Invisibility Cloak

by Jill Elaine Prim

  “Ryder . . .” she said breathlessly.

  He yanked open the garage door and looked back at her. “I’m planning on peeling it off you myself. And I know what you have on underneath, darlin’.”

  Nothing. Amanda’s cheeks heated up. But she did want to stay in her dress a little longer. The delicate blue evening dress did make her feel feminine and pretty.

  Would he really peel it off of me?

  She shivered. Okay, she’d leave on the dress. Let’s see what happens. Nodding, she followed him to his car. “Let’s go, then.”

  Chapter 17

  This isn’t working.” He grabbed the bottle of Gran Patron and poured a shot of the clear liquid into both of their glasses. “Bring me the daughter.”

  She shook her head in a muted protest.

  He turned and said darkly, “Yes,” before tilting his head back and drinking the cool liquid in one gulp. “Here, drink this.” He pressed the glass into her hand.

  It burned a fiery path down her throat.

  “She’ll talk then.”

  Plucking an orange and lemon slice in either hand, she stuck them into her mouth to keep her from protesting what he wanted to do, because she wanted to live. “Mmm.” Instead, she focused on savoring the citrus taste.

  “And who knows.” He poured more tequila into only his glass this time. “A young, blond American will have my customers bidding high.” Taking a sip off his glass, he stated, “And if she’s a virgin? She’ll make me a lot of money.”

  She bent down and snorted a line of cocaine off the glass table, trying not to think of what he was asking her to really do.

  Amanda adjusted her legs on the leather car seat. Catching her bottom lip with her teeth, thoughts of having sex with Ryder glided through her brain. Turning her head, she looked out the window as the scenery ran by and let her imagination go wild.

  Everything was changing.

  Ryder didn’t live too far away from her house but it was a much newer, updated development. The sun had faded behind the mountains that bordered their city and twilight took over so she could see her reflection on the glass. Her hair fanned out crazily around her face, but it seemed to always look that around Ryder. The ruffled neckline of the beautiful gown that Kelsey lent her came into view and that was when she realized she’d grabbed both sides of the expensive dress with her hands. Oh crap, she couldn’t forget this beautiful, high-priced formal was borrowed after all. She relaxed her fist on the soft material and smirked at the image in the window.

  Well, it’s mine now. Amanda bit her lip remembering how Ryder told her to keep on her dress.

  And he knows I have absolutely nothing on underneath.

  Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she bent her head forward.

  Oh My God! I haven’t had sex since I was married to Wayne.

  “Hey.” Ryder caught her hand that was wrapped across her waist. “You okay?”

  Amanda nodded. She felt like a teenager all of a sudden.

  “You feeling sick?” His thumb brushed over her knuckles.

  She shook her head.

  “Anything you want to talk about?” Ryder tangled his fingers with hers.

  Amanda’s lips pursed together. Well, maybe she should talk about the sleeping arrangements tonight. “I haven’t―” Not sure how to approach the subject, she pressed her palm up to her heated cheek. What if she was being too presumptuous and he wasn’t interested in her in that way?

  She rolled her eyes because she just hated the insecurity that flowed through her. But, he did kiss her and made the moves on her on more than one occasion. Hey, she may be a nerd, but she knew when a guy was interested, didn’t she? She cleared her throat and closed her eyes before she asked him quietly, “Ryder? What about the sleeping arrangements? I don’t want to kick you out of your own bed.” There. She got it out there. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest while she waited.

  “Amanda.” He swiped his thumb over her knuckles again.

  She licked her lips. “Yes?”

  “I can take the couch or even one of the other bedrooms, darlin’.” Moving his hand onto her thigh, he said solemnly, “Although that isn’t where I’d like to sleep.”

  Amanda’s breath hitched and she turned to look at him. His chiseled face stood out starkly at her when they passed under a street light. She reached her left hand out and caressed his hard jaw, tracing the muscles that twitched underneath her fingers.

  “Oh?”

  They came to a stoplight and Ryder turned to look at her. He brought her fingertips to his mouth and kissed them softly. Smiling devilishly he said, “Yeah. Just think, no kids to worry about,” and bobbed his eyebrows dramatically.

  Amanda giggled and got lost in his warm, chocolate eyes. She didn’t know how long they sat at the light just looking at each other, until someone honked a few times behind them.

  He cleared his throat and turned back to the road in front of him. “Damn! Just how long was the light green?” Ryder puffed out before he stepped on the gas pedal.

  Her mouth opened wide and she yawned, before smiling at him.

  After punching in the security code at the front gate, he pulled in front of his place and turned back at her. “You hungry?”

  Hungry? Well, duh! Amanda turned to look at him and smiled while she adjusted the skirt of her evening gown around her better. Yeah. Lowering her lids, she thought on all the areas she wanted to taste on his hard body. Yawning again, she realized she wanted to lick every inch of him.

  “Should I order a pizza?” He jumped out of his seat and opened her door. “Or just see what I got in the fridge?”

  Food! He was talking about food. She cleared her throat. “Let’s just see what you have in the fridge.”

  God, I’m such a fool.

  Ryder swiped his card and opened his front door. “I am starving.” He tugged her into his kitchen and directed her to a chair at the kitchen table.

  “Food would probably be a wise choice for me too,” she said and sank down into the seat. Watching him open his pantry door, she laid her head on her arms crossed on the table.

  He cast her a sideways glance before grinning. “We were talking about food, right?”

  Amanda popped her head up from the table. “Of course.” It wouldn’t be good if he knew she was pining away for him. “Weren’t you?”

  “You know we did leave before the chow was served, darlin’.’” Ryder flung open the refrigerator door and hunkered down to eye the interior. “Got cheese, cheddar, naturally.” Turning to her he said, “Sorry, no Swiss. Since I’ve been at your place, I haven’t been shopping.” He snapped his fingers together. “I know―how about some nachos?” Ryder looked over at her, as he pulled a bag of cheese, onions, and a jar of jalapeños out and set them on the counter.

  She could absolutely picture him as a little boy and she rolled her eyes up. Just like a kid, Ryder’s anticipation shown in his face as his lips curved up. Men! Food seemed to be the pathway to his heart.

  Amanda stood up and walked over to him. “That sounds good.” Stepping closer, she peered inside his lit refrigerator. “Is there any sour cream or salsa in there?”

  “That could be a big request,” he murmured. Cupping her elbows he brought her closer to him.

  “Ooh!” She wobbled when Ryder grabbed her arms. To keep from falling sideways, her fingers clutched onto the sides of his shirt and she closed her eyes.

  “I may need an incentive to actually look in the back of the shelves to find it.” Ryder’s voice flowed through her before his lips met hers.

  Amanda swayed again and she wasn’t sure if it was from him or the alcohol she had earlier.

  “Easy,” he whispered as he gathered her in his arms. His body pressed against hers. She shivered at the feel
of his hard body plastered along hers and her reserve snapped. She hadn’t had sex with a man in so long. And she wanted it with him. Laying her hands on his biceps, she arched up on her tiptoes to kiss his jawline. Losing her balance slightly, she planted her palms against his chest before he grabbed her around the waist to steady her.

  “Ryder,” she said as she unbuttoned his shirt. “I want you.”

  Their lips met once more and she pushed him with the hands that were tangled in his dress shirt against the wall. Lowering her head on his chest she rubbed her cheek against the soft silky material.

  “You’re purring.”

  Sloppily undoing the rest of his buttons, she licked his chest.

  “Whoa.” He rubbed her back.” Slow down, honey.”

  “I don’t want to slow down.” Finally his chest was bare and she pulled his sleeves down his arms, grinning. “Vroom. Vroom. I want to go faster.” The dress shirt crumbled behind him in a heap on the floor. And then she went for the closure of his dress slacks, lightly scraping her nails over his erection that strained against his zipper.

  He groaned when her fingers played lightly with the button of his slacks trying to get the clasp through the opening.

  She laughed quietly as she fumbled with the silky material of his dress pants up until she started leaning too much to the left and almost tumbled over. “Oopsy,” she whispered before Ryder caught her.

  “Amanda.” His brows were lowered over his dark eyes and his face looked hard, but when he met her gaze his eyes softened. “Amanda, God, I need you.”

  Bringing her chin up, her eyes locked on to his. “Good.”

  He hauled her up against him and said quietly. “I want you, but not like this, honey.”

  “What?” Her forehead crinkled and she reached out again for his pant zipper.

  “Ah,” he groaned when her fingers ran along the front of his slacks, but he shook his head. “But not like this.”

  “No!” she protested. “It’s okay, Ryder.” Licking her lips, she said, “Really, let’s do it.”

  Chuckling, he tucked one arm under her legs and the other behind her back. “I’d rather have you semi-conscious.” Lifting her up in his arms, he grinned. “And I don’t know . . .” He walked down the hallway and said, “Remember what we did?”

  He kicked open the door of a dark room. The hallway light spilled in and she peered around. They almost stumbled across a large bed, with a tan comforter thrown haphazardly across the top. Two dressers were pushed against the darkened wall in the back of the room.

  Before he set her on the bed, he unzipped the back of her dress. Narrowing his eyes, it looked as if he was sizing her up. Keeping her elbows in his hands he helped her stay standing until the dress slid down her body and pooled at her feet.

  Her breath hitched. “Ryder?” Maybe she was going to have some action after all―

  “Stand still.”

  She pulled her brows together. That could be a hard request, she thought as she swayed back and forth.

  Leaning over, he pulled back the sheets and blanket on his bed and stood back up. Reaching for her, he carefully laid her in between the cool sheets.

  Adjusting her head on the pillow she just landed on, she tried once more. “Ryder?” She held out her arms to him. “Please.” But her eyelids felt so heavy all of a sudden.

  “Hey, I’m trying to be honorable here,” he said gruffly before leaning over to place a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll take a rain check.”

  “Just lay with me then?” she mumbled with her eyes closed.

  “Move over,” he grunted and slid in next to her.

  She nestled into his body and murmured, “But I haven’t had sex in so long.”

  “That’s good to hear, honey.” He dropped another kiss on her mouth. “Because I’d probably tear the guy apart.” Planting soft kisses on each eyelid, he whispered, “Now get some sleep, darlin’”

  She threw her arm around his waist. “Why?” Her breathing slowed but not before she whispered, “Rain check . . . Do you promise?”

  “Because you’ll need it tomorrow,” he said softly as she cuddled into his body. Chuckling quietly to himself, he realized he had a naked woman in his bed.

  Amanda. And she was naked. The woman he’d thought about constantly for too long a time. And she was sleeping. And naked. A naked Amanda was next to him. Sleeping. He pulled his hands over his face. No, he let her sleep. He knew the minute she drifted into a deep sleep.

  So . . . First things first. His number one priority was to deal with her situation. Find out who and what and damn it, why they were after her. He needed Intel about what went down tonight and he knew who he could get it from.

  “Snuff, snuff,” Amanda snored into his chest and shifted her head bringing her hands up to pillow her cheek. “Zzzzzzz,” she breathed through her mouth.

  Grinning, Ryder smoothed his hand over her hair before he leaned over to drop a kiss onto her forehead. After scooting out from underneath her, he pulled his covers over her. Quickly dressing in his black recon pants and long-sleeved shirt, he padded into his home office down the hall.

  Pulling open his laptop, he researched as much information as he could think of. Finding out where Jeffrey Smeth lived didn’t take long; he had a pricey apartment in the downtown area. After he googled Parker Edgington, he acknowledged Sophia’s friends were right―her ex-husband was lily white. A clean cut businessman with blond hair and blue eyes smiled blazing white teeth at the photographer. The other couples’ comments who were seated at the table tonight certainly hadn’t gone unnoticed by him, but what was the significance?

  After plugging in both of the men’s addresses, he had one last task. Sophia’s past history. Ryder had his own specialized program he used to track down people’s backgrounds, so he clicked open the file and typed her name in. Nothing came up. Huh. Didn’t make sense.

  Okay, let’s see who Jeffrey Smeth is. Another big zero. Pulling his brows together, he stared at his computer, because now he was stymied. And it took lot to puzzle him, so he put all three names into another program along with some south of the border references he caught at The Harbor Falls Country Club Dinner Dance earlier. The icon was spinning.

  Bingo. Alejandro Castillo’s name and a few of the Mexican Cartel’s dubious activities that were in the paper over the last few months blared at him. His hand went up to his chin and he rubbed his scruff.

  Okay. This actually made sense.

  Amanda’s husband was chopped up into little squares by the Cartel. But the connection was still fuzzy to him.

  Time to go talk to a few people. Ryder turned over his wrist. It was only nine o’clock. Good, people should still be at the club. He could hit a few people over there, but . . . he glanced down at Parker Edgington’s house number. His place was closer to Ryder’s development. He’d save time by going to Sophia’s ex-husband first, then Jeffrey Smeth’s and then the Country Club.

  Careful not to wake her, Ryder checked on Amanda. She was spread eagle in the middle of his bed, sawing plenty of logs tonight―not that he’d ever tell her about it. He’d be back before she even woke up. After setting his security alarm on code two alert, he made a stealthy exit.

  Ryder knew he got lucky. The gated housing development Parker Edgington lived in, incidentally called The Edge, didn’t want to allow him access initially when he drove up. Even flashing his private detective badge hadn’t worked. The guard manning the gate was good and he still wasn’t going to let Ryder in― until Afghanistan was casually brought up. Ryder couldn’t recall who mentioned the conflict first; but as soon as they talked about it, the guard, Matt, was his name instantly relaxed.

  “Been back long, Matt?”

  “It’s been a year already, but damned if I feel like I’m really back, yunno?”

&n
bsp; “I hear ya. It does take a while to get used to civilian life again.” Ryder grinned at the younger man. “Almost makes me want to get back out in the god-forsaken place where things were white and black. No colors in between.”

  Matt nodded somberly. “I hear ya, bro.” The two men bumped fists. “That gray can be hard to be around again. Like Moon Dust.” The guard chuckled. “Ha, don’t miss those T-mans or MREs, though.”

  “I hear ya, man.” Ryder shook Matt’s hand before he drove through the gates. After exchanging notes, he found out Matt served two tours. They thought that maybe they were both there at the same time, just different units.

  He flinched because he really hated using his time in the Army to gain him access for a personal gain. That was against Ranger code, but it was an innocent reference he tried to convince himself. It just came up.

  Slowing his Jeep, he leaned over his steering wheel while he checked the house numbers. These puppies were huge. Mansions; not houses. Ah, there it was. Plenty of lights on inside, and just like Sophia’s, it was a scumbag’s dream come true. The huge windows showcased the luxuries of the place. Ryder shook his head in disbelief. All a perp had to do was scale the walls of the gated community and boom. You could see everything from the street.

  Handpick what you wanted to steal. At least it was a secured neighborhood, he thought as he reached around to touch his baby in the back of his waist―his trusty firearm. Grinning, he admitted to himself that even if the Glock had a pair of lips, Amanda would easily win that bet, lips or no lips. No contest.

  After pulling his Jeep up along the sidewalk, he jumped out and jogged to the elaborate entrance. A massive glass front door tucked into a courtyard setting. He leaned in and pushed on the doorbell. Ah shit, he had on all black, not a very welcoming color. Oh well, he fingered his PI badge in his pants pocket, he could always whip this out, if Edgington gave him a hard time.