by Taylor Lee
Not that Francesca Ortiz wouldn’t be furious when he made an overt play for the feisty would-be bar slut. Jax convinced himself that it was worth the risk of igniting Madam Ortiz’s ire. It was the only way he could get close enough to Sergeant Moreau without betraying their identities. He had to protect her from the cartel and from herself. After all, she was a fellow police officer—and, not incidentally, the most alluring woman he’d ever met. He was furious with her for potentially torpedoing a twenty-four-month, high-level operation at the precise moment they were about to pull it off. He also acknowledged that his need to protect her was about more than protecting the mission. If he had to get in her pants to protect her, so be it. Face it, Sergeant Moreau wasn’t the only one who pushed boundaries, who believed in the “ends justified the means” philosophy. Fuck it, it was the creed Jax lived by. He admitted that this time he was pushing that cavalier MO to the extreme. If nothing else, the fact that, for once, his dick was fully on board should have warned him he was on dangerous ground.
Chapter 7
Following her down the heavily tree-lined path, Jax didn’t know which was more enticing—her long-legged power strides or her tight ass in abbreviated running shorts. He’d risen when the sun did, determined to catch her on her early morning run. Thanks to a couple of his men who were disguised as gardeners, he’d learned that she ran early in the morning on one of the more obscure paths leading up the mountainside. As the path wound deeper and deeper into the forest, Jax’s simmering anger flared. Jesus fucking Christ, who was this incorrigible woman who thought she could run solo on a challenging, forbidding trail when God knew how many cartel members had her in their crosshairs?
It didn’t help his mood that he’d barely slept the night before. He blamed it on the fact that he and his men had spent a good part of the night rethinking their strategic plan, which now included protecting a willful woman without letting her know they were on to her. Jax admitted that he couldn’t have slept if he’d wanted to. The knowledge that the inveterate loner truly thought she could sleep in the same suite as Martinez Flores and not risk serious danger to her perky ass had Jax seeing red. Hell, the fact that at the moment she was wearing earphones and was oblivious to him having followed her for the last three miles confirmed that she believed she was invincible. When he got within five feet of her and she still didn’t acknowledge his presence, his molten anger exploded.
Powering forward, he ran up alongside of her and reached for her arm. She startled and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. Pulling her up next to him, he brought them both to an abrupt halt. Her eyes flared wide in shock and then recognition. Stumbling against him, she caught herself and tried to pull away. He held on to her and shook his head, then yanked out her earphones.
“Oh no, you don’t, Maja. I’m not letting go of you until you explain to my satisfaction what the hell you think you are doing.”
She clung to him and then once again tried to free herself from his firm grip. “I…I…you scared me.” Seeing his rigid jaw and obvious anger, she stammered, “I don’t understand…were you following me?”
He glared at her. “Hmm, two surprising admissions, Maja. One, you didn’t know I’ve been on your tail for the last three miles and two, you might actually have been scared.”
Jax marveled that within seconds, her chin tipped up and a frown clouded her face. Her voice shook slightly, the only sign that she might have been frightened. Her chin went up another notch. Attempting to pull away from him, she glared at him when he didn’t release her arm.
“Let me go. Now. Damn you.”
He snorted, not hiding his contempt at her command. Holding her firmly, Jax forced her to meet his hard gaze. “I asked you a question, Maja. I meant it when I said I wouldn’t let you go until you tell me what the hell you think you’re doing.”
Obviously recovering from her surprise, she tossed her head and tried to twist free. When he tightened his grip and narrowed his gaze, she pressed her lips together in a hard, thin line.
“Listen, Mr. Dubois, I don’t know who the hell you think you are that you can follow me and then…”
He shook his head. “Uh-uh. We’ll talk about what I’m doing after we get clear about what the fuck you’re doing. Let me help you. I need to know why you think you can sleep in the same goddamned suite with an unhinged killer, who is drugged out of his mind, and then trot out into a fucking forest by yourself and not acknowledge the danger you are in.” He added grimly, “Tell me, Maja, are you that clueless? That unaware?”
Her eyes flashed dangerously, then she spit out, “I repeat, Mr. Dubois, what’s it to you what I do or don’t do? You should know by now that I don’t take orders from anyone, particularly overgrown gangsters who think they can push women around—”
Jax interrupted her. “Honey, don’t lump me in with Martinez Flores. If you had a fucking brain in your head, you would know how dangerous he is. But, baby, Martinez is a mere annoyance compared to me.”
Glancing down at his hand grasping her arm, her jaw tightened and her chin went up yet another notch. She sniffed, then said in a scathing tone, “So I should be more afraid of you than Martinez? Ha! Let me be perfectly clear in case you don’t understand English. I’m not afraid of Martinez, and I’m sure as hell not afraid of you! And now, for the last time, goddammit, let me go.”
Jax was surprised at the torrent of anger that flooded him at her arrogance, but even he was surprised when he grabbed her other arm and jerked her up next to him. Her heady fragrance, a mix of lemon and mint coupled with the unmistakable odor of a sexy woman shot a flash of arousal to his groin. But it was the moisture gleaming on her chest, drops of sweat trickling between her swelling breasts that hardened his cock to iron. Before he could stop himself, he grabbed her ponytail and tugged on it. “You’re not afraid of me, Maja? Is that right?” Dragging her head back with one hand, he raised her face to his. With his other hand, he yanked her up next to his aroused body. “Tell you what, sweetheart, maybe you should rethink that assertion.”
Before she could protest, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, hard. When she cried out and tried to pull away, to fight against his powerful hold, he shook his head. “Uh-uh, baby. Remember, you’re not afraid of me. You’re not afraid of anyone, are you, Maja? You can handle any mere man.” Narrowing his eyes, he glared at her, then tugging her head back farther, he smiled. “Hmm, baby, let’s see if we can change that equation.” When she shoved at him, sputtering angrily, he grasped her face, holding it securely between his hands, then growled a low, demanding sound. “Open to me, baby. Now, dammit!”
Not waiting for her to respond, he pressed against her and began to kiss her. He found he didn’t want to be gentle as he teasingly, skillfully worked to break down her resistance. Hell, no. He wanted to kiss her the way he wanted to fuck her. Hard, demanding, not give her a chance to think. He wanted to make her respond to the passion that had him on fire. The passion he was sure wasn’t far below that derisive shell she’d constructed to keep panting men helplessly at bay.
For a moment, Viviana was too stunned to respond. She couldn’t believe that this arrogant man had not only followed her on her run, but also thought she needed to answer to him. Explain her actions. As if he were in charge of her. But that was nothing to what he was doing to her now. He’d actually grabbed her and kissed her. Still not believing what was happening, her voice rose to a shriek as she struggled against him, trying to break his fierce hold. “My God, are you crazy? What do you think you are doing?”
His voice was cool but charged with an underlying heat that frightened her.
“What am I doing? So asks the cocktease of all cockteases? In answer to your question, baby, I’m taking you on. We’re going to find out, Maja, just how brazen you are. Word of warning, sweetheart. You’ve met your match.”
Viviana was frantic. She needed him to stop, now. “You don’t understand I’m…not…”
“You’re not what? Yo
u’re not a sexy-as-hell woman who openly flaunts her wares? Who dares every man who sees her to look but not touch? A shameless hellion who dives off the side of a mountain and then clambers up the hillside, baring her ass to the world? So sure of her power, she delights in knowing that she’s being observed? That makes it even better, doesn’t it, Maja? That all those eager men you relegate to the wings would give their last nut for a single taste of you.”
Twisting against him, Viviana fought to make him understand. She needed him to know that she couldn’t do this, that she wouldn’t. “No…that’s not really me…I’m not like that. You…don’t understand—”
He pressed his fingers against her mouth, stopping her tangled words. His voice was smooth. A silky threat. “Oh, baby, you are so wrong. I do understand. More than you know. It’s how you deal with your deeper needs, isn’t it? How you satisfy all those secret cravings your hot body is dying for, without ever giving in to what you truly want?”
Startled at what he was saying, Viviana was more horrified at what his sexy words were doing to her. No one had ever made her feel this way. Hot. Needy. She had to make him stop. Now. “No, you’re wrong. That’s not me. That’s not who I am…”
As if he knew what he was doing to her, he ignored her protests and taunted her, “It’s not? Hmm, really? Are you telling me that your hot body isn’t hungry for this? For what I’m going to do to you?” Stroking his fingers across her straining breasts, he murmured, “That your nipples aren’t hard little nubs, begging me to stroke them, pinch them, suck on them?” At her agonized cry, his voice sunk to a low, sexy growl. “Oh yeah, sweetheart. I think this is exactly who and what you are. You are a deeply sexual, hungry woman. Except that no man has called you on it. Have they, Maja? Until now. Until me.”
Twisting her hair in his hand, Jax pulled her mouth up to his. Startled, Jax admitted that this wasn’t him either. He’d fucked so many women in his life, there was no way to keep count, to distinguish among them. But goddammit, she was different. This feisty, wayward woman had gotten to him, broken through his carefully honed reserves in a way no other woman had. With a groan, he admitted he was hungrier for this woman than he’d ever been for a woman.
Reaching down, he grabbed her ass in his big hands. At the same time, he shoved her legs apart with his hard thigh and pressed his raging cock against her groin. Her sobbing moan signaled that he’d found the key. Dragging her up against him, he murmured, “That’s the way, baby, give in to it.” At her sobbing cry, he tipped up her chin and commanded softly, “Now, Maja, now. Open for me! Kiss me, baby, the way you want me to kiss you.”
Viviana struggled against him, but his arms were too strong. His full lips were soft then hard, forcing hers open. The worst part was that she did want to kiss him back. She wanted to tangle with his tongue, feel him thrust deeper and deeper in her receptive mouth. When he lifted her up on his hard muscular thigh, she was stunned at the size of his arousal. Rather than resist him, she gave in to his fierce commands, his taunting words, not wanting him to stop. When she felt his searching fingers slide beneath the waistband of her shorts, skillfully separating her swollen folds, probing inside her weeping pussy, she wailed, a tortured, keening cry. She wanted nothing more than for him to lay her out on the ground and make love to her. To take her the way no man had ever dared. Take her the way she wanted to be taken but had never dreamed anyone would or could.
Startled, she realized that he’d pulled back, set her on her feet. Pressing her face against his chest, he held her tight, murmuring, “Hang on, baby. Someone’s coming.”
At his gruff warning, Viviana allowed herself to hear the sound of the four-wheel drive vehicle approaching on the rocky trail. Clutching his arms for support, she leaned into his strong, protective hold, dismayed at the scene they were creating. His cool voice and nonchalant greeting shocked her as much as knowing who was approaching.
“Greetings, Garcia. Out early for a morning drive?” He added, a tinge of humor streaking his casual words, “I can’t blame you. It’s a gorgeous day, a great day to enjoy the view.”
Viviana clung to him, willing her shaky legs to steady, knowing that if it weren’t for Dubois’s strong arms around her, she would collapse to the ground. She didn’t miss the warning in Felix Garcia’s strained response.
“A beautiful day indeed, Mr. Dubois. However, I need you and Miss Nilsson to come with me. Madam Ortiz has chartered a sailing craft and is expecting you both to participate in the afternoon excursion.” He added ominously, “As is Martinez Flores.”
Dubois pulled her close to him and kept his arm securely around her waist as he led her to the waiting vehicle. Viviana saw Garcia’s frown when Dubois lifted her into the back seat of the humming vehicle and climbed up beside her. Glancing at Garcia, he said with an ironic shrug, “Hmm, that sounds like an invitation neither Ms. Nilsson nor I should refuse.”
Viviana was grateful when he continued to hold her next to him, not sure when or if she would ever stop shaking. As they sped along the twisting path, Dubois said casually to Garcia, “May I presume, Mr. Garcia, that you did what I asked?”
Viviana felt rather than saw the understanding between them. Garcia’s tone was guarded. “Yes, sir. As you anticipated, Mr. Flores has decided he’d prefer to have a single suite closer to Madam Ortiz.”
Chapter 8
Viviana closed the door to her sitting room and leaned back against it. Allowing her breath to wheeze out of her, she sank to the floor. She wasn’t surprised she couldn’t stand upright. The only way she’d managed to make it to her suite was with Dubois firmly holding her elbow as he guided her through the crowded resort. Chatting pleasantly with Felix Garcia, he’d caught up with two of the men who’d shared a nightcap with her on the patio last night. Chagrined, she remembered her snotty good-bye as she’d sauntered away from them, certain that, as always, she’d put the surprised men in their places. Her pounding heart and quaking knees confirmed that memory was long gone, unlikely to ever rear its cocky head again.
Dubois’s voice was cool, nonchalant as he faced his colleagues. Nodding to Garcia, who was standing at a short distance, he said carefully, “Brent, Serge, our friend here indicated that Madam Ortiz wants us to join her and her men on an outing this afternoon. Apparently we’re going to be treated to an exploration of Belize’s famous barrier reefs.” He grinned. “Wear your boating gear, but be prepared. There’s no telling what our hostess has in mind for us.” He smiled down at Viviana and pinched her cheek. “As for you, Miss Sweden, you wear your skimpiest swimsuit, although I’m confident you don’t need wardrobe advice from me. You seem to have an unerring sense of what will have every man on the expedition begging for relief.”
At her door, he took her key from her hand and unlocked it. Nudging her inside, he brushed his lips across her cheek, allowing them to rest against the sensitive spot below her ear. “Don’t tarry, Maja. You know Madam Ortiz doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He added, his eyes twinkling with mirth, “No telling what dire deeds she’s conjured up to punish you for your disgraceful behavior last evening.” He allowed his voice to drop and murmured, “But never fear, outrageous one. You can relax now that you know I have your back.” He chuckled. “Among other parts of you.”
With that sexy insinuation, he gave her a little shove, pushing her into her room, then turned and joined the other men. She could hear him laughing as the trio turned the corner onto the crowded patio.
****
Raising her face to the glorious, cloudless blue sky, Viviana allowed herself to give in to the heady beauty of the Belize waterways leading to the Caribbean Sea. She congratulated herself that after Dubois had deposited her in her room, she’d managed to drag her tortured body into the shower. Following twenty minutes of scalding water torture, she emerged somewhat in control of her battered body. At least she was able to make it to her dressing table, where she sank onto the padded stool and stared at herself in the mirror. She was frankly amazed that she
looked reasonably like the woman she usually saw reflected there. It didn’t seem possible or right. How could she look like she always did when her life had changed forever?
At the memory of the daunting man attacking her on the path, a scarlet flush of color stained her cheeks. She wasn’t surprised. At least her body knew what had happened even if her mind was still refusing to acknowledge it. The rush of heat that exploded between her thighs was further evidence that she was irreparably different than she had been before she headed out for her morning run. She still didn’t understand how she had let him sneak up on her. Why hadn’t she heard him? Was she really that out of it, as he had admonished her? And when he caught her, why hadn’t she pushed him away and shamed him for his disgraceful behavior instead of encouraging him? She gave an aggrieved sigh.
Resting her head on the vanity top, Viviana refused to look at the flushed woman staring at her in the mirror. It was bad enough that she couldn’t erase the X-rated memories of what she’d done. She didn’t have to see her beaded nipples or the rosy glow on her breasts to remember his startling overtures. Even now, her lips were red, puffy, swollen from his demanding kisses. Embarrassed, she knew without looking that her intimate folds were as swollen as her lips. Probably they were still slick with her erotic juices, although she’d scrubbed them ferociously with her shower-gelled loofah. She groaned. As if she could wash away the sensations sparkling across her agitated nerve endings.
****
Now clinging to the railing of the impressive fifty-foot yacht, Viviana forced herself to focus on the present. She hadn’t missed the glaring welcome their indomitable hostess had given her or the glowering stare a drugged-out Martinez had pinned on her. She was glad that she’d screwed up her courage and chosen her skimpiest bikini, topping it off with a flowing, multicolored, sheer cover-up. Seeing Dubois’s appreciative smile when she sauntered up the gangplank onto the deck was reward enough to allow her to face Madam Ortiz’s smoldering anger with a nonchalance she was far from feeling.
