Her cabbie shoved the stick into park. “For you, anything. You take all the time to think and wait. I wait with you.”
She wiped the condensation from her breath off the passenger window, wishing that blonde, who was very probably Nicole, would move to the left so she could see the look on Tucker’s face better. Of course, the woman didn’t, but the few seconds more of watching gave Melissa time to think. If Tucker had Deuce, Isaiah was nearby, maybe in the same hotel room. “Do you have a cell phone I could borrow? I need to make a call.”
Her cabbie turned around. “My name Jacob Giang. What is your name?”
She gulped at her rudeness. “I am Melissa McCormack,” she said contritely. “Please excuse my ignorance.”
He handed an older-style flip-phone over the back of the seat. “Do you know how to make a call in my country?”
“No, I... don’t.” She glanced at the hotel. “But do you see that man standing there? I need to call that room. I’m looking for a man named Isaiah Zaroyin. Can you place the call for me?”
Jacob smiled. “Yes, I can. For you.”
She clung to the back of the front seat while he placed the call and chatted with the front desk in his language. He paused and waited, then asked in English, “Excuse me, sir, but are you Mr. Isaiah Zaroyin?” With a smile, he handed the phone over.
Melissa pressed it to her ear. “Isaiah?”
“Who’s this? Melissa? Oh my God, what are you doing here?”
“Never mind.” She smiled at the surprise in his tone. “I’m outside the hotel. Is that Nicole talking with Tucker? Can you hear what they’re saying? Do you know?”
He blew out a slow hiss. “Umm, yeah. She showed up a few minutes ago. She’s trying to blackmail him into killing her current husband in exchange for Deuce’s safe passage out of the country.”
“She’s what?” Melissa’s righteous rage boiled over. “That bitch.”
“You’ve got that right. I can’t for the life of me figure what Tucker ever saw in her, but he’s getting a tough lesson in paybacks right now.”
“He’s not considering her offer, is he?” The question blurted out of Melissa’s big mouth. “Never mind. I know that answer. Sorry, Isaiah. I was just a little stressed when I thought they were kissing.”
“Tucker, kiss that?” The shock in Isaiah’s tone made Melissa smile. “He might not be the brightest guy in the world, but he’s a helluva lot smarter than to kiss a skank like Nicole. Sorry for the language, ma’am.”
Melissa squeezed her eyes before she burst into tears of relief, so thankful for Alex and that darned smart word of his. “I’m coming in, Isaiah. Please put a pot of coffee on. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Yes, ma’am.” It was hard not to miss the respect in Isaiah’s quick response.
With a deep breath, she handed the phone back to the honorable Jacob Giang. “Thank you so much for helping me. May I enlist your services for the rest of the day?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Holy shit. I’m dead. Tucker’s heart lurched up his throat. His lungs failed, as in flat stopped sucking in air molecules. He wanted to die. Straight ahead at his twelve o-clock walked the woman of his dreams. Make that strutted. No, make that marched. And there he stood, chatting with the other woman—his ex.
Miss Melissa McCormack had her swagger on, a funny lift to her chin and a cocky tilt to her head, but he couldn’t miss the hellfire sparking in her eyes. She didn’t look happy. Dressed in boots and jeans, not her usual classy get-up, she took long, determined strides, her sumptuous hips swaying like a sexy predator on the hunt. A lioness. With her head tossed high and her long blonde hair streaming behind her, she licked her lips like she needed to kill something. Like him.
He couldn’t force a swallow down his dry-as-hell throat. No woman would ever believe he hadn’t just kissed Nicole, not the way she’d been all over him. His heart fluttered to a dead stop, but he met Melissa’s steely-eyed glare. She didn’t bat an eye. I am so dead.
Death was coming for him in the sweet, sexy—and very deadly gaze of his all-American girl. His nostrils flared to draw in the sultry scent of apples and cinnamon on the breeze. He ran the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip remembering the taste of her silkiest skin. The night of unbridled passion when she’d given herself to him. All the things he’d never have again. His one good eye watered at all he stood to lose.
Damn it. Why now? Why here?
“Relax big guy.” Isaiah quietly chuckled. “Melissa knows what’s going on. She’s not here to kill you, but your ex ought to run for her life. I keep getting impressions of ‘He’s mine, bitch’ from Melissa—or something like that.”
Tucker ran a quick hand over his weary eyes, wishing this face-off could happen when he felt better. “Isn’t she supposed to be with Mark? What’s she doing here?”
“She’s here because she’s loaded for bear, and she loves you, dumb-ass.”
Oh yeah. That. “Hi babe,” Tucker muttered, his eyes set on the real woman in his life. The one who could hurt him.
“Tuck!” Melissa stepped between him and Nicole, brushing his nasty ex out of her way while she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him in tight and close, so damned... hot. She planted her wet lips on his mouth, and wow. He wrapped both arms around her, staggering back to catch his balance. That kiss would’ve fogged up his digital lens if it still worked.
He plastered his ass solidly to the doorframe, his fingers tunneled in her beautiful, sweet-smelling hair, his heart on fire for whatever she had in mind next. The fresh taste of her minty mouth brought him back to life. She trusted him. She loved him. He was going to live. His energy level spiked. A couple other tired body parts spiked, too.
He took over the kiss, groaning into her deliciously hot mouth, tangling his tongue with hers and not having to beg for it. She opened and gave back as good as he gave her. His heart swelled in his chest at the incredibly strong-willed woman in his arms. The right woman. The only woman.
Some witch whined and huffed and tapped her pointed shoes in the background, but honestly? Who gave a rat’s ass what Nicole thought? Not Tucker, and by the sounds of his boy’s ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs,’ Deuce didn’t mind meeting his soon-to-be stepmother, either.
After a few more nibbles and downright tonguing each other—if that was even a word—Tucker eased back enough to really look at the courageous woman in his arms. The deep blue eyes. The pride. The swollen wet lips. Yeah, her. Jealousy looked good on Melissa.
“Hi there,” he purred. Somehow, when she was in his arms like this, with her breasts flattened against his chest and her arms wrapped possessively around his neck, all was right with the world.
“Hi there, yourself,” she breathed, her fingers combing around his ear to his neck before they came to rest on his shoulder. “I missed you, Tuck. I’m sorry if I surprised you by showing up unannounced like this, but I knew you were still in town, so I had to run right over.”
The fibber. He could read it in her eyes. She meant for Nicole to know right where she stood, and it was six feet behind her, those big boobs of hers smashed under her crossed arms and her snazzy toes tapping. Like anybody cared.
Melissa tossed her head at the witch in question, her gaze dropping to those expensively clad toes. “Who’s this? The maid?”
Tucker couldn’t suppress a smile at Melissa’s cute catty side. The woman had her claws unsheathed and her tail twitching. “She’s no one important.” God, he’d wanted to say that to Nicole’s face for years.
Melissa’s brows arched, more mischief glittering in her pretty blues than Tucker imagined was possible. “Was she fun times?” she egged him on, and damn. After that remark, she deserved what she had coming.
He didn’t think twice, just lowered his palm to her ass and gave it a solid slap. “You know better than that, babe. You’re my only fun times, good times, all-day-long times.”
He loved that her breath caught with that single spank, and that s
omething playfully naughty came to life in her eyes, something he seriously wanted to explore if they ever had one moment of privacy. And thick soundproof walls. Maybe a bottle of wine. A tub of honey. Slick, sweet chocolate. And a paddle for that sweet ass cupped in his hands. It seemed good little Melissa had an impishly rowdy side that might need a little hands-on attention after her self-imposed abstinence.
“Easy boy.” Isaiah snickered. “You’re killing me with all this erotica.”
“Get out of my head,” Tucker bellowed—as much as a guy could bellow a thought.
“Oooo, Tuck.” Melissa rubbed her nose against his scruffy cheek, her eyes closed. “Do that again.”
“Ahem,” Isaiah just kept interfering. “Will you two stop acting like horny teenagers in front of your son? You’re embarrassing him. He’s only twelve.”
“He’s eleven.” Tucker tossed a wink at Deuce, his hand still on Melissa’s ass. The kid might as well get used to it, because his old man wasn’t going to change. “Son, this is Melissa. She’s going to be my wife. My real wife. Melissa. Deuce. My kid and my best man.”
God—those words. My wife. My kid. They made a man proud was what they did.
“Excuse me, Tucker,” Nicole grated out, like fingernails on a dry chalkboard. “Aren’t you listening to me?”
Tucker tugged Melissa under his arm and faced the troll who’d made his son’s life a mess. All at once, he didn’t feel so crapped on. He had everything he’d ever wanted, and she had Vinnie and his boys and his mother.
He stared his ex down. “I already said all I’ve got to say on the subject. I’m not a gun for hire. I don’t kill people to make you happy, and I won’t run from you one more day. Neither will my son, you hear that, Nicki?” he threw a depth of sarcasm into his once-upon-a-time nickname for her. “Deuce is my son. My boy. I’ve got enough evidence to put you away for life. Now beat it.”
Tucker shot a quick question to Isaiah. “I do, don’t I?”
“Yes, sir, you do. Not only do you have the video downloaded from the mini-cams at the factory, but I’ve been recording everything she’s said since she showed up. You’ve got her cold.”
Tucker blew out a deep breath of relief. Once again, Isaiah had him covered. “Hit the road, Nicole. Take your Mercedes and get your uppity ass off my doorstep. I’ve got a life to live, and you’re not in it.”
“And just so we’re clear on this, Mrs. Nguyễn,” Melissa patted Tucker’s chest, her fingers splayed over his heart, but a definite hiss to her tone. “This man is mine. You’d be smart to keep your hands off of him from now on.”
“But Tuck...” Nicole glowered, shooting daggers at him while she ignored Melissa, her lips pinched into a stern pout as if she could will him to do what she wanted. That would’ve worked back when he was young and dumb, running on testosterone instead of brains. Not today.
He meant to wave her off, but Deuce beat him to it. “Mom,” Deuce said, his hands on his hips. “Grow up, why don’t you?”
Nicole stamped her foot. “Shut up, Devlin. I’m talking to your father.”
“My name is Deuce,” Tucker’s boy declared loudly and proudly, pointing at his chin like he needed to make sure his mother knew who he was. “Why don’t you go tell your lies to that Vinnie creep you let slap me around, huh?”
Tucker lowered one hand from Melissa’s soft body to shackle his son’s wrist before the kid got carried away and hit his mother. A smile breached his lips. There he was, holding back the two people he loved more than anything in his world, keeping them from charging to his rescue. Somehow, it didn’t get any better than those two declarations of loyalty. Nicole’s reign was finally ending.
She must’ve sensed it too. Her upper lip curled. Something deadly sparked deep and dark beneath those thick, fake eyelashes. “You’ll both be sorry.”
Melissa took Tucker to bed—as in, she collapsed with him on the turned-down bed, the one nearest the door. The man wasn’t well, his skin damp with the humidity of the day, and his body burning with fever. “You’re sick.”
“Nah, I’ve never felt better.” He eased her on top of him, one hand at the back of her head. “Turn up the AC. I’ll be fine. You’re quite the jealous cat, aren’t you?”
She couldn’t help but growl. “That ex of yours has a lot of nerve. If she’d come one step closer, I would’ve decked her. I mean it.”
“Come here, babe.”
She didn’t resist until he’d satisfied himself with another long, wet kiss. Then she pushed away from his prehensile lips. “You are too sick, and your son’s watching. Let me up.”
He grumbled but released her. “He’s a big boy. He can handle it, but yeah. I guess. Been out of it the last couple days.”
She pushed up on one elbow, still hovering over him as she traced a finger along his brow, pushing his unruly hair out of his eyes and smoothing it back to where it belonged. “What happened? You’ve been fighting again, and you’re sicker than the last time I saw you.”
He groaned under her caress, then grabbed her fingers and trapped them against his ear, kissing her wrist. “I’m better now that you’re here. Just need a nap. Lay down with me?”
She wanted nothing more than to rest beside him, but the thought alone conjured intimate positions that required a bigger bed and no audience. Pressing a kiss to his chin, she could’ve cried. He wasn’t the cheat she’d thought she’d seen, and for that she felt both ashamed, and just as relieved he’d proven her wrong. “I need to pay Jacob, my cabbie. Come with me, Deuce?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Deuce scrambled to her side as he offered a hand and assisted her to her feet.
“Stay here, Tucker. I’ll be right back.”
“That’s my boy,” Tucker mumbled, his poor good eye closed and the other still as puffy and discolored as ever. “We’ll have to move soon. We can’t stay here any longer now that she knows where we are. Can’t trust her. Can’t... trust anyone... any...”
The poor guy drifted off to sleep in the middle of talking. Melissa nodded Isaiah out of the room with her and Deuce. “Okay. Spill. What’s really going on? And who is that poor little boy sleeping on the other bed? Who’s been beating on him? My God, what have you guys been up to?”
“That boy is Luke,” Isaiah answered quietly, his ear cocked toward their room. “Deuce rescued him back at Vinnie’s house of horrors, then Tucker and I rescued them. I checked. Luke’s got no family, so he’s staying with us. Anyway, Tucker took the brunt of it coming out of the factory. They roughed him up pretty bad, and Dr. Trang says he’s got a mild case of pneumonia.”
Melissa peered toward the street and waved for Jacob to come join her. “Pneumonia?” she questioned. “I think he’s got more than pneumonia—maybe a broken rib and a punctured lung. He wasn’t breathing properly when we were in the jungle, but he sounds worse now. We need a real doctor. Where did you dig up Trang? He should’ve taken care of that injury.”
Deuce arched his brows. “Dr. Trang treated me once when I had the flu and got dehydrated.”
Melissa tapped her toes. That explained everything. Trang was as trustworthy as Nicole. “Didn’t you think twice about using Nicole’s doctor?” she grilled Isaiah.
“I needed somebody fast,” he replied, “and I thought I could influence him once he got here.”
“You thought wrong,” Melissa pointed out as Jacob brought the cab around. She walked to the passenger side and pulled the door open. “Jacob, can you please help me find a good doctor for a very sick man?”
His brows narrowed, nearly touching in the middle. “Oh, yes, ma’am. My uncle good doctor. He know many ways of healing. Why? What you got?”
She took a seat, one foot on the pavement. “It’s my friend. I think he has a broken rib, maybe a punctured lung. Can your uncle treat that? Does he use antibiotics?”
“Oh, yes. Hurry. We go now.” Jacob waved Isaiah and Deuce into the cab. “Come now. Hurry. I call him on the way.”
She paused, not willing to
drag her kindly cabbie into foreign intrigue. “It’s not these two guys, Jacob. My friend is inside and he might have a broken rib, but there’s also a young boy who’s been beaten. He needs our protection so I’m bringing him, too.”
“Yes, yes. Bring everyone.” Jacob waved again. “Hurry fast. My uncle busy man.”
Enough said. Isaiah and Deuce got Tucker on his feet and into the back of the cab while she brought Deuce’s poor little friend. The boy weighed next to nothing, but the way he moaned when she lifted him tore at Melissa. Holding Luke was like holding Pich. They were both too young and too tiny to face the world alone. Maybe David Tao could find room for one more lost child?
“Did Trang look at Luke?” she asked.
“Mostly just Dad,” Deuce answered. “Luke was scared of Dr. Trang.”
“Listen, guys, we’ve got to move. I’ll follow with Deuce and our supplies,” Isaiah muttered, gesturing toward a rusted out Chevy near his hotel door.
“Don’t tell me you stole that,” she said, nodding at the car.
He brushed a hand over his head. “I had to get everyone out of Vinnie’s place fast. It was… available.”
She shook her head. “You’re just as bad as Tucker.”
“Thanks!” he said with real energy, not the reaction she was going for.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The room kept swaying. He was sure of it. Tucker just wasn’t sure where the hell he was until he heard the first gunshot. Until he heard Melissa scream. He shoved up off the back seat of some car, disoriented and searching for his gear bag and his pistol. His knife. Anything.
“Stay down,” Melissa ordered as the cab they were in took a sharp right, tilting him to the left.
“What going on?” he snapped. “Where are we?”
“Near the river,” she shot back. “Now lie down and shut up. We’ve got a shooter on our tail.”
Them were fighting words. Tucker Chase never laid down and shut up. Clutching the edge of the front seat by his fingernails, he shot a quick look over his shoulder at the silver Mercedes coming up fast on his bumper. Nicole? “Is she crazy?”
King of Hearts (Deuces Wild Book 1) Page 26
