“One of the game players?” Jake looked at Marc and it was clear he was thinking the same thing as Marc.
“Does that mean something to the two of you?” London asked.
“It might.” Marc leaned forward and slid his legs off the edge of the bed. “London, I—”
A firm knock on the door saved him from fumbling for reassuring words. He hated seeing her so distraught. He turned to the motel room door as Jake stood behind him. Marc was aware of how stiffly his brother moved.
After paying for the pizza, Marc and Jake convinced London to have a slice. The conversation shifted as the three of them ate and chatted about anything not related to why they were here.
Jake was relaxed around London and flirted with her shamelessly. Marc would have been irritated if London didn’t so skillfully dodge every one of his brother’s advances. He imagined her avoiding many men coming on to her as she worked at the lodge, just as he had. The fact that she’d succumbed to his advances made him want to protect her even more, and do whatever it took to keep the smile on her face that was there right now. “Jake, you should see about getting another room before it gets much later,” Marc said as he placed the empty pizza box by the trash can.
“You’re kicking me out?” Jake looked mortally wounded.
“I told London I’d protect her. You think I’m going to let her sleep in the same room with you?” Marc glared at Jake, wanting a moment alone with London before they laid much more on her. He already guessed she needed reassurance that his learning her parents ran on the wrong side of the law didn’t change his feelings toward her. It was obvious just from knowing London for a couple weeks how law-abiding she was.
“Damn, kicked out of my own bed,” Jake mumbled, reaching for his shirt and taking his time easing into it.
“Seriously, guys,” London said, standing and looking concerned as she watched Jake struggle with his shirt. “I can get my own room.”
“No!” Marc and Jake said at the same time.
Marc stood as well and helped his brother finish dressing. “I know how to dress myself,” Jake muttered, his speech somewhat slurred.
“I know you can,” Marc said quietly, seeing how little fight his brother had in him. “Can I trust you to keep your paws off my girl while I go get a room for you?”
Jake met Marc’s gaze with a look of relief, although he managed one of his ridiculous-looking, crooked smiles. “I don’t know, man. She’s really hot.”
Marc pushed Jake’s uninjured shoulder and his brother fell helplessly onto the bed behind him, and sat without moving. He studied Jake for a moment.
“You got into the meds Mom stashed in the first-aid kit,” he accused, taking in his brother’s glazed-over expression.
“Getting shot hurts,” Jake said, scooting back on the bed and lying down. “Sorry, London darling, my big brother told me to keep my hands to myself. You’re going to have to make the first move.”
Marc rolled his eyes and turned to find London watching the two of them, her head tilted and a curious expression on her face.
“He probably won’t move,” Marc told her, then, because he couldn’t stop himself, moved over to kiss her. “I’ll be right back.”
After Marc helped Jake into his room, content his brother would sleep off the pain meds which were left over from when his father had been shot, he returned to London. He caught her standing in the middle of their motel room, scowling at the floor. In spite of her tormented expression, London was breathtakingly beautiful. Marc moved across the room, captivated by how her sweater hugged and showed off her full round breasts, and pulled her into his arms.
“It wasn’t easy to tell us about your parents,” he began.
“Would it have been for you?” She stiffened, pursing her lips when she looked up at him and searched his face.
“Were they crooks when you were growing up?” he asked, trying to keep his tone gentle.
“Yes. They have been all my life. And I don’t need sympathy over it.”
He imagined how hard it must have been for her. The more he ached to pull her into his arms, the more she seemed to resist.
“I’ve never told anyone about my parents. No one,” she stressed when a moment of silence had passed between them. “I’m sure I never would have told you if I didn’t have to. But as you can see from when you asked me earlier, our parents have nothing in common.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“What?” she gasped, her tone disbelieving.
“There’s got to be a common link,” he murmured, giving it some thought.
London looked up at him, studying his face with haunted dark eyes. Every move she made dripped with sensuality, yet he saw now how disparaged she looked. He fought the urge to pull her into his arms and whisper anything it took to relax her and assure her he didn’t think any less of her. Then he’d make love to her, taking his time to learn every detail of her hot sexy body.
“Why do you think our parents have something in common?” she asked. “Is it because your parents are so wonderful and mine were never around?” She sounded bitter.
Marc wouldn’t press about her childhood but ached to know more about her. He would soon with time. Patience would work in his favor more than pressing her to open up to him all at once.
“Have your parents ever been arrested?”
“Not that I know of, although apparently they’re on the most wanted list now.”
“I’m not so sure about that either, but we can check if you like.” He ran his hand down the sides of her hair, aching to take her to bed right now and make love to her until she cried out his name as she came harder than she ever had before. “But if they’ve been breaking the law all of your life and have never been caught, they are quite possibly the best in their field, just like my parents.”
London’s entire expression transformed as she looked up at him wide-eyed and broke out in laughter. She shook her head, holding her gut, and walked away from him. He had her trapped on that side of the bed so she walked the length of it, continuing to laugh and shake her head. When she faced him, her face was flushed.
“You’re really stretching it, aren’t you?” she asked, and again noticeably jumped when a clicking sound came from the door.
Jake opened the door with his key and walked in. “I left the first-aid kit in here,” he said, letting the door close on its own and headed to the bathroom. “Don’t mind me. Continue with your foreplay.”
Marc ignored him, giving London all of his attention when he walked into her and gave her a hug. “You’re beautiful when you laugh,” he whispered into her hair.
Jake came out of the bathroom fidgeting with the contents of the first-aid kit. Marc glanced Jake’s way, wishing his brother would go away. Jake looked like a giant five-year-old, pathetic, and not wanting to be alone.
“Marc thinks your parents and mine have something in common,” London said, leaving Marc’s arms and sitting on the end of the bed. “Can you guess what it is?”
“I’d say maybe they are both the best in their fields.” Jake was focused, his expression tight as he spoke. His eyes still looked doped, but he was obviously feeling the pain.
“Oh my God, you’re kidding me.” She started laughing again, and Marc caught Jake looking at her with appreciation.
Jake could drool over London all he wanted as long as that was all he did. When Marc told Jake as much with a look, Jake simply cocked an eyebrow at him. Marc would wipe that cocky stare right off Jake’s face if necessary, regardless of how much pain he was in.
“We’re serious,” Marc told her, sitting next to her and stroking her hair until she gave him her attention. “When we were down in Mexico last year chasing the son of a bitch who killed Mom’s boss, we ran into one of these game players.”
“What are you talking about?” London scowled at Marc, looked over at Jake, then heaved a sigh and stared in the mirror at both of them, possibly believing it was a way to appease both of th
em. “I don’t know if my parents were in Mexico, or not.”
She had no clue how damn sexy she looked.
“We don’t know if they were either. Mom’s boss disappeared, which started the hunt,” Marc explained, focusing on London’s finger when she tapped it against her lips. “We tracked him into Mexico.”
“Isn’t bounty hunting against the law in Mexico?”
“It’s illegal in every country in the world except here and the Philippines,” Jake offered.
London looked across the motel room at him, nodding.
“We were very careful,” Marc said, shooting Jake a hard look before London returned her attention to him. There wasn’t any reason to let her know they’d ended up in jail while down there because they were bounty hunters. The charges were dropped and they were behind bars less than twenty-four hours. He wasn’t going to let what he did for a living scare her away. “Some other people disappeared and while we were down there Dad was taken, too.”
“Taken?” She looked at Marc wide-eyed. “What do you mean, ‘taken’?”
“We were in this small village south of Tijuana in a dump of a motel room.” Jake jumped in to tell the story, his expression sobering as his tone dropped to a whispered drawl. “Marc and I were there first, scoping out the place. We were pretty sure we knew where our guy was, a well-known assassin named Marty Byrd.”
“Assassin?” London gasped, then began shaking her head. “You hunt down people like assassins?”
“One sadistic son of a bitch,” Jake said, nodding. “He was gathering up men that he felt were the best in their field to join him in a game of murder,” he continued. “We all knew he wanted Dad. When they came to our room, armed and dangerous, Dad let them capture him so he could get on the inside. We had to take the entire place down to get Dad back out of there. Marty Byrd was killed and so were almost all of his men.”
London let out a loud breath, giving herself a fierce shake that caused her long black hair to tumble over her shoulders and past her breasts. She arched her back while sitting cross-legged on the bed, grabbed her hair, and held it in a ponytail with her hands for a moment as she closed her eyes, letting it all sink in. Her breasts pressed against the pale pink knit sweater she had on. Marc watched her nipples harden enough to see them perfectly through the material. He shot a quick glance at Jake, knowing he was enjoying the view, too. Marc was more than ready for his brother to go call it a night in his own room. If London needed assurance that being a bounty hunter wasn’t a bad thing, Marc could handle it without help.
“So if this guy was killed, what does any of it have to do with what is going on now?” London turned to Marc, her confusion apparent when she frowned.
“Before he died he told our father he was gathering people to serve as players in a game he was playing.”
“I don’t understand. What kind of game? And you said he’s dead.”
“Dad compared it to a game of Risk,” Marc told her, watching her expression as he gave her a peek into his life. “He said Byrd, or The Bird, spelled B-I-R-D, as he was known in his circles, wanted Dad to become part of his team. He was building his players and preparing for an attack against other players in the game. We never found out more than that because he was killed.”
“Okay, let me see if I understand all of this.” London shifted on the bed, and her leg brushed against his. When he put his hand on her thigh, keeping her close, London shot him a look that for a moment didn’t look confused. Her eyes were bright with unleashed passion. “Some really bad guy decides he wants to play a board game, but instead of using game pieces, he decided to use people.”
“Exactly. As with any board game, there is more than one player. We suspected this all along, but everything got quiet after The Bird was killed. So now we think the rest of the players are organizing their game pieces once again.”
She snapped her fingers, smiling at him. “So that is what James Huxtable meant when he said he didn’t know which game player had my parents.” She looked down, rubbing her face with her hands.
“This is terrible. What kind of mess are my parents mixed up in?” she whispered, for a moment, her defenses down. London probably had years of training appearing strong for the world.
“I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “But we’re going to find out.” He caught her gaze and saw her unadulterated fear. Marc’s insides boiled to a rage that he fought to suppress for London’s sake.
He imagined her childhood might have been anything but normal. Regardless, she seemed to love her parents very much and their disappearance was affecting her more than she wanted him to see. Jake cleared his throat when a moment’s silence passed.
London jumped, then exhaled, diverting her gaze and turning as Jake spoke.
“I’m heading to bed.” He winked at London. “We’ll get our parents out of this mess,” he told her. “Don’t worry.”
Marc came up behind London and put his hands on her shoulders, feeling how tense she was. She slipped behind him when he walked his brother out of the motel room.
“Get a good night’s sleep,” Marc said, standing outside the door with London leaning against their motel room door watching him. He noticed she kept shooting wary glances at the dark parking lot, and was anxious to get her inside and take that worried look off her face.
“If I didn’t feel like I’d just been shot,” Jake said, his lazy drawl worse than usual, “I’d be damn jealous of you, having such a hot chick with you and me all alone.”
“I’m sure you’ll make up for lost time as soon as you’re up to it.” Marc sensed Jake was in more pain than he let on. The flesh wound looked clean when he’d cleaned it and Marc didn’t see any infection, but he knew a flesh wound like that could hurt like hell for days. “Holler at us when you wake up and we’ll do the same.”
“Night, Bro,” Jake mumbled, backing into his room and closing the door.
Marc walked into London when he entered their motel room. She latched her hands behind his neck when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him.
“Are you sure he’s okay?” she whispered, her complexion looking exceptionally creamy next to her black eyes and black hair.
“I’m more concerned about you,” Marc admitted. “Jake has pain meds and I’d say they’re kicking in pretty good right about now. He’ll be fine,” he told her, continuing to walk her backward until her legs pressed against the bed Jake hadn’t been sleeping on when they first arrived. “But if it makes you feel better, I have a key to his room. We can check on him if he doesn’t wake up when we do.”
She nodded once, chewing her lower lip. “Why are you worried about me? I’m fine.”
“You’re more than fine, sweetheart,” he drawled, hating how he sounded like his brother but wanting to reassure London that she was safe and always would be with him.
“I’m surprised you would say that after hearing about my parents.” London’s shame over her parents was eating her alive.
“You haven’t met my parents yet. I’m nothing like either one of them.”
“What? Are they both short and fat?” she teased, making a face at him.
“Mom is short but not fat. Dad is the same size as Jake and I.”
“Jake is taller than you are.”
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
She smiled, although her eyes didn’t glow as they usually did when she grinned. He knew she was tired. She had driven most of the way down here. But there was fear and pain lodged deep inside London that he’d never seen before today. Something told him it had been there a long time. Before telling him about her parents, Marc might have mistaken the dull haze that occasionally appeared in her eyes as wariness or uncertainty. London had left her life to join him in retrieving her parents. She wasn’t wary or uncertain, and her fear wasn’t of her surroundings, but of what he, or anyone, would think of her once they knew her history. Marc intended to do a background check on her parents as soon as he could.
In spite of what he learned, he also intended to do what it took to gain London’s trust.
When she edged around him, Marc let her go and moved to pull back the blankets on the bed, then arranged the pillows. More than anything he wanted to make love to London but wouldn’t push, at least not too much. It was more important that she learn with him she was safe.
“Take whichever side you want.” London waved at the bed as if the subject had been an issue.
She disappeared into the bathroom and came out wearing a long T-shirt that fell almost to her knees. She wasn’t wearing a bra and he’d bet there were no undies, either. Her choice of pajamas didn’t exactly say no sex, but he would still tread those waters carefully. He remained where he was, in between the two beds, and made little ceremony out of undressing. Although London paused and watched him, when Marc glanced up after stepping out of his jeans, she directed her gaze and moved to the head of her side of the bed.
Marc climbed into bed, opting to leave his boxers on, and held out his arm for her to crawl in next to him.
“It’s kind of interesting when you think about it,” she mused, sliding under the covers and leaning on her side, staring at him with her head resting against her pillow.
He assumed the same position, leaving the remote on the nightstand and rolled to his side so he faced her. “What’s that?” he asked, taking a strand of her hair and playing with it between his fingers.
“You grew up being the son of a cop and I grew up being the daughter of a crook.”
He moved his leg over hers, dragging her closer with the lower half of his body, and continued stroking her hair as he lifted his gaze to hers. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like,” he admitted, wanting her to open up to him and at the same time not completely sure what to say.
“Sometimes it really sucked.” She shrugged and stifled a yawn. “I never knew any different, though. There were times when I wished we would stay somewhere long enough for me to make friends and other times when I didn’t care.”
Get Lucky Page 19
