by Selena Kitt
“Don’t be so bitter, Will.” Jack reached out and patted Will’s forearm, still thick and muscular from years of training. An I.V. tube was taped there, dripping saline, and Jack’s eyes, too, were filling with salt. “You’ve helped me make my body strong, and I thank you for it. But if we’re telling the truth, love might be the strongest thing I’ve ever come across. I can’t fight it, Will. It brings me to my knees.”
“I know.” Will lowered his head, defeated. He took Jack’s hand and squeezed it. “I wish I could protect you, son.”
Jack nodded, his throat constricting. “I’ve always thought of you as a father, you know.”
“Then let me give you a father’s blessing, Jack. You’re a good man. You will always do well.”
Jack could taste salt on his lips, and he sniffed.
“And you’re going to kick Giordano’s ass.”
Both men grinned in silent understanding.
A nurse came in with pain medication, putting it into Will’s I.V., and it wasn’t long before the older man was nodding off. Jack checked in with the doctor on-call on his way out of the hospital, who said Will would be just fine. But that talk about a father’s blessing disturbed him.
It was as if Will sensed something Jack didn’t want to think about.
Chapter 4
Jack pulled his truck into the parking lot of Caesar’s Palace. It was an eight-hour drive from the Penny Bean Collective. Jack had done it in five.
The Giant’s training gym was here. Ever the showman, The Giant would train where everyone could see him. He wanted them talk about him and take pictures. That man, thought Jack, never did anything that didn’t boost his ego.
Jack was going to take it down a few notches.
“Jack!” a woman shouted out as he strode through the parking lot, determined, a man with a purpose. “Jack Farnsworth!”
He stopped, glancing around and spotting a woman wearing a huge pair of shades and a scarf covering her head. She was clearly trying to disguise herself, although Jack knew her in an instant. He knew her walk, as she rushed toward him. He knew the slight tilt of her head, the press of her lips in clear worry.
“It’s me,” she said, breathless, her gaze sweeping the parking lot, back and forth. “Goldi.”
“I know.” Jack looked at her get-up, bemused. “Are you running away?”
She pulled her shades down momentarily to meet his eyes. “It’s the paparazzi. They’re relentless.”
He nodded, sympathetic. He’d had his own run-ins with paparazzi over the years, although he was sure it was nothing compared to what Goldi had to deal with on a regular basis. She basically had constant stalkers, wherever she went.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” Her pretty, butterfly mouth turned down, her perfectly plucked brows drawing together.
What was he doing here? He’d jumped in his truck, speeding through the desert for hours, with only one thought in his head. Now Goldi was asking him to reveal it, and he wasn’t sure he could say it out loud. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he also didn’t want to tell her the truth.
“What happened to Will... Jack, I’m so sorry.” Her hand reached out to squeeze his forearm and her touch softened him in an instant. Will was right. Her presence was a distraction. He had come here on a mission and suddenly, she was derailing him.
“Thanks.” He nodded. “Listen, I’ve gotta—”
“Jack, don’t.” Goldi moved even closer. He could smell her perfume, something wild, exotic. Heady. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing... please, don’t.”
“Do you love him that much then?” He stiffened, taking a step back from her, disengaging.
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth open in surprise. Then, she threw her head back and laughed.
Jack fumed. “Go ahead, laugh. Let’s see if you think it’s so funny after I beat your husband to a bloody pulp.”
There. He’d said it out loud. Now it was real. And he was going to do it, too.
He pushed past her, heading for the entrance. He barely registered her catching up to him. She clung persistently to his arm, even as he tried to shake her off.
“Goddamnit, Jack!” Goldi maneuvered herself in front of him, blocking his path, shoving her hands against his chest. “Will you just wait and listen for a minute?”
“I’m done listening.” He took her by the shoulders, moving her aside. “It’s time for action.”
“I agree.” Goldi nodded, taking her sunglasses off and meeting his eyes. Hers were wide and wet, still as blue and beautiful as ever. Then she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Jack found her in his arms, as comfortable and familiar as it had always been, and yet something new and different, too. Her mouth bruised his, her hand sliding behind his neck, her nails digging in to his skin. His body responded without thought, his hands moving around her waist, pressing her curvy frame against his bulk. Her breasts flattened against his chest as her tongue snaked into his mouth. He shuddered, part of him wanting to push her away, another part of him aching to take her right there in the goddamned parking lot.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he gasped when they parted, their arms still around each other.
“You said it was time for action.” She giggled, her fingers playing in the hair at the nape of his neck, making him shiver. His erection was painful, aching.
“What about the paparazzi?” Jack swallowed. “What about your husband?”
“Fuck them.” Goldi’s face darkened. “The paparazzi can kiss my ass. And the whole Giordano family can go to hell. Especially my husband.”
“Goldi, listen...” Jack took a step back, his hands still on her waist, keeping her at a safe distance. “I came here because—”
“I know why you came here.” Her chin lifted, gaze steady. “And I don’t blame you. Not one bit. But Jack... you need to listen to me. If you set foot in Caesar’s Palace to have a little talk with Giancarlo, you’ll never step out alive. They’re that kind of people. They do things like that and they know how to get away with it, too.”
“I know.” Jack shrugged. “But after what they did to Will...”
“You need to think about Will!” Goldi’s hands cupped his elbows as her eyes searched his, pleading with him. “Will is depending on you. Your mother depends on you. Think about that.”
Jack frowned. He hadn’t even considered his mother in his single-minded mission.
“And even if you did manage to put a hurt on him and get away... what then?”
He blinked at her. His focus had been solely on revenge. He hadn’t thought ahead to anything that followed. For him, it didn’t matter what happened afterward. The only thing that mattered was evening the score.
“There’d be no fight on Tuesday, that’s for sure. That would break Will’s heart.”
Jack winced, thinking about Will’s insistence that he follow his boxing dream. That made him remember Will’s warning about Goldi, who had just kissed him and was standing so near to him, he could feel her heat.
“There’s a lot of money riding on this fight,” she reminded him. “People have invested in you. People like Will. Keep the fight in the ring, Jack. Keep it on the level.”
That got to him. He was a man of integrity and what he was about to do wasn’t very honorable. And he knew it.
“Giancarlo is a thug and so is everyone around him. Since I married him, I’m surrounded by gangsters twenty-four hours a day. It’s a dishonorable life, Jack. It’s twisted and dark. Do you really want to sink to his level?”
Jack was silent.
“I know you.” Her voice softened and so did her gaze. It made his knees go weak. Christ, Will was right. This woman could undo him. “You’re not like them. You come from a completely different world.”
“So do you,” he reminded her, his throat tight, constricted, his voice hoarse.
“I remember,” she whispered, and her eyes were wet again. “Believe me, I remember.”
�
��Are you in love with him?”
She shook her head. “I never was.”
“Then why...?”
Goldi closed her eyes and tears slipped down her cheeks. “It’s a long story.”
“I’d like to hear it.” His hands squeezed the flesh of her upper arms.
“I...” She bit her lip, hesitating. Then she reached into her pocket. “Meet me at the Sky Castle Motel outside the city in an hour. Do you know where that is?”
“Yes.” He took the key card she offered, his heart leaping in his chest. Was he really going to do this? He knew Will wouldn’t approve. But Will was still in the hospital. He didn’t have anyone around to tell him no.
“Okay. Good.” Goldi smiled, taking a step back. “I’ll see you there.”
She turned to go, and Jack wanted to reach for her, but he didn’t.
As if sensing his impulse, she turned to smile at him over her shoulder.
“Hey, Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“I want you to kick Giancarlo’s ass for me. He’s got it coming.”
Jack nodded, a tight smile on his face. “I will.”
Goldi waggled her fingers at him, her pearlescent nails perfectly manicured, and then she hurried off, getting into a red Mustang convertible and roaring out of the parking lot.
Jack put the key card in his pocket and headed back to his truck. He wondered if he was being a fool. Was this some sort of set-up? Was he walking into a trap?
Or did Goldi actually still care about him as much as he cared for her?
He could hear Will’s voice in his head. Either way, you’re a fool.
Maybe. But he was happy to be a fool—for love.
Chapter 5
“What is this place?” Jack looked around the hotel room, incredulous. Boxes lined the walls, stacked to the ceiling, with various labels written on them in Sharpie, labels like “dishes” and “bathroom” and “garden.”
Goldi stood there with her hands on her hips, looking proud. “This is where I store everything I need to make a clean break.”
“Break?” Jack blinked. “You’re... are you leaving him?”
“That’s the plan.”
“And just how long have you been planning this?”
“Since the beginning.” She met his eyes and smiled. “But there’s no time like the present.”
“How did you manage all of this? I would think, given your husband’s nature, that he would keep a close eye on you.”
“You’re right about that.” Goldi’s nose wrinkled. “But I’ve gotten pretty good at losing my tail.”
“You weren’t followed here, were you?”
“No,” she assured him. “Listen, I’ve got to change. There’s beer in the fridge. Help yourself.”
Goldi went into the bathroom and Jack opened the mini-fridge, finding the promised beer. He unscrewed the top and took a long swig, wondering again what in the hell he was doing here.
If this was Goldi’s stash and she’d been planning on leaving him for a long time—since the beginning—then what kind of marriage did they have? Was it a marriage of convenience? Or in Goldi’s case, inconvenience?
When the bathroom door opened, spandex catsuit Goldie was gone. The woman who emerged was all jeans, t-shirt and pigtails. Pigtails! The California beach babe had transformed into a Midwestern farm girl in an instant. This was the Goldi he remembered. This was the Goldi he had fallen in love with. The Goldi who had left him to pursue her own dream.
“No more spandex?” Jack’s brows went up.
“Did you like it?” she asked, looking quizzical.
“No,” he confessed. “I hated it. But it’s your image, right? Pop-star and all that...”
She scoffed, waving her hand. “It’s all an illusion. They invented it. Giancarlo’s people at WetWorx Records. And my manager, Doc Denato. You know me—I wanted to make a country album. They decided to make me a pop star instead.”
“And you just... went along with it?”
“I didn’t have much choice.”
“What happened, Goldi?” Jack sank down into one of the room chairs, gesturing with his beer to the chair across from him. “What in the hell happened?”
Goldi’s sigh carried a huge weight as she sat down in the chair opposite, a small table between them.
“I was so young,” she began. “And he was very charming... at first. And he was interested in me. I was this little country rube and he was a big city man. I was flattered.”
“Sure,” Jack said, bristling at the thought of The Giant taking advantage of the young girl he’d once known.
“You would have seen through him instantly, Jack.” Goldi gave him a small smile. “But you know me. I trusted people. I didn’t understand. Not until it was too late. I was an idiot.”
Jack shook his head. “He’s fooled a lot of people you’re not the only one. And he’s got a full-time publicity team neatly spinning their webs. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“Oh I don’t have to beat myself up.” Goldi gave a bitter laugh. “The Giant does enough of that for me.”
“I knew it.” Jack’s fists clenched involuntarily. “The bruises under your makeup...”
Goldi flushed. “You saw that?”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
“Jack, sit down.” She motioned him when he rose out of his chair. “There’s more to this story.”
“I’m not sure I want to hear it,” he mumbled under his breath, but he sat.
“I don’t remember how long I’d been dating him when he drugged me—”
“He what?”
“And then proceeded to rape me.”
“Jesus Christ.” Jack ran a hand down his face.
“When I woke up, he showed me the pictures he’d taken. Said if I didn’t marry him and give him kids, he’d spread them all over the internet.”
“That’s why you married him.”
“That’s why I married him,” she agreed grimly. “I made a deal with the devil. He said he could make me a superstar. And he did. But at what cost?”
Jack looked away from her, facing the wall, his breath coming fast and heavy.
“You shouldn’t have stopped me today at Caesar’s,” he said in a faint voice. “I should have fucking gone in and killed him.”
“No, Jack.” Goldi came around the table, putting her hands on his big shoulders, looking down into his eyes. “I couldn’t live with myself if you were sitting in jail for killing Giancarlo. You don’t deserve that. Even if he does.”
A few hours ago, he’d been ready to beat a man to a pulp for ordering a beatdown on the best friend he’d ever had, and now he was staring into the eyes of that man’s wife, falling in love with her all over again. It was crazy. Surreal.
“Goldi,” he whispered as she began to climb into his lap, wrapping her long arms around his neck before leaning in to kiss him.
He didn’t have any more time to think about how crazy or even foolish this was. Because Goldie was in his lap, her hot mouth slanting across his, her need just as obvious as his own. She wanted what he wanted. That thrilled him beyond words.
Jack stood, taking her with him, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bed. He kissed her down onto it, trying to be careful to keep his weight from crushing her, but Goldi was greedy, pulling him tightly against her tiny frame. Her hands moved over the thick muscles of his back and shoulders, sliding around the front to fumble with the buttons on his shirt.
He got the message, kneeling up between her thighs to finish with the buttons, peeling his shirt off and tossing it aside. Her face lit up with delight as he leaned in to kiss her again, her hands moving over his bare skin, a sensation that made his cock beg for more. He wanted to feel her naked against him.
Jack dug the ends of her t-shirt out of her jeans, pulling it higher and higher as they explored each other’s mouths. Finally, Goldi broke the kiss and thrust her arms straight up in the air, insisting, “Off!” Ja
ck chuckled, pulling her t-shirt over her head. With a quick flick of his wrist, he had her bra undone and in just a few movements, it was off.
She was even more beautiful than he’d remembered.
Goldi moaned softly when Jack lowered his head to her breasts, kissing, nibbling and licking at turns. Her hands moved through his short, black hair, her delicate fingers playing through it, her long nails scratching his scalp, making him shudder and groan against her breast.
“I missed you, Jack.” She whispered this confession into his ear as they rolled on the bed, Goldi on top now. “I thought about you so much.”
Had she? Or was she just saying that? He wondered. Because he’d thought about her. More than he even wanted to admit to himself.
He was distracted in the next moment as she rose up on the bed to straddle him, unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans. He steadied her with his hands on her calves as she stood, wiggling denim down her hips, stepping out of one leg, then the other. Leaving only her black panties on, she dropped down between his thighs and began working on his belt.
She had him quickly unzipped and he helped her by lifting his hips when she started working his jeans downward. She peeled them off, along with his boxers, socks and shoes, tossing them aside before she settled down between his legs again.
Jack groaned when she took his cock between her red-painted lips, pushing her long, honey-colored hair out of the way so he could watch her take him into her mouth repeatedly. It was a beautiful sight.
The pink press of her tongue slid prettily up and down his shaft, wrapping itself around him. Then she pulled back and gently, playfully, kissed the head before sucking it between her lips. That led to her pulling the length of him deep into the heat of her throat. This went on, round and round like that, one technique blending seamlessly into the next, until he was going mad with longing.
He knew, if she kept it up, he was going to erupt in her mouth. And while that would feel good, that wasn’t where he wanted things to end up. Not after waiting so long to be with her again.
