King of Clubs (Aces & Eights Book 2)

by Sandra Owens

  She stuck the bills into the front pocket of her jeans, then went to the end of the ticket line. “New Orleans,” she murmured, testing the sound of her soon-to-be new city, as she scanned the departure board.

  “Not a bad choice for a city to disappear into.”

  Lauren froze. She knew that voice, recognized the scent of the man with his mouth next to her ear. It was impossible that he’d found her. He should just be waking up about now, puzzling over her absence. Hoping she was hallucinating, she turned her head, almost putting her mouth to mouth with Court. His breath was warm on her lips, and without any instruction to do so, her back leaned closer to his body heat, her lungs greedily soaking up his masculine scent.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her body not to shudder. He couldn’t know the effect he had on her. “Go away, Court.”

  “Afraid I can’t do that, G.G.” He put his hand on the back of her neck. “Don’t you want to know all the things you did wrong, making it easy for me to find you?”

  She nodded. She did want to know what mistakes she’d made. With the gentlest of pressure from his fingers, he guided her outside. His touch was so different from Stephan’s. Whenever her ex-husband had wrapped his hand around her neck, it was to dig his fingers into her skin, hurting her. After Stephan, it sometimes surprised her that she could still trust a man, yet she trusted Court. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew in her heart that he would never physically hurt her.

  “Do you often go around kidnapping women?” she said as he guided her toward his car.

  “It’s a daily occurrence. I see a woman I like, I drag her home with me.”

  “Lucky me to be today’s woman.”

  “Unlike you, most are willing.”

  Well, that hurt. She didn’t want to think of him being intimate with other women. When he opened the passenger door, she balked. “We can talk out here.” As soon as she learned what she wanted to know, she was getting on that bus.

  “Where we’ll be noticed, and anyone questioned as to whether they’ve seen a woman matching your description will remember us both?” He moved his hand up to her hair, twirling a pink-tipped strand around his finger. “Your hair alone is memorable. If you’re okay with that . . .” He trailed off, cocking a brow.

  No, she wasn’t okay with being memorable. He was making her feel totally inept, and it irritated her, but she was angrier with herself. She’d had six years to plan an escape. Should have disappeared the day Stephan went to prison. But she’d naïvely thought he would forget about her, especially when, other than one letter, he’d made no attempt to contact her after he was behind bars. She believed—or had wanted to believe—that he’d decided she wasn’t worth his trouble. That bubble had burst when Peter had shown up.

  Since she couldn’t argue that everyone who’d seen her here wouldn’t remember her hair, she got in the damn car, and pulled the door shut. She watched Court walk around the front, her eyes devouring him. From his military-style haircut to the muscles that rippled with every move he made, there wasn’t a thing about him that didn’t call to her. The black hair, his black, almond-shaped eyes, his chiseled features, and olive skin all added up to a very sexy man.

  For six days, she’d known every inch of his body and he’d intimately known hers. By the time they’d parted, he had owned her heart. It wasn’t fair. She’d been divorced, had been free to fall in love. Stephan hadn’t had the right to destroy her hopes and dreams, but he had. She’d never stopped loving Court, although she’d tried.

  He slid into the driver’s seat, dropping his keys into the cup holder. “I made you an offer to teach you how to protect yourself, but you took off. I’m making it one more time.”

  “I thought it would be obvious that by leaving I didn’t want you involved.” She had to try to get him to stay out of her problems.

  “Got that message loud and clear. But, Lauren, if I could find you, he can, too, if he knows how to look. Does he?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? Toward the end, before she’d left Stephan, she’d begun to suspect there was more to her husband and his brother than they wanted her to know. There had been too many times she’d been sent to her bedroom when other Russian men would visit. And those men all radiated danger from their cold eyes.

  She pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Then your first lesson is knowing your enemy down to every last detail.” He pulled her hand away from her face. “Listen to me. You can’t outsmart someone if you can’t make an educated guess as to his next step because you don’t know him inside and out.”

  “How did you find me?” He let out what sounded an awful lot like a snort. She wanted to punch him. Or maybe kiss him. She was too confused and bone-weary to figure out which.

  “Baby, you left a trail a mile long.”

  “Such as?” It was hard being so close to him in the confines of the car. All she wanted to do was curl herself around him and forget everything.

  “We’ll get to all that.” He picked up the keys, slid one into the ignition, and turned it.

  She reached over to turn it off. “I’m not leaving with you. Besides dying my hair, what else?” He put his hand over hers, pulling it away from the key. He didn’t let go of her hand, though; instead, he rested it on his thigh. She knew she should pull away, but it felt so good to touch him.

  “Such as getting in a taxi right outside your front door to start, but this isn’t the place to have this discussion.” He squeezed her hand. “I told you I’d teach you what you need to know. I’m asking you to come back to Miami. You’ll be safe with me, I promise.”

  It was so tempting to agree, but her purpose in disappearing was not only to protect herself, but him as well. He sighed, something he seemed to do a lot around her.

  She’d never had a real boyfriend before Stephan. She wasn’t a stupid person, but she had been sheltered. Her minister father and her mother had homeschooled her and Julie, most of their social activities involving church events. So no, she hadn’t learned how to disappear without a trace. How did Court even know all these things?

  He sighed again. “I can hear the wheels turning, G.G. How about trusting me for one week? If at the end of seven days you still feel like you don’t need my help, I’ll put you on a plane under an assumed name and send you wherever you want to go.”

  There was an offer she couldn’t refuse. She had almost two weeks before Stephan was released, so she could be long gone by then, with whatever tricks up her sleeve that Court could teach her. Even more appealing, she would get to spend seven days with Court, something she found she couldn’t resist, or even wanted to.

  “Okay,” she said, even though the voice in her head was calling her a fool.

  Relieved, Court shifted into reverse, backing out of the space. He wasn’t going to have to resort to Plan B. Kidnapping was not something an officer of the law should be considering, but he couldn’t let her traipse off thinking she knew what she was doing. Truthfully, he had no idea what he was doing, but until he learned all the facts, including who her husband was and what he was capable of, he would have stopped her however he had to.

  “You’re going to stay with me for the next seven days.” When she shook her head, he said, “I have a guest bedroom, which is all yours for the duration. Peter said if you didn’t show up to see Stephan, he would come collect you. Do you really want to stay alone at your apartment, risking him following through on his threat?”

  She paled. “No.”

  “Didn’t think so.” He pulled out of the bus station parking lot, aiming his car for home. A few minutes later, she’d unsurprisingly fallen asleep. He doubted she’d gotten much rest since Peter had delivered the message from his brother.

  The sun was rising, providing enough light to see her face. In sleep, the tension lines around her eyes and mouth had eased, making her look more like the girl he’d fallen for six years ago.

  He’d seen her with
in an hour of walking onto the beach his first day in Panama City. She’d been playing volleyball, the two teams a mix of guys and girls. Her neon green bikini was the first thing to catch his attention, followed quickly by her smoking hot body. Even then, she’d worn her hair in that short, spiky style she still favored. He’d always thought he preferred long hair on a woman, but Lauren had proven him wrong.

  There was something edgy and earthy about her, and as he watched her dive for the ball, missing and falling on her face, he saw a woman not afraid to go after what she wanted. She pushed up and spit sand out of her mouth, all the while laughing. Lust hit him hard.

  He moved into her line of sight, watching only her while the game lasted. Several times, she looked over at him, her gaze lingering a little longer with each glance. When she missed the ball, doing another face-plant in the sand, she came up laughing, even though her miss had lost the game for her team.

  One of the male players came over to her, put his mouth close to her ear, and said something. Court gritted his teeth, wanting to step between them and claim her, but he dug his toes into the sand, anchoring himself to the spot. If the dude was her boyfriend, he had no right to interfere. She shook her head, patted the guy on the arm, and then faced Court.

  She raised a brow. He mimicked her, raising one back. As if he could read the mind of a woman he’d never seen before, he understood she wanted him to come to her. He’d be damned if he would. It wasn’t that he wanted to control her. He’d never been that kind of man, would never allow himself to be like his father. No, this was something different.

  The stand they were each taking was a purely sexual one. Which one of them would have the other on their knees first? And at the thought of her on her knees in front of him, he went rock fucking hard. Her gaze lowered to his board shorts, and he didn’t try to hide how much he wanted her. After a few seconds, her eyes roamed up his body, finally meeting his. Golden-brown eyes snared his, and he accepted that he’d lost the game. He didn’t care. Without even realizing his feet were moving, he walked toward her.

  The first thing he learned about her was that she didn’t bask in her victories. As soon as he moved, she did, too, meeting him halfway. They were inseparable for the next six days, and he’d thought he’d known her inside and out by the time spring break was over. When they kissed good-bye, he told her that he loved her. If she hadn’t said it back, and if they hadn’t made plans to see each other on alternating weekends and school breaks—meeting somewhere halfway between the University of Miami, where she was going to school, and Florida State University, where he was in his final year—he might have understood her cutting him off without giving him one damn reason for doing so. Turned out, he hadn’t known her at all.

  But was that true? Things he’d learned about her during one of the most intense weeks of his life came flooding back. How she’d stayed glued to his side whenever they’d ventured out among the drunk, partying college guys looking to get laid.

  “Most will respect a no from you, but a few won’t give a damn that you don’t want to be raped,” he’d told her. “Don’t let go of my hand.” For six days, she had never let go of him.

  He had learned that she was fearless but not stupid. He had learned that she could make a man feel like he’d won a once-in-a-lifetime lottery. And he’d learned that just as easily as she’d given him the world, she had as easily snatched it away, walking off without a backward glance.

  After Court showed her to the guest room, Lauren dropped her backpack on the floor, and then shut the door in his face. That had been two hours ago, and he hadn’t heard a sound from her since. He assumed she was sleeping, but because he didn’t trust her not to try to sneak out again, he’d grabbed a pillow and catnapped on his sofa.

  Two hours later, he sat up, yawned, and stretched his arms above his head. He was getting too old to be up all night. After making a cup of extra-strong coffee, he got out his laptop. Time to do a little investigating, find out who Lauren had married and when. The when was the question that ate at him. Had she gone back home and gotten married after saying she loved him? Those three words they’d exchanged had meant something to him. If the week she’d spent with him had been nothing more than a lark before she settled down with a wedding ring on her finger, he might go ballistic.

  Wasn’t that what women did, though? Walk out without looking back. His mother had done it, and he should have learned his lesson then. But he’d thought Lauren was different, had believed her when she’d said she loved him. It didn’t make sense that he was getting angry all over again. He’d dealt with his feelings where Lauren Montgomery was concerned and had put them behind him. He was a smarter man than he’d been six years ago, and he’d never allow another woman to hurt him again.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lauren blinked open her eyes, frowning at the light beige wall. That wasn’t the wall in her bedroom. She rolled onto her back, scanning her surroundings. She’d never been in this room before. Where was she? And why was she in bed wearing her clothes?

  Was that coffee she smelled? She sat up, combing her hands through her hair. Her brain finally woke up, supplying one word. Court.

  Right. I was kidnapped.

  Grabbing her backpack, she went searching for a bathroom.

  Thirty minutes later, showered, clothes changed, and hair air-drying, she made her way to the kitchen, hoping there was coffee. There was, thank you God. She wandered into the living room, stopping when she saw Court sitting on the sofa, watching her.

  “Morning,” he said, closing his laptop.

  “I haven’t decided if I’m talking to you yet.”

  He chuckled. “Let me know when you decide. We have some things to discuss.”

  Things she’d hoped to never talk about, but Stephan was once again making her life miserable. To delay having that conversation until she was more alert, she went out to Court’s balcony. The view was incredible. A tropical storm was supposed to make its way up the Florida coast sometime this evening, but the ocean was already stirred up.

  She’d been too tired to notice what floor Court lived on when they’d arrived last night, but looking down, she guessed the eighth or ninth. Even from up here, she could hear the waves crashing onshore. A seagull caught her attention, and she watched it try to fly against the wind. She loved walking on the beach when the ocean was angry, and wished she were down there right now.

  Without glancing back, she knew Court was standing behind her. How did she sense him so easily? It was as if she had some kind of invisible connection to him, the way her senses recognized his presence. She could probably close her eyes and still know if he came within ten feet of her.

  “Fortunately, the storm’s weakening, just a lot of rain and some wind,” he said.

  “I like storms. The smell and sound of the rain, the breeze blowing on me.” She leaned over the rail, lifting her face to the wind.

  “I remember,” he said softly.

  So did she. A thunderstorm had moved in one afternoon during spring break. Until the rain and lightning came, he’d walked on the beach with her, then they’d returned to his room, opened the windows so she could listen to the rain while they passed the afternoon making love.

  “I’m sorry.” For so many things. She glanced over her shoulder, but he’d gone back inside, missing her apology. Maybe it was better that he hadn’t heard, because then he’d ask what she was sorry for, and she couldn’t tell him the truth.

  Her coffee had grown cold, but she drank it anyway, and then followed him in, ready for her inquisition. She would tell him as little as she could get away with, until she learned what she needed to know.

  He was back on the sofa, working on his laptop again, so she parked herself in a chair, waiting for him to start with his questions. While his attention was on the screen, her eyes devoured him, noting the ways he was still the same versus the changes six years had brought him.

  When she’d met him, he’d been happier, quick to laugh. That w
as one change she didn’t like, and she’d hate herself if she were the reason the light was gone from his eyes. But that was silly. Weren’t men famous for moving on? She was certain that he hadn’t been celibate all that time. As gorgeous as he was, he could have any woman he wanted.

  Did he have a girlfriend? She wasn’t about to ask, but it would be surprising if he didn’t. Or maybe he was a player, which would make her sad as well. The boy she’d fallen in love with had only had eyes for her. Not once from that first day had she caught him checking out another girl. She did hope he was happy, and if that meant with another woman, she had no right to resent it.

  “How long you going to stare at me?” He closed the laptop lid.

  Her cheeks heated, probably turning red. “I wasn’t. Just waiting for you to finish.”

  One side of his mouth curled up. “Were, too.”

  That was another change she’d noticed. He didn’t used to smirk. “So, what do you want to know?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “My first question was going to be when did you get married, but I found that answer for myself.”

  “You’re doing a search on me? That’s an invasion of my privacy, you know.”

  “If you’d told me the things I need to know, I wouldn’t have had to”—he made air quotes—“invade your privacy.”

  “If you’ve found out everything, then I guess our Q-and-A session is over.” She stood.

  “Sit, Lauren. We’re not done here.”

  She saluted him as she plopped back down. “Yes, sir.”

  “Attitude, G.G. I don’t feel like you’re showing appreciation for what I’m trying to do for you.”

  They were both getting irritated, which she knew would get them nowhere. She took a calming breath. “Fine. I appreciate it, even though I didn’t ask for your help. In fact, I’d prefer you stay out of it.”