by Kylie Brant
The hot wet suction shot him straight to madness. One of his hands tangled in her hair, the other gripped one round globe of her bottom. He could feel the oxygen searing in his lungs as he fought for air, air that seemed steeped in her scent. Every breath he took he breathed her. Every beat of his heart sounded her name. Her tongue swirled along his length and with each wicked stroke she pushed him just a bit closer to the edge.
Hunger, only recently sated, leaped forth like a wildfire in his blood. Her ravenous mouth drove him to dangerous heights, heights he was unwilling to scale without her with him every step of the way. With a tug on her shoulders he urged her upward and he crushed her mouth with his. A moment later she was tearing away from him, rolling toward the nightstand, fumbling in the drawer for protection.
Her motions were swift and sure as she rolled the latex sheath over him, and his vision hazed as her fingers stayed to stroke, squeezing gently. Then she straddled him, taking his aching length inside her with one fluid move.
She shimmered over him, around him, the delicate pulsations of her inner muscles drawing him deeper. She held a moment, then another, as their bodies both trembled. In the dim moonlight her skin shone like alabaster. The air shimmered with promise.
Then she moved, slowly at first, spinning out the pleasure with each languorous stroke of her body over his. He skimmed his hands over her, the rounded shoulders, the long slender arms, the perfect breasts and narrow waist. Her neck arched, and a sigh shivered out of her.
Quicker now. Harder. Deeper. The pace she set fired an answering response in his system. He gripped her hips, countered each move she made with an upward lunge that drove him to her center. Every feeling, every sensation, was arrowed where they were joined, friction and heat. She arched her back, riding him, her movements growing wilder with each moment. He dragged his eyelids open, tried to focus. Every motion took her into a sliver of light, back into shadows, the contrast dizzying. Erotic. She set a punishing pace, which he met with every thrust of his hips as the merciless desire battered them.
He watched as the first peak hit her, the flush on her face, the shudders racking her body before his vision blurred. Unwilling to be left behind, he moved up inside her more fiercely, insistently until she crested again, flinging herself forward against him limply. Then with her hair curtaining his face, his hands gripping her hips, his own climax ripped through him. And as he leaped over that final precipice, her name was screaming through his mind.
Lucky drew the sheet more closely around her, then kept his arm around her waist to anchor her next to him. She lay spent and sleeping against him, and it was a curious pleasure to watch her.
In the first weeks after he’d met her, he’d entertained more than a few X-rated thoughts involving her naked and writhing. Then when he’d discovered more with her than he’d found with any other woman, he’d successfully, over time, tucked those mental images away.
Odd then, that the simple act of holding her, hearing the slight sound of her breathing, could be so satisfying.
He lay there, drowsy and contented, while the first layer of slumber hovered over him. Some tiny noise punctured that state, brought him wide awake again in a flash. Listening, he mentally cursed, then disengaged himself carefully from the woman by his side.
Padding downstairs, he searched in the dark for their clothes, managing to find his pants and drag them on. Then he stumbled to the door, flipped on the outside switch and used the peephole to see who would be calling on Jacey after midnight.
He opened the door to Vinny Tomsino, braced one hand against the jamb to bar his entrance. “Funny time for a visit.”
If he’d been in the mood he might have been amused by the shock that crossed the other man’s wide face, followed by a suspicious expression that was much more familiar.
“Boucher. I didn’t even know you were around these parts anymore.”
“What I’m wonderin’ is, what brings you around these parts.”
The other man craned his neck to look beyond him into the home. Then he looked back at Lucky and smirked, his gaze flicking over him. “Guess some things haven’t changed. You always did have a way with women. Even some of my most jaded girls ask about you from time to time.” He paused a beat, his eyes glinting in the darkness. “I always tell them you’re dead.”
“Wishful thinkin’ on your part, I expect.”
Lucky didn’t note many changes in the man. Maybe the wall of muscle had given just a bit more to fat, but he wouldn’t ever make the mistake of underestimating him. He could move like a snake when he chose, was just as quick and lethal. And his eyes wouldn’t change while he struck. They stayed expressionless whether he was eating a gourmet meal or beating a man to a battered, unrecognizable pulp. Lucky thought he probably still derived the same pleasure from both acts.
“I’ve got no beef with you, Boucher. Just go and get the lady and disappear while she and I have a discussion.”
Lucky swung his head slowly side to side. “Non. To get to her you have to go through me. I’m wonderin’ if you’re ready to do that.”
Vinny looked over his shoulder to where the long black stretch limo was idling at the curb. Lucky knew the driver would be armed. He always had been when he’d served in that capacity. He’d heard that the man had begun to travel with a couple of bodyguards, as well. Tomsino had no shortage of enemies.
“Listen.” Vinny turned back to face him. “This doesn’t concern you, but I’ll make it worth your while if you just find yourself another broad for the time being. I wouldn’t think this one was much your type, anyway.”
Something went cold and hard inside him while he watched Tomsino reach into his suit jacket to withdraw his wallet. It was the second time in as many days that someone had offered to buy him off, and the similarity burned.
“She’s not your type, either. This one’s got connections at the highest levels in the city, and even you can’t touch her without bringin’ all kinds of trouble down on yourself. Can your organization stand that kind of scrutiny these days?” When the man didn’t answer, he sensed he’d struck a chord. “Way I hear it, you can’t afford a distraction either. Not with Ramirez and Daily both itching to dismantle your operation and divide it up between them.”
Tomsino’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know about Ramirez and Daily?”
Folding his arms over his chest, Lucky leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb. The night air was cool but his skin was feverish, lit by a deadly grimness. “Word’s on the street. You’ve already got your hands full. You don’t need this kind of complication.”
“You’re the one complicating things, Boucher. And you’ve made an unfortunate choice.” The smile the man gave him was as sharp as a blade. “Tell the lady I’ll be back.”
Lucky watched until the limo had pulled away before he stepped back inside the house. He locked the door and made his way upstairs, with the man’s parting words echoing and re-echoing in his head. Tomsino didn’t make idle threats. He didn’t have to. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Jacey hadn’t seen the last of him. And he wasn’t quite sure yet just what he was going to do about that.
“Lucky?” Her drowsy voice held a note of uncertainty as he entered the bedroom. “I thought you’d left.”
“Non. I’m here, Boo.” He dropped his pants and slipped back into bed, sliding his arms around her warm form.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and shivered. “You’re cold. Where’d you go?”
“Out of my mind, with you, a little while ago.” Seeking to distract her, he brushed her mouth with hers. “Take me there again.”
But she reared back, studying his face in the shadows. “Lucky?”
He released a breath, sensing the inevitability of the upcoming scene. “You had a visitor.”
“At this hour? Who was it?”
“Tomsino.”
That news had brought her fully awake. He could feel it in the taut stillness of her body against his. “Wanting to cont
inue our earlier conversation, no doubt.”
“He’ll be back.” He didn’t fool himself that he’d done anything but delayed the unavoidable. But there were always ways out of any situation. He just needed time and cunning to think of the escape clause in this one.
“You’re right, he will be back. And when he is, you need to let me talk to him.”
It was that exact tone in her voice, he thought grimly, that exact thought that he’d wanted to avoid. “We discussed this earlier. I’ll handle Tomsino.”
“Actually, you talked, but you didn’t do a whole lot of listening. I think both are required to qualify it as a discussion. Lucky, think about it.” She faced him in the near darkness, her head propped on her hand. “I’ve considered it and I’m still glad I all but told him to go to hell. I think it makes things look more realistic when I eventually agree to cooperate. It’s the only option that will allow us to continue our investigation.”
There was admiration coursing through him, even as he rejected her proposal. “I know what you’re thinkin’. But you can’t string along a man like that. It’s too dangerous. I’m not going to let him get within ten yards of you.”
She sat up in bed, the sheet falling to her waist. “You don’t allow me to do anything, remember? I make my own choices.”
The sliver of moonlight slanted across her chest, gilding one breast, leaving the other in shadow. Because he found the sight too distracting, he tugged the sheet up and tucked the edge beneath her arm. “It’s a dangerous game you’re suggestin’, with an equally dangerous man. We could try to run an endplay around him, only to find ourselves caught in our own trap.”
“You have a devious mind. You’ll think of something.” The quiet certainty in her voice stunned him, and sent a tide of warmth coursing through his chest. “In the meantime, we have to protect the integrity of the case. I can’t fail J. Walter. This development just shows how high the stakes really are for him.”
“Tomsino won’t be easy to fool,” he said, acceptance spreading through him. He was past the stage of rejecting, violently, the thought of her becoming embroiled with the man. She already was involved. Now he had to figure out a way around that. “I know him well enough to be certain of it.”
“Yes, you said you knew him.”
He waited tensely, but she didn’t go on. The silence hummed and vibrated between them. And perhaps because she didn’t demand answers, didn’t even seem to expect them, he found himself offering her some. “I’ve worked plenty of jobs since leavin’ the bayou. Some didn’t pay enough to make rent. The ones that paid better required a certain…willingness to overlook legal niceties.” If he was skirting wide of the truth of the matter, it was habit. But he didn’t doubt that she read between the wide lines of what he wasn’t saying.
He rolled to his side, tried to see her eyes. He wanted to watch her expression when he said what he had to say. “I’d worked for small-timers before, low level wise guys, but Tomsino is several cuts above them, at least in terms of the size of his operation and his success.”
“Why did you decide to leave him?”
Her question hung in the air, circling close to the one thing he didn’t want to reveal to her at all. He’d still been working for Tomsino when his cousine Luella had given his name to Charlotte Wheeler after she’d asked for the name of a man who got results and wasn’t all that concerned about who he hurt in the process.
“I’ve never been an angel, but when you balance long enough on the edge between good and bad, it’s only a matter of time before somethin’ nudges you over to one side or the other.” It had been a long long time before he’d realized that by sticking with Wheeler and Associates and getting his license, he’d leaped free of that tightwire. He didn’t recall having made a conscious choice at all. It was just something that had happened.
“You didn’t have a record. Not even a traffic ticket. And believe me, I checked.” Her tone was wry. “Of course, I didn’t exactly find any merit badges, either.”
He’d known she would have run a check, of course. In her line of work, it was a given. But it pleased him nonetheless. Even then, Jacey had been thorough and meticulous in her work. “I was no Boy Scout, but it wasn’t for lack of being prepared.” He tugged on her hand and pulled her sideways, so she toppled on him. His arm came out to clasp her waist to hold her there.
But when his fingers roamed down to the sexy curve of her butt, she slapped a hand on his chest and straightened a little to look at him. “I have to contact J. Walter to let him know what’s going on first thing in the morning.”
His hand stilled. He knew she was right. But the resignation that accompanied the realization did nothing to dispel his very real concern for her safety. “I know.”
“One of the Garveys is the connection to Tomsino.” She settled herself more comfortably against his chest as she mused. “We’ll have to follow that link to fully discredit that member of the family.”
“Tomsino will be givin’ you part of that information the next time he contacts you.”
She nodded. “Running a double investigation is going to require contracting with more outside operatives than usual. Tomsino will be watching us, but he won’t know what the other employees are up to. Hopefully that will help us take him by surprise.”
“Lianna Wharton was the first to come to you, so it’s obvious she had the same information as Tomsino regarding the old man’s health and your involvement. We already know about her son’s drug background. That in itself could be the link. Maybe he was somehow working for Tomsino while he was in college.” Although Lucky had never been involved in that aspect of the man’s operation, he knew he was a major supplier in the area. “The kid might even be hooked himself, and Tomsino got to his mother through blackmail or the promise of treatment, or somethin’.”
“She could afford treatment for him, and from my brief meeting, I’d say blackmail is more his style. He didn’t come off as very altruistic.”
That was an understatement. “Then there’s Stephen. A stockbroker could be pretty useful to a guy who has money to launder. Wonder if we could get our hands on his client list.”
It didn’t seem strange at all to be holding a beautiful naked woman in his arms and be discussing investigative techniques. Which should be enough to scare the hell out of him.
“Given Amanda’s history with men, she might be an easy mark for someone like Tomsino, too.” The possibilities there were endless. “Even Rupert could be used, either because of fear for one of his children, or because of an indiscretion of his own.”
Jacey raised herself up on one elbow. “So basically, the only Garvey we haven’t incriminated yet is Mark.”
“Give us time, darlin’.” Her position drew the hollow of her collarbone into sharp relief, and his lips went to explore it.
“I’m not sure how much time we have left. What day is it?”
“Tuesday. No, wait. Wednesday.”
“We just got a break. Wednesday mornings are trash pickup days in Mark Garvey’s neighborhood. I discovered that when I called a Realtor with a house for sale in the area.”
“Oui, that is incredible good fortune.” Irony was rife in his voice. “Given the choice between makin’ love and wadin’ through someone’s trash, I would choose Dumpster-divin’, everytime.”
Her hand slid down his chest, a long smooth stroke, and then lingered lower. “How about if I promise to let you wash my back after we’re done?”
“Never let it be said that I refused to compromise.” She bounded from the bed with a bit more eagerness than he would expect, given the chore they had before them. Lucky followed more slowly. He knew she was jazzed by the thought of beginning her plan for double-crossing Tomsino, no matter how small the start. He was reluctant to reveal the worry that was growing in his gut.
They still had to find a way to accomplish the task and live long enough to tell about it.
Chapter 11
Jacey had left Lucky to the unenv
iable task of sorting through Mark Garvey’s garbage while she’d gotten dressed and gone in to the office. She’d wanted to set up the meeting with J. Walter as soon as possible. That didn’t mean, however, that she hadn’t taken the time to follow through on her promise to Lucky. A smile curved her lips as she thought of their interlude in the shower. She’d always believed in keeping her word, but rarely was such virtue so well-rewarded.
She waited until getting to the office to call Garvey on a secure cell phone she kept there. After setting up a meeting time for an hour later, she went to the rental agency and exchanged her rental car. She picked J. Walter up on the corner of the block where his building was located.
The man got into the car and after a terse greeting, strapped himself in. “What’s this new development you indicated on the phone? Sounded like trouble to me.”
“Well, it’s a complication.” Jacey checked for traffic before pulling away from the curb. She filled him in on the latest developments, including having Tomsino approach her with his demand.
When she’d finished, the older man cursed, then immediately apologized. She shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about offending me. Believe me, I’ve thought worse since my meeting with him.”
“From the sounds of him, he’s no different from any number of thugs I’ve met over the years, trying to muscle in on someone else’s hard work.” He gave her a sharp look from beneath white bristly brows. “Slapping fancy suits and titles on those guys doesn’t make them any better than this Tomsino you’re talking about. I know the type.”
She slowed, turned the corner. “I’m sure you do. And you’re right, he’s a thug. But I have it on very good authority that he’s a dangerous one. I have a plan in mind for how to proceed, but I needed to check with you first to get your input. He’s obviously got some connection to a member of your family, and is hoping to parlay that into influence in your company.”
