by Malone, Nana
Micha rambled on about her new nemesis at work. Jaya went through the box Tamara left her, carefully setting her figurines on the coffee table. Frowning, she searched the bottom of the box, eventually giving up and dumping the whole thing out.
“What is all that noise over there?”
“No. Sorry. Just going through my get-out-of-Dodge box finally and my damn software isn’t here.”
“Wait, the program you hired that developer to build? The one that took you months to design with the contractor? Ricca and I didn’t see you for ages because of that thing.”
“Yeah, the same one.”
“Oh honey, no.” Micha said. “It's not Trudeaux proprietary software. You hired the developer yourself. Shoot, you built it practically. It doesn’t belong to them.”
Jaya told herself to calm down. It was probably a mistake. All she had to do was call and ask for it back. “I know. I was such a mess, I left all the stuff in my office. When Tamara dropped off my stuff, I assumed it was in there. But I've looked everywhere.”
“That bitch.”
“No arguments here.”
“What are you going to do, besides beat your sister’s scrawny ass?”
Jaya had to smirk. Micha was one friend you wanted when you had a body to move. “Don’t know. I can contact the developer. I know he probably kept a copy of the work. Or he can at least help me retrieve it.”
Micha was quiet, which usually signaled trouble. “You have to go back and get it.”
“I was fired, remember? I can call them for it, but I doubt they'll just give it back to me.”
“Give it back? Hell, you’ve got to start thinking like the woman in control you are.”
Jaya’s eyes squeezed shut. This was trouble waiting to happen. “Are you talking sneaking in and stealing it back?”
Jaya could hear the smile in Micha’s voice. “Why would I suggest such a thing? It's not stealing if it's yours.”
Her friend had a point. “You know, I might have just the guy to help.”
Chapter Fifteen
Time to focus. Alec knew he’d come here with a job to do and so far all he’d managed to do was wear himself out with Jaya. Another night like the one they’d had, and he might not be able to stand on his own. But if he had to die from exhaustion, then what a way to go. He bit off a curse at his body’s instant response at even a thought of her. “Down boy,” he grumbled.
This was disaster. He had it bad. And any thought he had of getting her out of his system was long gone. There wouldn’t be any getting her out of his system. He was doomed if he kept this up. But he’d given her his word. He couldn’t just back out because prolonging things would get messy. He was a big boy. He could deal.
With heavy legs, Alec trudged to his temporary office, only to find Caleb waiting for him in the hallway. All he wanted to do was sit down and rest his head for a damn minute. After Jaya had left in the morning, Adele paid him a visit with the Westhorpe financials.
“I would have waited inside, but apparently the security has been updated so my all-access pass has been revoked.”
Alec smiled. Caleb's security expertise had helped them counteract some of the more sophisticated key-copying software. “Well, we’ve got to keep the criminals out, don't we?” Alec let them in and tossed his keys on the oak monstrosity in the middle of the room. “So what do you need? It better be good. I have a shit-ton of work to do.”
Caleb’s sharp gaze fell on his. “Well aren’t you full of piss and vinegar? My guys have Adele and Sue covered. They’re safe, and we’re getting closer to finding Max. You should be sleeping better. Your girlfriend giving you grief, is she? Has she planned out your wedding yet?”
“She's not my girlfriend,” Alec growled, then forced himself to relax his shoulders. “I'm just doing her a favor. And she's doing me one too. Adele gave her the job for the gala. If it takes some stress off of Mimi, that’s huge to me right now.”
Caleb just grinned. “And just how does she feel about you leaving? Or the fact that you’re a Westhorpe? Oh wait, that’s right. You haven’t told her.”
Alec felt like someone was pounding him between the eyes with the sharp end of a hammer. “That’s because I’m not a Westhorpe. And she knows I’m going and it’s fine. I’m on the up and up, Caleb. I’m not like Dad and Max.”
Caleb’s smiling face went solemn. “No one was saying you were.”
“And what about you? What happened with that friend of hers? The tall one with the…” He let his words drop off.
Caleb closed his eyes and let out a breath. “The seriously excellent rack?” He shook his head. “Nothing happened. She shot me down.”
“Makes no sense. She seemed interested.”
“Yeah, well. She was interested. Just not in having a conversation with me.”
Alec chuckled, even though it made his brain feel like it had been trampled by elephants. “I don’t see the problem.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “This from the guy who’s spent the past several days holed up in his room with one woman. I don’t think I remember that happening—ever. Doesn’t seem like you, bro. You took her all the way to LA to meet with Adele.”
“I went to look for Max. Adele happened to be in town so what better reason to get her off my back about this dammed gala? I brought her an event planner.”
“Yeah. Whatever you say.” Caleb's grin grew wider but he didn't say anything else.
“She's great. A bit uptight and anal-retentive, but she's sweet and something so—” It took him several seconds to come back to the conversation. “She's not my girlfriend.”
“Uh-oh, the great Alec Danthers is going to be sidelined by a woman. They must be making snowballs in hell.”
Alec sneered at his friend. Caleb could be a full-on jackass when he wanted to be. “What are you doing here annoying me? We weren’t supposed to meet until later this afternoon.”
All hint of teasing and laughter vanished from Caleb’s face, turning it into an expressionless mask. “Yeah okay. I’ve got my guys doing everything they can to find your brother, but he’s gone full Houdini on us. He must be using cash and driving because we’ve got no hits on his credit cards and he hasn’t tried to board a plane. Since he's not under arrest or technically missing, I'm not having any luck using legal parameters to track his cars.”
Alec shook his head. “Don’t bother. He left all his cars either here or at the house in LA. He's probably borrowing a friend's.”
“Any chance he borrowed one of the hotel cars?”
“Nah. They're all equipped with GPS and right now they're all accounted for.”
“Sorry, man. We’ll keep looking.”
Alec shrugged. He knew his brother. “It's Max. He’ll turn up eventually. He's just being a Westhorpe. The real question is if he'll turn up before those idiots scare Adele again.”
Caleb nodded. “We’ll keep looking.” He rocked back on his heels as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I have some other news for you.”
Alec brought his head up. “What is it? From the look on your face, it can’t be good.”
“It’s not. It’s all kinds of a shit show.”
Perfect, just what Alec needed. “You mean worse than the current shit show of my life, with bookies after my brother if he doesn’t pay and threatening Mimi if she can’t find him? This I’d love to hear.”
“Your brother’s in worse trouble than you thought. Probably worse than Adele knows. There’s a reason he’s drained his trust fund. You said you paid the bookie after Max? Turns out that bookie works for the Sandovals. As in the Sandoval cartel. And, they think he took something from them.”
Ho-ly shit. “Who the fuck would steal from a cartel?”
Caleb nodded. “The other night I grabbed a license plate number off of Adele’s video surveillance. Registered to Eduardo Sandoval. My guys lifted some prints and ran them. Those guys were definitely looking for something.”
Alec began to sweat. He’d gone
to school with Alejandro Sandoval. If evil was an inherited trait, Alejandra Sandoval was the living, breathing evidence of it—as a kid he’d gotten off on torturing other kids. “What the fuck did Max take?”
“I’m working on it. My guess is that Max isn’t quite that dumb. Though be might be dumb enough to run drugs through the hotels. I can’t prove it yet, though. He might have taken evidence of those transactions. My guys have been hearing that there’s infighting in Sandovals gang. One of the guys could have taken something to make a play but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Max was just an easy scapegoat. My guess is, Max cleaned out his account to give him some running money.”
A low whistle escaped Alec’s lips. “So my brother’s not just a stupid, selfish screw-up. He also has a death wish.”
Following his conversation with Caleb, Alec had taken another look at the financials Adele had given him. Wednesday nights were a busy night across all the bars. But the numbers were more inflated than the busiest night he’d ever seen even in a New York or Paris bar. He and Caleb needed to scope the bar out and confirm their suspicions. But they wouldn’t see much while working the bar.
Luckily, tonight, Jaya and her friends had provided an excellent cover. Micha, apparently needed a night out and Caleb was all too happy to oblige. He hoped his friend could keep an eye out while mooning over the Amazon with the prickly personality. Though it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Caleb’s men were posted throughout the club. He and his friend were only supposed to be an extra set of eyes.
The booming music didn’t help the headache he’d been nursing all day. He was jittery and felt cooped up. He’d taken a couple aspirin, but he knew what the real problem was. This doting boyfriend and attentive son routine were getting to him.
“Are you okay? You seem really distracted?” Jaya's warm, minty breath tickled his neck as she leaned in to speak to him. He had a little trouble concentrating. The plunging-to-the navel neckline of her white jumpsuit made his mouth water. Like Caleb, he wouldn’t have a chance if he looked anywhere but her eyes.
“I’m good. Just been working a lot, you know.” At least that was the truth. He’d started losing track of all the lies he was telling her. Every time she asked a personal question, he did his best to give her measured half-truths instead of outright lies. It was starting to wear on him.
She nodded but studied him closely. The intensity of her stare made his whole body stand at attention. Holding his breath and counting to three, he attempted to calm himself down. He was supposed to be working. He couldn’t very well drag her off somewhere private.
“Could you two please stop with the ‘rip each other’s clothes off’ looks? It’s a little nauseating.”
Beckett had pegged him and Caleb with the hairy eyeball when they’d arrived. Granted, it wasn’t as bad as the full on confrontational agro, macho shit he was giving Ricca’s boyfriend, Charles. Crazy thing was, he had some leggy blonde with him he was all but ignoring.
Whatever. He didn’t have time to get embroiled in the group’s melodrama. As Caleb got dragged onto the dance floor by the beautiful Amazon, he signaled to Alec to follow.
Leaning in to Jaya's neck, he gave her a nuzzle. “Do you want to show off those dance moves of yours?”
She eyed him warily but followed him out of the booth to join her friend. Before they reached their quarry, she turned to him. “Was this too much? Meeting the whole gang? I know it’s way couple-like. And that’s not really our situation. I just wanted to hang out, but you’ve been weird since we got here. Do you just want to go?”
Yes. “No. I’m just distracted.” In that moment, he saw one of Caleb’s men brushed past him and whisper something. “Come on, let’s dance a little and have a good time. I just want to forget this week.”
“Being a jack of all trades not all it’s cracked up to be?”
“Not this week, it’s not.”
Making it over to Caleb, they danced for a moment. He allowed Jaya to get distracted with booty-bumping her friend before he asked Caleb, “So what’s the deal?”
Caleb shook his head. “No deal. No drugs anywhere. Well, one place, actually. In the bathroom, Chase scared the shit out of some college kid with a joint.”
“Damn. Maybe we got it wrong.”
Caleb shook his head as he dodged a wobbly brunette with a drink. “I don’t think so. If I were them, I wouldn’t want to risk my money when our dry cleaner’s done a runner.”
A bust. They’d been so sure. He’d been banking on having something concrete to pin on the Sandovals that would at least get Max out of danger and away from having to make any kind of statement to the Feds. No dice. “So, what now?”
“I’m still working some angles. In the meantime try not to implode. My guys have got it covered.”
How the hell was he supposed to relax and just let Caleb handle it? Adele was counting on him. But Caleb knew what he was doing. Alec had to trust him.
In an attempt to take his mind off the madness, he watched Jaya as she danced. With every sensuous wind of her hips, his brain relinquished the worry over his brother and focused on more pressing concerns—whether or not he could gracefully get her upstairs without seeming rude to her friends.
Turned out, he didn’t need to worry about it. “Alec, you want to get out of here?” She had read his mind.
He pulled her through the crowd to the back entrance and private elevators. Once the door shut behind them, she whispered, “Does this elevator have a stop button?”
His eyes widened, but he wasn’t one to disappoint a lady. He pushed the emergency stop button.
Alec pulled Jaya to him. He gripped her hips, needing to feel her closer. She molded her mouth to his in easy acceptance. Her lips were pliant, needy beneath his. Alec could feel the rise and fall of her breasts with each breath. Feel the heat coming off her body. All he could think about now was how to make her burn hotter.
She moaned against his lips, her body rubbing against his, the friction driving him mad. He pulled the straps of the jumpsuit down, baring her to the waist. When his fingers met the skin at her back, he gasped at the satin feel. He would never get over how soft she was all over.
Her hands clutched at his shirt, impatiently, undoing the buttons. They both struggled out of the rest of their clothes. Her bare breasts swayed with each movement, distracting him. When they were fully naked and he reached for her, his hand trembled as they molded to her breasts testing their weight, the way they fit his hands. The way her eyes darkened to black as she moaned his name. Jaya shuddered as he circled the dark tips.
He smoothed his hands down her sides to her thighs and lifted her until her legs wrapped around his waist. As gently as he could, he lowered them to the floor and searched for his jeans. Grapping a condom, he sheathed himself quickly then lay back on the cool marble floor drawing her over him.
Easing her down, he watching in rigid anticipation as he lowered her over him. Her eyes widened and he worried she wasn’t ready for him. But then he could feel her mold and stretch around him. The tingling bliss threatening to blind him stabbed at the edges of his vision. “God, you are so tight.”
“You are so big.”
A rough chuckle escaped his chest, which brought her breasts rubbing against his chest. “You’re going to kill me.”
Retracting a half an inch he grinned as she moaned his name. Surging forward, he shut his eyes, trying to focus, to ward off his impending orgasm. Jaya didn’t make it any easier for him. He moved in slow, deliberate motions at first, wrestling her for control. For every stroke, she tried to get him to speed up.
He gave up the battle. He took hold of her ass and squeezed, unable to hold onto control any longer. In two deep strokes, he could feel her buck against him, the tiny tremors starting at her core and radiating though her body. She scored her nails down his chest and he roared with the pain and zinging passion.
He watched as she pinched her nipples and threw her head back. Her response to him was s
o unfiltered. She held nothing back.
The tremors grew, shaking her body, and she whispered his name again. When she stilled and tensed, he worried for a moment before he felt her pussy clench around him, clamping down on his cock, refusing to release it. Grinding his teeth together, the tap dance of bliss against his spine had him holding her hips against him. Unable to hold off, he roared at the trembles overtook his body and the pleasure darkened his vision. As his body jerked his release, he wished they didn’t need the condoms. Wished she could feel the force of his release within her body.
“Jaya, I swear to God, you’re trying to kill me.”
“Not yet. I’ve still got a few days left and there are a some things I haven’t tried yet.”
He groaned as his spine got even friendlier with the hard floor. “I can honestly say I’ve never done this before.”
She grinned. “Well, hang on tight, Maybe I could teach you a thing or two. Cross a few things off your list.”
He could only wish.
Chapter Sixteen
“So explain to me how when you thought, ‘I'm going to break into my old place of employment,’ you thought of me?”
Jaya could feel Alec’s breath on her as they entered the elevator in the Trudeaux building.
Pressing the button to the top floor, she smiled up at him. “Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me I need to be more daring? I'm being adventurous.”
“When I said that, I meant maybe go rock climbing with me or something. Not a little B and E.”
“It's not B and E if it's my software. They have no right to it. I'm just going to get it back.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I like this new naughty mischievous streak of yours. I'm just telling you, if we get busted, I'll sing like a bird about how this was all your idea and you strong-armed me.”
She hid a smile. Casting him a sidelong glance, she doubted anything could strong-arm him. Not with all that muscle. “I'll keep that in mind.”
“It’s okay, I’m pretty sure I’ll make bail if we get pinched. And I’m down for anything that might help me get laid by you, but are you sure you want to do this? Maybe it’s time to face a new reality, Jaya. Maybe you’re not meant to be here at Trudeaux.”
