Stronger than Sin (Sin Hunters)

by Caridad Piñeiro

  She moved closer to Jesse, laid a sympathetic hand on his.

  “I won’t hurt you, Jesse,” she repeated.

  Bradford knocked his head against the wall in a repetitive motion and mumbled, “Hurt me. Shot me up.”

  “I won’t let them do that again. Where does it hurt?” she asked, still soothing her hand along his arm in a comforting gesture.

  He finally stopped smashing his head and his gaze drifted downward to his left side. “Tasered me.”

  She wondered what he had done to prompt such action, and he immediately repeated his first words.

  “Needed to see them.”

  “See who?” she repeated.

  “My family,” Bradford shot back quickly. “I just needed to see my family.”

  Liliana imagined that the last thing Whittaker wanted was for Bradford to have contact with anyone not in the immediate loop. But Tasering Bradford and then shooting him up with hallucinogens seemed like an extreme reaction. She was going to have to speak to Whittaker about it, but for now, her primary concern was treating her patient.

  “Would you lie down for me so I can check your side?”

  With a few clumsy nods, Bradford shifted from the wall and moved awkwardly to try to comply with her request.

  Liliana rose and took hold of his shackled arms to help him. Beneath her hands his body was all hard muscle, but maybe too hard, she thought. As they maneuvered together to help him lie flat, his T-shirt rode up on one side, exposing the nasty wounds and reddened area where Jesse had been electrocuted.

  She mumbled a curse beneath her breath, and to her surprise, Jesse offered up a small smile and teased, “Nice mouth, doc.”

  Her gaze connected with his, and his intense struggle to maintain control over the drugs Whittaker had administered was visible. Placing her hand on his chest once more, she urged him on. “Focus on me, Jesse. The drugs will wear off soon,” she said reassuringly, although she had no idea just how long it would take for the powerful combination of mind-altering drugs to dissipate in his system.

  “Trying, Doc,” he said, and beneath her hand, the tension slowly ebbed from his body.

  Understanding that his reactions might be under tenuous restraint, she forewarned him about what she planned to do. “I’m going to look at your side now. Get it cleaned up. It may sting… a lot.”

  The barest hint of another smile skipped across his lips as he said, “Promise not to cry.”

  His humor dragged a chuckle from her. Keeping her actions nonthreatening, she removed the needed materials from her medical bag and began, her tones restful as she explained each step she took.

  He jumped at the first contact of the antiseptic against the angry-looking wounds but said nothing.

  Carefully she cleaned the two nasty barb marks and then slathered on an antibiotic ointment before covering the area with a large bandage. As she smoothed the tape over the area, it was hard not to notice the sculpted muscles of his abdomen or the well-defined ones in his arms.

  She ripped her gaze away and sat back on her heels, wiped shaky hands along her thighs. “It may take a few days for that to feel better. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.”

  “Thanks,” he said and shifted his fingers slightly, as if to shake her hand.

  She took his hand in hers, cradled it as she said, “We’re going to make you better. I promise that.”

  “Will you stay?” he asked, an expectant chord coloring his words.

  “Stay?”

  He nodded, the action a little more coordinated than before.

  “Lonely,” he said and closed his eyes while continuing to hold on to her hand, the gesture so innocent it reached deep within and awakened a confusing set of emotions.

  Jesse Bradford was not turning out to be quite as she expected.

  A heavy tread sounded behind her, shattering the peace of the moment.

  Bradford jerked awake, but at her comforting squeeze of his hand, he remained calm.

  She looked over her shoulder to find Whittaker there with the other agent who had been watching Bradford. “Do you think we could move him to his bedroom?” she asked.

  Whittaker inclined his head to the side as the agent whispered something to him. With a nod, as if to confirm whatever the agent had said, he replied, “Only if Bradford can get there under his own steam. I won’t risk my men again.”

  Liliana faced Jesse and with another gentle squeeze of his hand asked, “Do you think you can stand?”

  He nodded and slowly sat up, not an easy task when he couldn’t use his arms, but with his impressive physical strength, he made it seem almost easy. Once he was sitting, he maneuvered to his knees but wavered a bit at that point.

  Liliana quickly supported him by placing her arm around his broad shoulders. She could barely reach around him he was so massive.

  He murmured his thanks and then, with a surge of power, came to his feet, Liliana at his side, continuing to steady him.

  Jesse fought a wave of dizziness, and the suddenly wild colors swirling around in his vision. It had been a long time since Wardwell had used the mind-control drugs on him, mainly because he had stopped fighting Morales in the hopes of finding a way to escape. Now the drugs wreaked havoc on his mind once again. He lost his balance but suddenly encountered Liliana’s sympathetic weight at his side.

  As he glanced down at her from nearly a foot more in height, she looked like a fierce angel with her dark hair and her eyes blazing with emotion. “I’m okay,” he said and took a wobbly step toward the door, where Whittaker and his goon awaited them.

  Even with the psychedelic vision from the hallucinogens, he detected the way both men reached for their weapons. Would they shoot? he wondered, although if they did, all their plans would go awry.

  But so would his, he forced himself to remember as the animal instinct to escape rose up sharply. He tamped down that desire. He had to stay to help his sister. Whittaker and this odd little doctor were the key to that.

  He took another unsteady step, and Liliana was immediately there, balancing him as he leaned on her. Together they took one step and then another until they were safely past Whittaker and on their way up to his bedroom.

  The bed would be a welcome change from the hard mats in the gym.

  In his bedroom, they shuffled over to the large king-sized bed, hips bumping as they moved.

  Her hips were soft and wide. He could imagine holding them in his hands, curving them around to cup her deliciously formed ass as he drove into her.

  “Fuck,” he muttered beneath his breath as his erection roared to life with his uncontrolled imaginings.

  She pulled away from him then and he plopped onto the bed, shaking his head to drive away the visions.

  “Are you okay?” she asked with concern, and he reared away as she reached for him.

  “Okay,” he said, his eyes closed to avoid any further temptation from her proximity.

  A second later, hard hands were pulling him up into the center of the bed. Whittaker and Bruno, he realized as he peered through half-closed eyes.

  “Can you undo the shackles so I can tend to those abrasions?” she asked, but he immediately shouted, “No,” at the same time as his captors.

  “Not safe,” he added and gazed at her, pleading for her to understand.

  Maybe she did, because she didn’t press further. Instead she said, “I need to take some more blood samples. I’ll only be a second.”

  With efficient movements she prepared a syringe and removed several vials of blood while sitting on the edge of the bed. After, she grabbed a tube of antibiotic ointment and, with her index finger, gently applied the salve all over the abraded spots on his ankles and wrists.

  “That should help a little,” she said and rose from the bed.

  She hesitated, and her gaze was clouded with confusion, but with a nod of her head, almost as if she was answering some unspoken question, she said, “I’ll be back tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”

/>   She turned and walked to where Whittaker was standing by the door.

  “If you want me to continue to help you, you won’t treat him like an animal. And you won’t use those mind-control drugs again. He’s not a criminal.”

  Whittaker narrowed his eyes as he considered her, but he seemed to understand she was serious in her demand. With a curt bop of his head, he said, “We’ll do our best, Dr. Carrera.”

  Carrera, Jesse thought. Like the race car, but the only sleek thing about the doctor had been the thick masses of her shoulder-length hair. The rest of her was more like a race track—all dangerous curves.

  Not even the mind-controlling drugs could make him forget that, he thought with a smile as he relaxed his tenuous hold on reality and slipped away to more pleasant imaginings.

  Liliana’s gentle touch, growing bolder as it skimmed along his muscles. The deep cocoa of her eyes darkening with desire, and that soft husky voice saying his name with need.

  His mind retrieved the feel of her rounded, womanly hips, and he pictured placing his hands on them. Urging her closer. Wrapping up that petite but curvy body in his embrace.

  Jesse groaned with need as his body responded. He snapped open his eyes and glanced around, hoping that no one was observing.

  The room was blessedly empty.

  With a smile of relief, Jesse allowed his mind to wander back to thoughts of Liliana.

  Gentle, caring, rebellious Liliana.

  He had never met a woman quite like her. Maybe that was the reason she haunted his mind as he lay there. As his body refused to let go of thoughts of her close to him. Beneath him as all those womanly curves accepted his hardness. Welcomed the union of his body with hers.

  He groaned again, the sound loud in the emptiness of his room.

  An emptiness that had been a part of his life for far too long, he acknowledged, although…

  With Liliana beside him, that bleakness had lessened a bit. Surprising, considering she was a virtual stranger.

  For now.

  As Jesse awkwardly rolled over onto his stomach, willing away his unwanted erection, he was certain of one thing.

  He didn’t want Liliana to stay a stranger.

  CHAPTER 5

  So how’s this new gig going?” Ramon asked as he captured one of the tacos on the plate Liliana’s mother had brought to the table just minutes earlier.

  “Not much is happening yet,” Liliana replied. Although she had provided her family some initial information, she could not reveal any more to her cousin because of Whittaker’s “need-to-know” directive.

  When Ramon glanced at Carmen, as if expecting her to provide a different answer, Carmen only echoed Liliana’s earlier statement, which clearly displeased Ramon.

  “I get that you can’t talk about it. Just remember that if you need anything, I’m always here,” he said as he finally brought the taco to his mouth and took a big bite.

  Liliana nodded, feeling slightly guilty about keeping anything from him. Ramon had spent so much time in her house while they were growing up that he was like a brother. She had no doubt she could count on him. With his being the police chief in one of the nearby towns, that support could come in handy.

  When he zeroed in on a second taco, she slapped his hand playfully. “Wait your turn, primo.”

  He smiled and waved at the plate. “After you, ladies, but make it quick. I have to be back at the stationhouse in about forty minutes.”

  Liliana’s mother returned to the table, this time with an assortment of drinks for them. “Can I get you anything else?” she asked.

  Liliana glanced around the restaurant. It was late in the afternoon. Too late for lunch and too early for dinner, which meant there was only a couple in the far corner. “Why don’t you join us, mami?”

  Her mother smiled and shook her head. “I’d love to, mi’ja, but I’ve got to make sure your father finishes making the tortillas for tonight’s dinner rush.”

  Dropping a kiss on Liliana’s cheek, her mother waddled away, painfully favoring one leg. For over a year Liliana had been trying to convince her to go for a knee replacement, but her mother insisted that money was too scarce for the operation.

  Having to move out of the condo with her fiancé and into a new place had unfortunately eaten up some of the money Liliana had been setting aside to help pay for the procedure.

  Ramon must have noticed the focus of her attention, since he smothered her hand with his comforting touch. In low tones he said, “Don’t worry, chica. She’s going to be fine.”

  “Seriously, Lil. Your mami will agree to have the operation eventually. Don’t let it wear you down,” Carmen added, because her friend understood, maybe better than most, just how much Liliana hated to see anyone in pain.

  Which brought back memories of Jesse Bradford.

  He had been seriously hurting earlier that day thanks to Whittaker and his men. She couldn’t understand how anyone would treat a witness like that—as if he was a prisoner. Which made her wonder what kinds of rules they had about handling detainees.

  “Have you ever Tasered someone?” she asked her cousin.

  He paused with a taco halfway to his mouth and then put it back down. With a shrug, he said, “On occasion. If I’ve got someone who’s an emotionally disturbed person and I can’t control them…”

  “You stun-gun them—”

  “Rather than shoot them or have one of my men injured. Yes. I know it sounds harsh, but it beats the alternatives,” Ramon finished for her.

  His explanation wasn’t far from Whittaker’s, and yet… There was something about what Jesse had said. That all he had wanted to do was see his family. She wondered how it had gone from that to requiring the use of a Taser.

  “Something wrong, Lil?” Carmen prompted, picking up on her distress.

  Unfortunately, her earlier negative vibes about Whittaker were only growing.

  She shook her head and reached for one of the tacos before Ramon finished devouring them. As she brought it to her mouth, her gaze connected with her cousin’s and she knew that he, too, had sensed her concern.

  “If you need me for anything, you know you can count on me,” he reiterated.

  Liliana had no doubt about that. And because Mick and Caterina already had too much upset in their lives, Ramon would be her go-to-guy with any concerns. Like the ones she was having right now.

  “Could you find out if anyone reported anything unusual? Like someone being abducted in the area?” she asked. Beside her, Carmen sat up straighter, clearly surprised, although she remained silent.

  Ramon’s dark gaze settled on her face, inquisitive, but he seemed to understand there was a limit to how much she could tell him. So instead he said, “Any particular area?”

  Liliana thought of Jesse’s words about wanting to see his family. She wondered just how close he had gotten to them. “Lake Como. Belmar. That area.”

  “Will do,” Ramon confirmed, and because all of them comprehended that further discussion was out of the question, they turned their attention to the meal Liliana’s mother and father had made for them.

  Carmen had prepped the blood from the day before for a more detailed analysis. As with the earlier samples, there was a decided difference in the rate of replication in the gene fragments that had been introduced into Bradford from those in Caterina’s system.

  Liliana sat beside Carmen at her workstation, reviewing what little they knew so far. Little being the operative word. They still had yet to discover an explanation for what the x-rays and her gross examination of Bradford’s body had shown.

  “So you say his body was hard, as in—”

  “Rigid. Like nothing I’ve felt before. Granted, his muscles were more developed than most I’ve encountered—”

  “Hence the expression ‘rock hard,’ ” Carmen reminded.

  Liliana thought back to the roughness on the tops of Bradford’s hands and the dense feel of his arms beneath her palms. Was her imagination running away
from her? Was it possible the patches on his hands were nothing other than the calluses of someone who used their hands often? And that those ripped muscles were just more defined than any she had ever felt before?

  Unlikely, given that she regularly examined athletes in her line of work. And how would someone get calluses on the back of his hands?

  “If I get a skin sample later, would you have time to analyze it?”

  Carmen nodded. “Sure. In the meantime, I’ll keep on working on the blood samples you’ve brought. There’s something funky about them, but I can’t put my finger on it yet.”

  Liliana shot a glance at her watch. Barely nine in the morning. She had planned on returning to Bradford’s home to see how he had passed the night, but first she wanted to speak to his family to develop a medical history that might assist with their investigations.

  “I have some running around to do but may be back in time for lunch. Do you want to grab a bite together?”

  A light flush of pink blossomed across Carmen’s cheeks. “Actually, I have a date to go eat lunch with Ramon.”

  Based on the blush, Liliana suspected there was more going on than just lunch but was glad for her friend, as well as for her cousin. They would be good together.

  “Then maybe I’ll see you later,” she said and headed to her office.

  At her desk, she logged on to the hospital network to review Bradford’s earlier hospital files to get more information, since the Wardwell files had lacked certain details. As was standard procedure, the hospital records for Jesse’s earlier visit had all of Bradford’s personal information, including whom to contact in the event of an emergency.

  His family lived nearby, just a few miles away on the other side of the tracks, which would make it easy for her to pay a visit. The one problem with that was Whittaker’s instruction that all information about this project be confidential and that Jesse’s recovery be kept secret.

  It would make it harder to speak with his family, but she had to do it if they were going to figure out what might be causing Jesse’s bone problems and how to deal with whatever Wardwell had done to him.