She raised her head and met him halfway.
Kat felt his smile against her lips. This kiss was different than the first two, and yet she could have sworn in that first instant of wet heat that she could taste all three men on her tongue at the same time.
Different looks, different flavors, different styles, and yet each man’s kiss rocked her world. Wesley’s voracious eating of her mouth stunned her, wooed her, and made her head spin.
Then it was over, and she was left bereft. They’d addicted her just that quickly and now they were stepping back.
She stood cocooned in the midst of the three hottest men she’d even known, and though her mind told her she should be, at the very least, leery, she felt...safe. Secure. Cherished.
“Please drive carefully.” Paul ran his hand down her back.
“I always do.”
All three were smiling, not a sign of jealousy between them. She met each of their gazes in turn. “I’ll let you know when I get to my hotel.”
“Good enough.” Paul opened her door. She got into the car, put on her seat belt, and was secretly pleased when she didn’t fumble the key into the ignition.
They stood back as she eased the car away from the curb. Kat headed north, toward US 84, a smile on her face when she realized they hadn’t moved from where she left them. And then the road curved, and they were out of sight.
But they won’t be out of mind. No, she imagined they’d follow her into sleep tonight.
* * * *
Paul really enjoyed the times when his brothers and Carol and his sister, Nancy, and her husbands, Eli and Jeremiah, sat around the family dinner table with them—eating and chatting and joking.
But he treasured the nights like this one, when he and his womb mates had their parents all to themselves.
They’d stayed away too long. The three of them had discussed it, of course, several times since they’d arrived home for the holidays. As they moved around the large house they’d had built not far from their cousin Gord’s home just outside of the town proper, reacquainting themselves with the space and the amenities, they realized that part of the reason they’d felt so fed up, so drained before they’d arrived, was that it had been too long between visits.
Fuck, we’d been gone for years.
“Craig and I are both sorry we didn’t get to meet Katrina.” Jackson sat back from his plate and met Paul’s gaze. “Your mother tells us she seemed very nice.”
Paul grinned. “I don’t know if ‘nice’ is the adjective I’d use to describe Kat.” He was fair skinned enough that sometimes he blushed. Just a look at both his dads told him he was doing so now and that they thought it was hilarious.
“You’re all three wordsmiths,” Craig said. “So what would be the adjectives you’d use?”
Paul had to fight back the urge to say the first words that came to his mind. Hot, sexy, delicious—they all described Katrina Lawson. Her long blonde hair, gray eyes, and lithe figure inspired those descriptors and more. But none of those words needed to be shared with his parents. “Cautious.” That much was true.
“Frighteningly brave,” Wesley said.
“Fragile.”
Lucas’s contribution made his parents share a moment of Zen—what he and his siblings had always called those moments when they looked at each other and stepped into a world of their own. If he wrote sci-fi, Paul would say an invisible bubble of privacy descended upon them, allowing them to communicate without anyone else in the room being the wiser.
“I do believe you know her better than you think you do,” his mother said.
“But not as well as we’re going to know her.” Paul didn’t even think of censoring that thought. He’d never be able to fool his parents.
“No, of course not. You are, after all, your fathers’ sons. And mine. You’re my sons, too.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Samantha called. She’s planning an engagement party for Jacqui, Will, and Norman. Two weeks from now, on Friday.” She smiled. “Will you stay for that?”
“Of course. We promised you to the middle of February, Mom.”
“I appreciate your desire to keep your word. I didn’t want to take that for granted in this instance, as some things are more immediate than spending time with your mother.”
Since he was sitting next to her on her right, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “That’s where you’re wrong, especially in this instance. Spending time with you is important to us.”
“We needed to come home,” Lucas said. “We needed to get grounded again. To be a part of Lusty again.”
“Life in Lotus Land can chew you up and spit you out. We were very close to the breaking point—all three of us were.” Wesley sighed.
“You came home to recover from the world and, I suspect, something you believed about your Kat.” His mother tilted her head to the side. “And against all odds, your Kat found you here anyway.”
“That’s pretty strong juju,” Craig said.
“It is.” Paul looked to his brothers. None of them were surprised that their parents had come to the same conclusion as they had. “So we will be heading back to the Coast. We knew we had to when we arrived. Shooting on our latest project was interrupted when the director had that appendicitis attack. There’re only a few scenes left to go, and the producers decided to wait for him rather than have the assistant director finish for him.”
“The personal touch of the independent filmmakers,” Lucas said. “Of course, add in the fact that Tara Michelle wanted the holiday season off from the arduous work of...um...working.”
“She’s quite a big star, isn’t she?” Jackson raised one eyebrow. Then he lowered his voice. “I hear she’s a bit of a diva on the set.”
“You have no idea.” Wesley closed his eyes, his action seeming to underscore the suffering evident in his voice.
None of them could stand the whiny ways of the big star. But because she was a big star, the producers and the director—a team just beginning to finally realize their dreams—were willing to do almost anything to keep her happy.
Paul saw the smiles his parents tried to hide. There was one thing they wanted to make sure was understood. As their spokesman—as the oldest—it was on him to say it.
“So, yes, we have to finish the project, and, yes, we need to be where Kat is. We need to know if...” For once he couldn’t come up with the right words.
“You need to know if she’s the one.” Anna Jessop met his gaze, and he knew they were having a little Zen moment of their own.
“Yes, we need to know if she’s the one.”
“Then, of course, you have to go. It’s been wonderful having you home.”
“Mother, we won’t stay away so long again. That’s a promise we all three are making right now. We shouldn’t have stayed away as long as we did. It nearly wrecked us. We need our parents, the rest of our family, and our town. Y’all are our touchstones. We won’t make that mistake again.”
His mother looked at her husbands, and then she laid her hand on his. “My darling sons.” She looked at Lucas and Wes and then him. “We are always going to be here for you. And if you need us, all you have to do is call. We can fly to Los Angeles, or wherever you are, at a moment’s notice. You know that. Maybe you just needed to be reminded of it.”
There had been a time, when they got that first sale and headed off to make their mark in the land of movies, that he and his brothers were determined to prove they were adults who didn’t need their parents any longer.
Now they really were adults and understood that, in one way or another, they would need their parents for the rest of their lives.
“I made pecan pie,” Anna said.
Wise words and pecan pie. There’s no place like home.
“Is there ice cream?” Lucas asked.
“There’s always ice cream with pecan pie at this table,” Jackson said.
And that, Paul thought, really said it all.
Chapter 3
The little prick thought he could thumb his nose at the law and then hide in plain sight? I don’t think so.
Kat felt that familiar tingle, her instincts telling her that she was nearly there. She’d tracked Paolo Luna back to South LA Despite the fact that she’d lived in the city for most of her life, there were areas she didn’t know that well, areas she was usually smarter than to travel into.
South LA was at the top of that list. Though things had improved in this neighborhood in the last several years, walking the streets here still was not without a hell of a lot of risk.
Paolo Luna had not only skipped his court appearance, stiffing Manny Jones, the bail bondsman who’d put up the cash to keep him out of jail, but there was also a new warrant out for his arrest. He was suspected of having taken part in a drive-by shooting a couple of weeks before. The victim, a member of a rival gang, had very recently died, so that made dealing with Luna—getting him arrested and in line to receive the lash of justice—all that more vital to the authorities.
The last thing any of the cops wanted in the City of Angels was for a gang war to erupt.
The reward offered for Luna was above and beyond what Manny offered because of the murder charge. The total recovery bounty was now into five figures, so Kat decided to go after the little bastard and take that reward for herself.
The only other two bounties that had interested her had both been out of state. Kat wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d given them a miss specifically because the brothers Jessop were back in town.
They were going to have dinner together again tonight—the third time in the last week. Only tonight, they were cooking for her at their place in Malibu Canyon. They’d already eaten out at a couple of restaurants, but they were, all four of them, ready for some alone time. It was easier to have a one-on-three conversation when there was no chance of being overheard.
Kat took her thoughts off those three very sexy alpha males and returned them to the situation at hand. Earlier, she’d put her hair into a ponytail and stuck the end out of the back of her ball cap. Now she pulled the cap down low and hunched her shoulders. She blanked the emotion from her face and made her expression go hard. She had a talent for blending in, and the don’t-fuck-with-me vibe she exuded proclaimed her a denizen of this part of the city, a woman who had hard edges and a harder will.
And there, just ahead, leaning against the side of a small convenience store, trying to look macho as he scanned the area for cops, slouched Paolo Luna.
He was chatting with just one man—another wimpy-looking loser, a skinny guy with a pointed nose who reminded her of a weasel. She took a moment to study this second man. The weasel looks like he’ll bolt as soon as I start in on Paolo.
The sidewalk wasn’t particularly busy, another plus for her. She hoped she’d get close enough to the little prick that she could take him down, and cuff him, before he knew what was happening. But the chance always existed that he’d rabbit—or pull a knife or a gun.
Just because he was only on the fringe of the gang didn’t mean he wasn’t as dangerous as any other thug. And just because he wasn’t very big didn’t mean he wouldn’t put up a bigger fight than the largest dude she’d ever tackled.
Her biggest fear had been that his gang brothers and sisters would step in to help him. But the word she got on the little bastard late last night was that not even his compatriots liked him very much.
She closed the distance between them, not looking directly at him until she was within a dozen feet. And then she risked a look, a final check.
Unfortunately, at that moment, he looked her way, and their gazes locked. He not only saw her he made her and took off at a dead run.
Kat reacted immediately, the chase slamming her into the zone where everything around her receded and yet sharpened. She was completely there, running, thinking ahead, watching out for surprise abettors—she was in the very heart of the job she loved. Her legs and arms pumped, and here she had the advantage on the fugitive because she hadn’t consumed copious amounts of booze and drugs in the last few years. She lived clean, and the difference gave her an edge. She judged the distance, noticed that every time he looked back at her she’d gained on him, and she kept up a punishing pace. And then Kat reached that moment—the moment she knew she was within striking distance. Not thinking, she timed it perfectly, leapt, and landed on one hundred and thirty pounds of scared, half drugged up wanted fugitive.
“Get off me, bitch cop! I’m gonna beat the crap out of you. My bros are going to beat the crap out of you!”
Your bros aren’t here, asshole. Kat didn’t see the need to argue with him aloud. She saved her breath and focused on getting him cuffed. He swung wildly, narrowly missing connecting with her face. Kat shifted, jammed her knee in the middle of his back, and bore down. He screamed in pain, and she pulled out her hardware.
The snap of her handcuffs around the little bugger’s wrists was a truly wonderful sound.
She took a moment to fish her badge out of her pocket and clip it on her jeans, over her right hip. Then she girded her loins, got off the profanity-spewing man, and picked him up off the sidewalk. It took every bit of energy she had to perp-walk him the two blocks back to her SUV. Not only was the weasel her perp had been chatting with not in sight, it was as if this part of south LA had suddenly become a ghost town. But she didn’t trust that. She knew she had only a few seconds at best. Pinning Luna between her body and her vehicle, she pulled out her keys, unlocked the truck, and opened the back door.
She’d had a metal grill custom made for her truck that she could put in place and remove—handy for those times when one went trolling for fugitives.
Kat had a second set of cuffs waiting, allowing her to lock his cuffed hands in place so he couldn’t jump out at a red light. Then she snapped the seat belt around him. He’d glanced down at her badge and then got a smirk on his face. He stopped fighting her, which was good, but the smirk on his face just raised her hackles.
“Am I under arrest, bitch cop?”
“What do you think?” She shut the door and then got into the driver’s side. She didn’t breathe easy until she’d pulled away from the curb. The dicey part was over. Now she could focus on delivering her somewhat hot package. Traffic was never good in the city. It took her about twenty minutes to make her way over to the 77th police station.
Luna remained not only quiet but downright chipper—so chipper he whistled. His expression bordered on the smug as she opened the back door, unsnapped the in-car restraints, and eased him onto the sidewalk. She thought for certain he’d make a break for it then, and she was ready for it, but damned if he wasn’t absolutely co-operative.
Inside the building, she went right up to a cop she recognized, Sergeant Bill Connors. Connors, a friend of her dad’s, appeared to be on the desk, even if he wasn’t sitting at it at the moment. It was nearing change of shift, so the activity level at the division was high.
“Hey, Kat. Whatcha got there?”
“Paolo Luna. Skipped bail, there’s a bench warrant for a missed court date, and—”
“And a murder warrant, too. Fuck me, woman. You found him when we couldn’t?” He grinned. “You do have a way about you, that’s for sure. Hey, Pete!” Connors called to another officer, one Kat hadn’t met.
Kat handed the paperwork over to Connors, glad she was nearly done with Luna.
The young officer approached, his eyes all on the handcuffed man. Pete whoever he is might be young, but he’s all cop.
“Kat Lawson, meet Pete Roberts. Pete, take this gentleman off the lady’s hands, will you? Arrest him. You’ll find there’s a warrant in the system. Name’s Paolo Luna.”
Luna chuckled. “You have to let me go. Bitch cop here didn’t give me my Miranda. That’s against my constitutional rights.”
“Ah, Paolo, is that why you were being all genteel and polite and whistling in the back of my truck? You thought I screwed up?” Kat had put an oh-gee singsong quality in he
r voice. Connors just chuckled while Pete took possession of the prisoner.
“You did screw up, bitch cop.”
“You want to tell him, or should I?” Connors asked.
“Ah, go ahead. You look like you could use some fun, Bill.”
Connors nodded toward Kat. “She’s a bounty hunter, not a cop. When you signed the paperwork that got you out on bail thanks to...” He paused to read one of the papers Kat had handed him. “Thanks to Mr. Manny Jones, you agreed that she could scoop you, no fuss, no muss, no Miranda, if you skipped. My friend, you skipped. She scooped. End of story.”
“No way! No fucking way! She’s got a badge, right there on her pants. You’re shitting me. She’s a cop!”
“Too bad you can’t read,” Pete said. “Her badge says Fugitive Recovery Agent.” Pete grinned. “You’re the fugitive, and she recovered you.”
Paolo began to struggle in earnest then, but Pete had a good hold of him. He nodded at Kat and then led Luna away.
She could hear his constant stream of profanity until it was cut off by the loud bang of a door closing as Pete took Paolo toward the holding cells. He’d be transferred later to the Metropolitan Detention Center. Either place, he was no longer her responsibility.
Bill Connors shook his head. “Kids these days.” He led the way to the desk and then put his attention on her paperwork. A few minutes later he returned her copies.
“Thanks.” Her gaze slid to the clock on the wall. “Damn, I have to go, or I’m going to be late.”
“A hot date?” Bill smirked.
Kat knew he was yanking her chain. She didn’t mind. She grinned and then raised her eyebrows in a wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of way. “I certainly hope it’s hot.”
“Good for you. You don’t have enough fun in your life, Katrina Lawson.”
“I don’t need a lot.”
The older man just chuckled and shook his head. “Give my best to your folks, Kat.”
Love Under Three Valentinos [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3
