HERO Force Boxset Books 1-8

by Amy Gamet

  It was worse than she’d feared, pleasure searing through her, white hot and bright. The sensation overwhelmed her and she thrust her hips into his chest, bucking against him there while he suckled her harder.

  “Please, Jax. I’m ready.”

  Had she ever been loved like this? Aroused to the point where she was begging for penetration, desperate for sexual release?

  He moved lower, settling himself between her legs, and she was panting hard and heavy, knowing what he was going to do before his mouth settled over her secret place and she began the climb to orgasm.

  She didn’t want him to do this. It wasn’t necessary to get pregnant, and she wanted only to do what was necessary.

  “I want you inside me when I come, Jax.”

  He growled as he climbed on top of her, then tested his weight against her smaller frame. The feel of him was so good she could have cried. How she missed this! He wasn’t even inside of her yet, and she was emotionally swamped by the return of these sensations after so much time without them.

  He pressed the head of his cock beside her opening, and for a moment she thought she wouldn’t have to deceive him. The slightest movement and he’d be inside her.

  “You’re so wet for me.” He groaned. He was pushing hard against her, teasing her, so close to her entrance. “I need to get a condom.”

  She tightened her legs around his waist. “It’s okay.”

  He was panting with the exertion of holding back. “What do you mean?”

  She feared all of her anxiety and hopeful planning had been for nothing. She was right in the middle of her cycle, all the signs of her fertility clearly visible yesterday and today, but she needed to have unprotected sex with this man.

  A risky thing to do, especially for a man who didn’t like to take chances.

  She held her breath, then reached between them, guiding his cock into her body with her hand. He thrust inside her with one long push, and they gasped with pleasure as he filled her.

  He pulled out and thrust into her again, his cock stretching and stroking her tender flesh, and her physical joy mixed with her hope for a child.

  “Are you sure it’s okay?” he ground out.

  She dug her nails into his back. “Yes.”

  “Jesus.” He was breathing hard, pumping into her with hard strokes, forcing himself deeper inside her. “Do you want me to pull out?”

  “No.”

  Please no.

  She swallowed her fear. “Come inside me, Jax. I want you to.”

  It was like she hit a secret booster button in a video game. He let loose with a loud growl, the force of his thrusts instantly putting her on course for an orgasm.

  The noises Jax made changed dramatically, and she knew he was beyond holding back. He thrust into her again and again, and she held her breath as her climax overtook her. Jax called out, buried to the hilt inside her body, and she smiled into the darkness as he came.

  It was only when the aftershocks had stopped rippling through her that she again noticed the rumbling of the hotel air conditioner, the bitterly cold air in the room, and the uncomfortable weight of Jax on top of her.

  Lust dissipated, leaving self-hatred and shame in its wake. She’d accomplished what she’d set out to do, but she hadn’t wanted to enjoy it.

  Tears filled her eyes as she pushed Jax off of her, collected her clothing, and made her way to the bathroom, dressing without looking at herself in the mirror.

  She knew what she would see there.

  Bed-tossed hair, her face flushed from exertion and desire. Maybe a hickey to complete her humiliation. She was the worst kind of person, unable to focus on her hatred of the man when his touch felt so good. Letting him fuck her was necessary. Begging him to fuck her and experiencing the most powerful orgasm of her life was utter and complete betrayal.

  She pushed out of the bathroom.

  In the dim light from the window, she could see Jax sitting up in bed.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m leaving now.” She walked toward the door.

  “You don’t have to go, Jessa. Stay with me.”

  “No thanks.” She opened the door and left, without so much as a glance in his direction.

  She was never going to see Jax Andersson again.

  * * *

  Layton, Felder, Bach & Moore

  Attorneys-at-Law

  58 East 42ndStreet, Suite 1800

  New York, New York 10016

  Maria Elena Cortez

  167 Lake Avenue

  Savannah, Georgia 31407

  Dear Ms. Cortez,

  I am acting as the executor of the estate of Mr. Harold Hopewell, whose Last Will and Testament was entered into probate in the Surrogate’s Court, New York County, State of New York.

  I write to inform you of certain assets bequeathed to you pursuant to Mr. Hopewell’s Last Will and Testament, to wit: a first edition copy of The Manor by John Boronkay.

  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

  Regards,

  Frederick Bach, Esquire

  * * *

  3

  “You have my sincerest condolences, Peter. Your uncle was a very good man.”

  Peter Hopewell slipped his hands into the silk-lined pockets of his trousers and looked out at New York City through the rain-flecked glass. “Thank you, Fred.” He turned to the lawyer. “What happens now?”

  “We at Layton, Felder, Bach & Moore will handle the distribution of the inheritance per Mr. Hopewell’s instructions.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?”

  “We’ll mail the bequeathed items directly to the heirs, along with a letter explaining they are being willed to them from your uncle. If for some reason a letter is returned as undeliverable, we’ll attempt to locate the heir. If we’re unable to find him or her, the unclaimed inheritance will pass to you along with the rest of the estate.”

  Peter nodded and walked to a table full of items, his fingers running over the aged leather cover of a small red book. “Very well.” He opened the cover, his eyes falling on the familiar words.

  “I wonder if she’ll realize what she has,” said Peter.

  Fred laughed. “Knowing your uncle, he’d probably rather she just enjoy the story than know its value.”

  Peter laughed, too. “That’s exactly right.” He closed the book and gritted his teeth. “Stupid old man. More money than God, and he had no idea what to do with it.”

  The other man’s eyes widened, the only indication he’d heard the words at all.

  “Well then, I guess there’s nothing left to be done.” Peter held out his hand.

  The lawyer shook it. “I’ll be in touch if we are unable to locate any of the heirs.”

  “Sounds good.” Peter moved to take his hand away, but Fred held it.

  “I am glad you decided not to contest your uncle’s will,” said the lawyer. “Harold was of sound mind, and these are his wishes.”

  “Yes. Controlling everyone from beyond the grave, just as he did in life.”

  Or trying to.

  Peter walked out of the lawyer’s office and into the rain as a plan came sharply into focus. His uncle was dead. He was in charge now.

  4

  The blades of the chopper roared mightily, their vibration seeming to beat in time to the rhythm of Jax’s heart. It was three in the morning and they were hugging the landscape, quickly approaching their target.

  He closed his eyes, mentally preparing for the extraction. He visualized the layout of the house, the terrain he anticipated from their landing site to the backyard and French doors, where they’d be entering the home. It wasn’t a big house, but it was big enough to hold a hostage.

  The husband’s voice played in Jax’s head.

  You have to get her back. I don’t know who I am without her.

  The poor guy was clearly still in shock, though the sentiment resonated with Jax like some kind of spiritual truth. He’d been a goddamn
mess since he slept with Jessa, worse even than during his divorce. It was as if with one night together, his entire idea of who he was as a person had been bent over backwards and folded in on itself.

  He was a man who liked to be alone.

  He reveled in it, for God’s sake.

  People were a business he didn’t invest in. These guys here — Red, Cowboy, Logan, and Hawk — were closer to him than anyone else on the planet. Hell, even when he was married to Linda he was closer to HERO Force than he was to his own damn wife, and that was just fine with him. It was natural. He was a rough, cold bastard. Calculating.

  What did he have in common with a woman?

  But for a moment in time, Jessa had changed all that. From the second she walked into the bar to the instant she walked out of his room, he was with her. Really with her. Like he was one of two, instead of his own person barely tethered to the human race.

  He knew he was a considerate lover, always making sure he did what was necessary to give his partner pleasure, but this time he did those things because he wanted to kiss every part of her flesh and taste every hidden fold of her body, wanted to heighten her experience because his own was innately intertwined with hers.

  And it had shaken him to the core.

  That kind of connection didn’t just walk into a bar and ask you to sleep with it. That kind of connection was something you held on to tightly and defended at all costs.

  The chopper dipped and dove. They were getting close now.

  You have to get her back. I don’t know who I am without her.

  He could see the path through the woods to the door in his mind’s eye, knew how this would go down up until the moment they actually entered the house. Then it was anybody’s guess. Was there one person guarding the wife, or two, or more? Did they have weapons in hand? A clear route of escape?

  The wife had been taken from her kitchen two days earlier, a cutting board with half-sliced bread left staling on the counter and a toddler left watching TV. Her husband was a big-time CEO of some Fortune 500 company, and he’d made one too many enemies with his recent revitalization plan.

  Her captors had requested a ransom of five point six million dollars. Instead they were going to get their own private war.

  The chopper landed and Jax filed out between Hawk and Cowboy, night-vision goggles in place and an AK-47 in each of their hands. They were on a mission to retrieve Mrs. Baldwin, but it was Jessa’s face Jax imagined as they made their way to those French doors and silently slipped inside.

  The faint beeping of an alarm system keypad could be heard in the distance, and Red went in search of the sound. If they could destroy the keypad before the thirty-second window passed, the alarm system probably wouldn’t go off.

  The crunch of plastic and metal could be heard coming from the kitchen, followed by a piercing alarm that screeched through the house, assaulting Jax’s ears.

  So much for the silent approach.

  He took the stairs two at a time, Hawk and Cowboy right behind him. Shots rang out from the top of the stairway and Jax returned fire, the shadow of a man half-hidden in a doorway.

  Jax wore Kevlar.

  Clearly, the other guy did not. Blood splattered the wall behind his falling body.

  Jax went quickly around him, knowing one of his men would disarm the tango and be sure he posed no threat. He held his weapon at the ready and cleared the first hallway in search of Mrs. Baldwin.

  The incessant wail of the security alarm continued in the background as Jax cleared the first bedroom and moved on to the second.

  This time, Hawk went first. He rounded the corner with his gun at the ready. A man stepped out from behind the bedroom door with a pistol, and Jax let off three rounds right into the man’s skull.

  Hawk nodded and Jax turned back down the hallway toward the master suite, the only bedroom remaining. He knew Red was behind him, his weapon trained behind them in case more tangos emerged.

  Jax inched toward the room and lightly pushed in the door.

  Their hostage was tied to the bed, fully dressed, and Jax felt a moment’s relief that it appeared she hadn’t been sexually assaulted. A look of utter panic was on Mrs. Baldwin’s face as her gaze shifted from Jax to a corner of the room he couldn’t see from the doorway.

  A string of shots was fired in the room, one after the other, splintering the wood door between Jax and his attacker. He stepped back so he could see through the crack at the door’s hinges and returned fire, landing a shot clear into the tango’s head.

  The man fell to the ground.

  Cowboy ran into the room and untied Mrs. Baldwin, who was screaming. Jax could hear him trying to calm her down as he and Hawk cleared the closets and bathroom off the master bedroom.

  She continued to scream.

  “I’ll take her. You go with Hawk and clear the house,” said Jax.

  Cowboy nodded.

  Jax sat on the bed next to Mrs. Baldwin and saw blood seeping out of the man he’d shot, the spreading stain like red paint spilling onto a carpet. He stood and covered the man with a towel, then came back to Mrs. Baldwin, whose screams had transformed into sobs.

  Safe now.

  Rescue.

  Husband waiting.

  “All clear,” said Cowboy in Jax’s earpiece.

  When Mrs. Baldwin was quiet, Jax held out his hand for her to stand up, but she didn’t move, so he picked her up and carried her out of the house.

  They made their way back to the chopper, closed the door, and were back in the sky in twenty-two and a half minutes.

  The woman cuddled in Jax’s lap, clinging to him like a koala bear. But it was Jessa he imagined as he stroked her back, Jessa he saw as they flew back to reality.

  Hours later when he fell into bed, Jax would remember the Baldwins reunited, clutching each other as love and horror spilled out onto the floor around them like the kidnapper’s blood onto the carpet.

  That was the part Jax would never have.

  The reunion.

  He cursed violently, punched his pillow, and rolled over.

  5

  Jessa awoke with a start, her eyes wandering around the room and trying to make sense of where she was. It took her a minute to remember this was her home now, the large apartment in the second-story walk-up of an old Victorian house.

  She looked down at her outfit. Scrubs.

  Ugh.

  She’d walked in the door from working second shift at Mercy and flopped down on the couch. Judging by the sunlight shining in the windows, she’d slept here all night, the second time in the past week she’d done so.

  The first trimester of her last pregnancy, she was crazy sleepy, too. She laid her hand on her flat lower abdomen and joy filled her heart. Just a week ago, a home pregnancy test confirmed what she suspected. She was going to have a baby.

  She thought of the nursery she and Ralph had decorated together between his trips with HERO Force. They’d known they were having a boy, and everything was done up in blue and green.

  Maybe this time, I won’t find out the sex.

  Why? So you can protect yourself from loving this child in case something happens?

  “I already love you more than anyone in the world,” she whispered.

  Today was Friday, her day off, and she desperately wanted to spend the whole thing in bed with some fuzzy slippers and a book. But as her stare slipped guiltily to the boxes stacked three and four high along the dining room wall, she knew what she’d be doing instead. She’d already been here almost a month, and those boxes weren’t going to get any easier to unpack as she got further along.

  Resigned to the task ahead, she walked into the kitchen, started some decaf brewing and checked her cell phone.

  One new message.

  She hit the speaker button and opened the fridge, grabbing the orange juice.

  “Jessa, it’s Jax.”

  She spun around so fast she dropped the juice to the floor, where it sprayed everywhere. She crouched down
after it, trying to find the hole while her body responded viscerally to Jax’s voice. An image of them making love flashed through her mind.

  “I want to take you out to dinner sometime,” he said. “I know you moved to Savannah, but if you’d like to get together, I don’t mind the drive.”

  She found the leak and covered it with her finger, then closed her eyes tightly.

  “I’d really like to see you again, Jess.”

  The message ended, and she could hear her pulse pounding in her ears. Four weeks and three days she’d been gone, and he found her. Hell, he probably knew where she was even before that and just didn’t pick up the phone. She stood up and dumped the juice container in the sink. She looked at her arms and hands and clothes. “Aaagh!” she yelled, so frustrated she couldn’t see straight.

  She hadn’t counted on this in her quickly laid plans to get pregnant. Right now it wasn’t such a big deal, but what if he looked her up six months from now, or a year? If he found out he had a child, he’d want to be part of its life, and that was definitely not part of her plan.

  But what could she do? With the technology at his disposal, he’d be able to find her anywhere she went. All he had to do was type her name into his damn computers, and there she’d be.

  Forever.

  It might even tell him when she had a dependent.

  There had to be a way to stop him, a way to keep her whereabouts from popping up on a screen just by typing in her name.

  My name.

  A horrible idea came to her mind.

  She’d chosen Savannah because her extended family was here, both her mother’s upper-middle-class contribution and her father’s shadier side of the family tree. Since her parents passed away, she was desperate to forge some deeper kind of connections with her living relatives.