled when he entered the pool cage and let the screen door slam behind him.

  April napped face down on the chaise. Her head jerked up, and she blinked at him sleepily. “What’s wrong?”

  “Enough playing games. You need to talk to me.”

  “I’m not playing anything. I’m trying to erase some of my tan lines before I have to put on the dress my father picked out for me to wear tonight.

  His gaze dropped to her naked back. She lay in a sliver of sunshine that crept through the forest canopy. The strings of her bikini top dangled off the edges of the chaise.

  Jonas’ jaw tightened so painfully, he thought he heard it crack. “Put your top back on. We need to talk.”

  The amused expression of her face vanished and she lowered her voice. “Where? The trees have ears.”

  She meant the guards patrolling the perimeter. The foliage was so thick around the pool cage there was no telling how close they were.

  She sat up suddenly and pulled the beach towel with her to cover her chest. “I have an idea. Go put on a swim suit.”

  Jonas scowled. “Sorry. I forgot to pack one.”

  She pointed to the small shack behind him. “The changing room has a variety of sizes. All brand new. Help yourself.”

  He hesitated. Not sure if swimming with April Linus would solve anything.

  “You need to check out the grotto. It’s pretty cool.” Her eyes widened and she gestured with her head toward the cave-like structure at the far end of the pool. A noisy waterfall shielded the entrance.

  She was a frickin’ genius. He smiled to himself as he headed for the small shack to change.

  April tied the spaghetti straps on her bikini top as she walked toward the pool. She stepped down onto the first step and savored the temperature of the water. Not too cold and not too hot. Perfect for a sticky humid day. She sank down into the water and paddled over to the corner closest to the changing room to wait for Jonas.

  He emerged several minutes later wearing a black Speedo. April’s face heated. They’d had sex twice, but this was the first time she’d ever seen him completely naked or almost naked. On her many travels with her mother, she’d learned speedos were popular in Europe and South America and usually favored by the type of man whose gut protruded several inches over their waistband. The type of man who had no business wearing such a skimpy scrap of fabric. Jonas, on the other hand, had the body of a swimmer. A ripped, tattooed swimmer with washboard abs, broad shoulders, and lean, well-defined muscles.

  “Is it cold?” he asked as he dipped a toe.

  Realizing she was staring at his bulge, she averted her gaze. “Not at all.” She blushed so hotly she was pretty sure she boiled the water in her vicinity.

  He shallow dove into the pool with barely a splash. When his head popped up a few feet away from her, she stared at the black tribal tattoo that started on the back of his neck at the edge of his closely shaved hair line and meandered down his back around the tattoos on his shoulder blades. On his left shoulder, the head and arrow of the centaur archer Sagittarius peeked out of the water. On the right, the top of a three-dimensional rendering of a broken compass. She could only see the top portion of both images, but she knew what they were from memory.

  He thought she was asleep when he climbed out of her bed five years ago and dressed in the moonlight filtering in through her bedroom window. She was wide awake and in awe of him of what they’d just done together. She’d studied his tattoos and wondered what they meant. She’d never been into guys with ink, but on Jonas, it added to his mysterious aura and made what they’d done together seem more illicit.

  “You coming or not,” he said before he swam toward the waterfall.

  She pushed off the side of the pool with her feet to catch up to him.

  When faced with the rushing waterfall, April realized she was going to have to get her hair wet one way or another. She removed the pins and left them on the edge of the pool where she paused to finger comb her hair. On the way back, she sank under the water and swam under the waterfall.

  Jonas sat on an underwater bench waiting for her. The sharp planes of his face were cast in soft golden light.

  “What took you so long?” His voice bounced off the walls with a hollow echo. The smallest sounds were amplified in the small space, while the waterfall created a barrier of steady white noise, blocking out the rest of the world.

  “I had to take my hair down.” She swam up beside him and leaned on the edge of the pool. Her arm sunk into the stone like it was made of memory foam.
“What the heck?”

  “The floor’s padded. Covered with some sort of soft waterproof material made to look like stone.”

  She caught her distorted reflection in the mirror shards that covered the rear wall of the grotto like a mosaic piece of art. She supposed they were meant to mimic the craggy stone found inside caves. “Weird.”

  “Yeah.”

  She joined Jonas on the underwater bench, and they sat in silence for several moments, mainly because April didn’t know how to begin.

  He was right. She had to pick a side and no matter how difficult it was going to be betraying her only living parent, she had no choice. She’d been hiding so many secrets for so long, and the biggest one wasn’t even hers. She desperately wanted to unload everything she’d been holding onto for the past five years, but she was still terrified.

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  She didn’t see him move away from the wall, but suddenly, he was there. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her against him. Her breasts mashed against his hard, sturdy chest as he held her tightly. She slid her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck. He smelled like chlorine. She needed his strong, steady, and patient energy to get through this.

  Finally, she sat back far enough to look into his face and met his black, fathomless eyes.

  He touched her cheek. “When you’re ready.”

  She nodded. “Anything I did, I did to protect the people I love and care about.”

  His voice wasn’t much louder than a whisper. “Who are you protecting, April?”

  “Archie. My father. You.”

  “Me?” He frowned slightly. “Why me?”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My father is Albatross.”

  Jonas’ face changed. Hardened. “How do you know this?”

  “I overheard him talking on the phone more than once.” She felt sheepish admitting to the childhood shortcoming that always got her in trouble, and she couldn’t meet his gaze. “I have a bad habit of eavesdropping.”

  Jonas snorted softly. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I do it for a living.”

  She laughed softly because he’d made another joke. “You do, don’t you? That’s funny.” Her smile faded as she thought about where to begin. “When I was eighteen, my father tricked me into giving away Sophie Panama’s location when she was looking for her father. Mitch Thompson had stolen something from him, and my father wanted it back. I don’t know what it was exactly, but he was willing to manipulate me to get to Sophie. Then there were the documents I found.”

  “What kind of documents?”

  “If I tell you, will you have to arrest me too? I can’t leave Archie alone. I’m all he has.”

  “Why do you think I’m going to arrest you? Did you knowingly participate in any of Albatross’ business dealings?”

  Nausea churned in her stomach. “Of course not!” She moved away from Jonas and sat on the bench. “I found a file with shipping dates, manifests, the works, and I put it right back where I found it instead of going to the police.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he was my father and I didn’t want to believe it. I already lost my mom. I couldn’t lose him too.”

  “But you moved out shortly after you graduated high school.”

  April swiped a tear from her face and nodded. “I had too. I found out I was pregnant, and I knew he would force me to terminate the pregnancy. He still tried multiple times. He was relentless. He vowed to punish the man who ruined my life by getting me pregnant.”

  “And you’ve been keeping my identity a secret all this time.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you don’t regret going through with the pregnancy?”

  “Absolutely not. Archie is the best thing that ever happened to me. Having him made me grow up and gave me the courage to break ties with my father. I love that little boy with every ounce of my soul. I would do anything to keep him safe. Anything.”

  “And yet you still moved back to the mansion.”

  April stood and paced to the wall where the bench seat ended. She leaned back into a return jet, letting it massage her tense muscles. “I grew up at Casa Linus. It’s my home. I’ve always felt safe there. With the full-time security guards and the imposing fence around the estate now, I assumed nothing bad would happen.” April crossed her arms and tucked her chin into her chest. “I was so naïve. I just wanted to help my friends and secure Archie’s future.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My father offered to set up a trust fund for Archie’s education. A full scholarship to the college of his choice, if I stayed the whole three months.” She felt sick to her stomach. “God, that sounded awful. I can’t believe I was willing to use my father’s dirty money to send my sweet innocent little boy to school, and I put Archie’s life in danger while I was at it. I’m a terrible mother.” She covered her face.

  “You’re not terrible. From what I’ve seen, you always put Archie’s needs first, and you’ve done the best that you could for him. I admire you for that and your unwavering loyalty to your friends. You are quite a spectacular woman.”

  Her heart leapt, and she lowered her hands to stare at him. He didn’t have to say those nice things to her. He didn’t have to support her. He didn’t have to look so incredibly sexy and dangerous in golden-hued light. But he did. She went to him and straddled his lap.

  “April,” he said, when she slid her arms around his neck. Her breasts floated in front of her bobbing provocatively in the water just below his chin. He set his jaw as he dragged his gaze back to her face. “I’m leaving tonight.”

  Her stomach tightened. “So soon?”

  “The auction. That’s the reason I came back. To stop your father from selling the PRIM to the highest bidder.”

  “The PRIM? What’s that?”

  “A protracted-range intelligent missile. The weapon allegedly has the advanced stealth capabilities invented by Donovan Mika combined with a cutting-edge smart-technology that allows the operator to pinpoint a destination over a range never before imagined. If it falls into the wrong hands, a missile could reach the shores of the United States completely undetected.”

  April shook her head in stunned disbelief. “I didn’t know.”

  “I have to stop the auction or a lot of innocent people could die.”

  “So that’s the plan? You’re going to prevent the sale from happening and then disappear? I thought you were trying to take down my father’s organization?”

  “That’s always been the goal, but you have to pick your battles before you can win the war. Getting to the weapon is my number one priority at the moment.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  He shrugged. “Steal it and skip town.”

  “You make it sound so simple.” Tears burned the back of her eyes.

  “It’s not.”

  “Will I see you again when this is over?”

  He shook his head slowly. “Probably not. Someone from my organization will be in touch to take your statement. They’ll provide protection for you and Archie, if needed.”

  She searched his face, trying to memorize it, but she knew it would fade like all memories did. “I know you have to leave, but I don’t want you to.”

  “I know, babe, but I have to. My job—”

  “Your job sucks,” she said and her face crumpled. She struggled not to be wuss about this, but it was impossible. When had she fallen so hard for this man? At Jimmy Panama’s charter boat shop when he’d left an open bottle of Coke to replace the one he’d made her drop? When she held his son in her arms for the very first time? Or when he said she was spectacular?

  She steeled herself against the wave of pain and braced her hands on his shoulders. “Make love to me one last time.”

  Before he could object, she leaned forward and kissed him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As April molded her mouth to Jonas’ warm, firm lips, sparks sizzled thro
ugh her veins like a lit fuse. He held very still, not kissing her back, but not pushing her away either. She licked his bottom lip then pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “This is a very bad idea.”

  “Don’t you think I know that? You are going to disappear on me again, but this time I’m prepared for it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to do that. You deserve better. Definitely better than a jerk like me.”

  “Don’t say that.” She squeezed his shoulders gently. “You’re not a jerk. The fact that you’re trying to do the noble thing right now proves it.”

  “Damn it, you have a bad habit of always putting other people first, and they take advantage of your kindness and generosity. Put yourself first for once, April. Don’t let me take advantage of you. Tell me to go to hell where I belong.”

  “That’s the thing, this is what I want. It might be reckless and irresponsible, but I want you, Jonas. I want you so bad, I ache inside.”

  His eyes were shiny black in the low light. A muscle worked in his jaw. “We both know once won’t ever be enough.”

  The tension in her belly melted, and the pulse between her legs began to throb. “But not being with you again would be worse.”

  “I don’t have protection.” Under the water, he cupped the curve of her waist lightly.

  “I’m on the pill.”

  He furrowed his brow. “I’m supposed to be working.”

  She shrugged. “I’m betraying my father by siding with you.”

  “Are you on my side?” His guarded expression gave her the impression her answer was important to him.

  She nodded slowly. “Yes, and I always will be.”

  His hands skimmed her waist as they moved up to cup the underside of her breasts.

  A thrill spiraled through her body when he covered her hard nipples with his palms and kneaded her flesh. Her breaths came faster and she pressed into his big, rough hands.